Jungle Life

Yesterday, our Friday, was a full and eventful day, with all sorts of unexpected happenings. Alec and I began our morning with a hike on the trail that goes up behind our village; a trail that we had only partially explored. The walk was beautiful. We climbed up through the mountains and crossed over streams and came across every sort of possible green vegetation, all within the comforts of a clearly marked trail (so much of Fiji is "make-your-own-trail-with-a-machete" that I was quite relieved). As we were walking we suddenly entered a clearing with a lone house sitting completely by itself in the middle of the jungle.

Passing the house, we were greeted by two women and an elderly man with a limp and a smile that revealed very few teeth. He was incredibly warm and welcoming--and spoke particularly good English--and he and his wife and daughter invited us in for a glass of juice. We of course accepted and soon found ourselves inside their relatively large and airy Fijian house, sipping cups of lemon and soursop? (a native Fijian fruit that looks similar to breadfruit and is slightly sour) juice. The elderly man explained to us about his past as a professional body builder/weight lifter and showed us pictures from his youth; he had recently had a stroke, which accounted for his limp, and he was told the stroke was a result of poor weight lifting technique from years before. As he talked to us about our stay in Vivili and the weather here in Savusavu--can I quickly mention that Fijians living in the remote jungle recognize climate change!--his wife was weaving a floor mat made from long dried leaves. Stumbling across this friendly, accommodating family in the middle of Fijian bush was really more than we could have asked for from our hike. Not to mention that they had a cat who had given birth that morning and had the cutest kitten I may have ever seen!