Here Comes the Rain Again

Of course as soon as I wrote how pleasant the weather has been we get hit by two solid days of rain, followed by a couple days of on-again off-again showers. At least it is warm rain. Now I’ve come down with a sore throat and Deborah has a sore bladder. And it appears I may have given her my sore throat. Hopefully she doesn’t return the favor with the bladder.

Sunday Deborah announced she didn’t feel like cooking (can’t blame her) so we tried one of the restaurants in town where we shared a larger-than-we-could-finish vegetarian pizza (Deborah allowed herself a rare test of her wheat intolerance). It was a delectable meal for only US$11. The only other time we ate out here it was at an Indian restaurant where our curry lunches, milk shake and pineapple juice came to just US$9. And they don’t tip here.

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Here are some photos taken around the house of plant life that rather likes the rain:

Grow Your Own

It seems that no matter where in the world we go, Deborah ends up cutting someone’s hair. Fiji is no exception. The most recent recipient was neighbor Iretta, who has found the local hairdressing talent sorely lacking and therefore taken to cutting her own locks. She was very grateful to have found Deborah, who refused Iretta’s offer of payment.

As it turns out, Deborah was more than compensated when Iretta took her into town and introduced her to her favorite shops and shopkeepers, told her where to buy eggs, where to buy liquor, who were the best vendors at the farmers’ market, what some of the unfamiliar fruits and vegetables were and how to prepare them, how you can buy camphor cubes at the grocery store and place them on your kitchen counter to deter ants, introduced her to countless people on the street, and basically filled Deborah’s cranium with years worth of local knowledge.

Iretta and Steve also gave Deborah a big chunk from an even bigger pineapple that they grew on their property. The fruity beast was the size of a soccer ball, but absolutely delicious. They also sent her home with a bunch of home grown bananas. There’s a bit of a tropical orchard going on here at Tobi’s house as well with banana trees, pineapples, papayas, and probably other edibles we have yet to identify growing here and there around the property. He’s even got a little pepper plant growing in a pot on the corner of the deck. Rumor has it there’s also been a healthy marijuana crop growing somewhere up here on the ridge, although supposedly the new government has been cracking down on such unsanctioned harvests.

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One of several pineapple plants around the house - still just a baby.

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Papaya - also a baby, but should grow to the size of a football
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Our banana tree

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Too bad I don't like bananas.

Albinos in Paradise

The islands of the Pacific are divided into three main groups: Melanesia, Micronesia and Polynesia. Fiji is considered part of Melanesia, which is a group of islands positioned mostly to the south of the equator. Micronesia (e.g., Marshall Islands, Guam) lies mainly to the north of the equator. Polynesia (e.g., Hawaii, Tahiti, New Zealand) covers a vast area to the east.

Other islands in the Melanesia group include New Guinea, Vanuatu, The Solomons, New Caledonia, and many others. Melanesia literally means “islands of the black-skinned people,” and reflects the inhabitants’ origins in East Africa. They migrated to the islands via Indonesia some 35,000-50,000 years ago. They are also related to the Aboriginal Australians. This is in contrast to the Micronesians and Polynesians whose origins are in Southeast Asia, and are much more recent (less than 10,000 years ago).

The other major ethnic group in Fiji are the descendants of indentured servants who were brought here from India by the British Colonial government in the late 1800s and early 1900s. According to my Lonely Planet guidebook, indigenous Fijians make up 57% of the population and Indo-Fijians are 37%. Of the remainder, a fair number are of Chinese ancestry. Needless to say, we are very white here. Fortunately, I can say that we have only been treated with kindness and respect and never made to feel uncomfortable by our lack of skin pigmentation. Nevertheless, we are working on our tans.

(photo by Deborah)

(photo by Deborah)

Liti (who does our laundry) and her fellow Jehovah's Witness

(photo by Deborah)

Nick and Sharon

This morning our new friends Nick and Sharon and their two children stopped by on their way to the Savusavu airport. They are the ones we first met while commiserating over delayed flights at the Nadi airport, and then shared a cab with from Labassa to Savusavu. We crossed paths a few times in town during their stay and then a couple of days ago we stopped by the house they were renting with another family to say hello, talk about travelling, and share strategies for fighting mosquitoes. He is British, she is American, and they currently live in China where he has a manufacturing business.

