Blake and Deb in Fiji: Rainforests and Tow Trucks

Yesterday Deborah and I and neighbor Semoko drove up to the Wailali Rainforest Reserve, which is about 25 km (15 mi) from town on the main road that climbs up over the backbone of the island. Just as we arrived at our destination steam started coming out from under the hood of the car. After checking it out and seeing no obvious damage we elected to go ahead and walk through the reserve and let the engine cool down.

The reserve was a bit disappointing. As Deborah pointed out, the vegetation didn’t look much different than what was already growing around our house. Also, the colorful tropical birds we were hoping to see were conspicuously absent. The loop trail led to a nice little picnic spot by a small waterfall, but apart from that we were thoroughly unimpressed.

Upon returning to the car we topped off the water (I’m wondering if it was only water in the radiator, and not engine coolant). It started up fine so we headed back to town, keeping a watchful gaze on the engine temperature indicator. It didn’t budge, but after about 10 km (6 mi) the engine got sluggish and we had black smoke coming out of the tailpipe and from under the hood. As I pulled over to the side of the road the engine died completely, and we noticed oil dripping onto the grass underneath. Semoko had a cell phone but, as Murphy’s Law would have it, the phone’s battery died in the middle of my call to the mechanic back in Savusavu. Semoko and I walked up the road following the sound of hammering until we came upon a group of men working on a roof repair, one of whom had a working cell phone with which I was able to reconnect with the mechanic. Although he initially said he was at the sight of another breakdown and wouldn’t be able to get to us for three hours (!) he then decided to try and arrange for a tow truck to take our car to his shop. We ended up waiting in the hot sun for two hours anyway, sitting in the car for shade or using an umbrella as a parasol.

I’ve seen an actual tow truck or two in Savusavu, but when ours finally arrived it was really just a truck with a rope. Fortunately the guys from the garage seem to know what they were doing, tying secure knots and avoiding collisions between the two vehicles. In certain steep downhill sections it was deemed too dangerous to tow so they untied the rope and the truck moved behind us as we coasted like a not-quite-out-of-control bowling ball down the incline. I wasn’t driving our car for this rather scary procedure, thankfully; one of mechanics was. He put it in neutral and made judicious use of both foot brake and emergency brake to moderate our speed. When we reached level ground and rolled to a stop the truck would move in front of us again, they would retie the rope, and tow us to the top of the next hill. This back and forth procedure continued several times until we rolled into the mechanic’s garage just outside of town. It cost about US$42 for the tow – not bad by American standards, I suppose, but pricey for Fiji. (I’m sure we sometimes get the Fijian equivalent of a gringo price, but it’s hard to know when).

We treated Semoko to lunch at a restaurant in town before trying to hail a cab to take us home. Many, if not most, of the cabs won’t go up our steep gravel road, and we had no success finding one that would that day. So in the full heat of the afternoon with full stomachs we trudged up the hill by foot. Eventually we were passed by a taxi driver named Ali with a 4WD truck who lives on our street, although not until we had already walked most of the way. Deborah rode with him the rest of the way anyway, and wrote down his phone number in the likely case that our car is in the shop for awhile and we need a lift to haul groceries or laundry.

We were just so relieved to have a frustrating day over with and to get back home and take a cool shower. I can’t imagine we’ll be responsible for any of the car repairs, but we hope they aren’t too costly or too time consuming. But we know everything here moves on island time, so our walking legs and the taxi drivers may have to take up the slack for a while.