Backpacking In Fiji, Chapter 3

A Chief Named Smelly

Having arrived back in Nasivicoso, it was time to bathe and get ready for the savu savu. I bathed in the river, unsure whether or not I stepped from it any cleaner--instead of smelling like body odor, I smelled like fish. What I do know, however, is that the mosquitos mistook my rear end for a florescent light bulb. I was itchy for the rest of the night. After drying off, I donned my sulu and joined the circle in the chief's house.

His cement and corrugated metal house was simple. There was an open area for gathering and a small sleeping area with two beds. The beds were queen sized with pink mosquito nets draped over them. Introductions were made. I shook the chief's hand and told him my name. He told me his: Smelly. I thought I heard him wrong, but after the ceremony, when we were given our sleeping assignments, Jone told me I was to be staying at Smelly's house. I must have heard him incorrectly as well. There had to be some minor difference in pronounciation that I didn't pick up on. For the duration of our stay in Nasivicoso, I refered to the chief as "The Chief" and nothing else. I can only imagine how much I could offend a village by calling their chief smelly. And no one knows exactly when cannibalism ended in the more remote villages of Fiji...

When the kava ceremony ended it was past nine and I was famished. We left The Chief's house and returned to the Rustic Pathways bure for dinner. However, once we arrived we discovered that the Fijians wanted to drink more kava. Sometimes I wonder about the nutritional value of kava, for Fijians seem to consume more kava than food. We--Phil, Hillary, Kyle, and I--were given the option to either eat or drink kava first. Our stomachs were unanimous in the decision to dine before drinking. We ate our cold dinner of noodles and veggies first (it had been cooked hours before) and immediately brought our things to our sleeping quarters. Instead of returning for kava, I decided that I was exhausted and quickly fell asleep on my queen-sized mattress beneath my pink mosquito net.