Today they were ending their time in Fiji and were generous enough to drop off their leftover supplies for us to use (mostly magazines, mosquito repellent, beer and chips). This afternoon Deborah has been thoroughly absorbed in the newly obtained women’s magazines, sporadically blurting out loud the sort of “useful tips” such periodicals are renowned for. So now we know what sorts of house plants to put in my studio to absorb paint fumes, how to exercise the subordinate side of your brain by writing your name backward using a mirror, and how many pounds of high fructose corn syrup the average American consumes in a year (45). Thanks, Oprah.

Hopefully Nick and Sharon and family’s flight back to China (via Hong Kong) goes more smoothly than the one that brought them here. We are delighted to have met them and psyched that we now have an offer of a place to stay in China. How cool is that?

View property for sale near our house

(not sure what the price is, but I'll try to find out by the time we leave)

The Not-So-Rainy Season

All the Fiji guidebooks tell you to visit during the Fijian winter or dry season from May to October. That’s when the temperatures are milder (although only by a couple of degrees), the humidity is bit lower, and threat of cyclones is diminished. We, of course, are doing the exact opposite and have instead plunged ourselves into the Fijian summer or wet season. But really, so far, the weather has been very pleasant.

As I noted early in the blog we did just miss a tropical storm that delayed our arrival and diverted us to Samoa for a night. But the really big damaging cyclones are not at all common, although they did have one wreak havoc on the big island of Viti Levu back in January when a week of heavy downpours caused massive flooding and washed out roads and bridges. There are sheets of plywood under the house here that we are meant to install over the windows in the event of “the big one.” We’ll also turn off the power and check ourselves into a solid-looking hotel. Then we will be able to determine (from a distance) if this Japanese Pole House is indeed hurricane-proof as advertised.

Almost all the rain we’ve seen during our stay has occurred at night. A couple of nights ago we had a period of very heavy wind and rain, made all the noisier by the metal roof. Still, by morning, all was calm sunshine again. I’m just guessing here, but I’d say the temperatures are usually in the 80s F (26-32 C), cooling off the low 70s F (21-22 C) at night. It was a bit humid the first couple of days but not bad since. It’s noticeably cooler up here on the ridge than it is down in the town, with the breezes working to keep us comfortable. We didn’t quite know what to expect as far as how rainy would the rainy season be, but so far so good.

Xmas and nextmas

We had a quiet, low key Christmas, which was fine with me as I tend to take perverse pleasure in ignoring the holidays that everyone else feels compelled to celebrate. Plus I had the opportunity to paint all day. Deborah, however, was feeling less than festive. My failure to remember to give her a Christmas card (for the second year in a row) didn’t help her mood, nor did the fact that I’m overdue in completing a painting for her as an annual gift to keep for our own collection. With just the two of us staying up here on our verdant ridge all day while I sat mute before my easel didn’t exactly fill her with a warm Christmassy glow.

I tried to make it up to her the next day as we went into town and, after dropping off our laundry and shopping for various items we needed, we had a nice lunch at an Indian restaurant. This was followed by a walk along the bay and, for Deborah, a massage. Nothing gets me back in Deborah’s good graces faster than treating her to a massage. While she was getting her rub down I walked up into the neighborhood above town where cute little houses come with stunning views, as the photos below will attest.

I’m happy to report that Deborah is smiling again.

Christmas Eve

We spent Christmas Eve at the home of neighbors Steve and Iretta, the couple who greeted us when we first arrived in town, and with neighbor Paul, whom we also met that first day. Steve and Iretta have a stunning 1.7 acre view property not far from Tobi’s house as the fruit bat flies, but a bit further via roller coaster dirt roads. Their enthusiastic dog Chacho kept us entertained by playing fetch with a coconut and begging for attention by persistently placing his snout in awkward locations. We enjoyed beer and wine, as did the various insects who kept diving into them with fatal consequences. Steve says that is why in Fiji we place the coasters on top of the glass instead of underneath. We had a fine meal and learned much about expat life in Savusavu.

Look at that view! Although it doesn't show up in the picture, the waters of Savusavu Bay are in the distance.

Called a "bure" this traditional structure shelters the bbq

and outdoor dining area

It's all about outdoor living here


Steve and Paul at the grill
(photo by Deborah)

Blake and Deb (here with my right hand I am trying to

restrain Chaco the dog who is nuzzling my butt)

(photo by Paul)

Iretta, Paul, Steve, Blake (left to right)

(photo by Deborah)