Nananu i Ra

Leslie and I took our first weekend leave last week to go to the nearby island of Nananu i Ra. We spent two days on the island, and one night in the hotel. The owner of Safari Lodge gave us a pretty good deal on the room so we are likely to go back there. The weather was pretty windy the whole time we were on the island. One of the guests at Safari Lodge was taking kiteboarding lessons and was absolutely loving the wind. It is pretty impressive how fast you can go on those things. I really would love to give it a try but it is a pretty expensive hobby. At this point the last thing I need is something else to spend money on. Leslie and I did our best not to spend money on the island. Instead of going kitesurfing we walked partway around the island and did a bit of snorkeling. At one point, as we were hiking around a rocky cliff that jutted into the sea we saw a large brown eel devouring a crab. The crab seemed way too big for the eel, but the eel managed to get it down its throat by means of a lot of writhing and flopping around. They eat these eels here, although I have not yet tried it.
This Friday all the Peace Corps volunteers in Fiji will be meeting in Nadi. We will have a few days of training and a big party. I am really looking forward to it. After the big gathering the environmental volunteers will be headed to the Coral Coast to learn about coral farming. Coral Farming is basically a way for communities to make cash while taking pressure off of the coral reefs. They grow the coral on iron grating near the shore and sell it in tourist shops. This keeps them from harvesting to coral on the actual reefs.
A couple of weeks ago I went scuba diving again. Leslie and I walked to Volivoli beach first thing in the morning and went out with Ra divers. The first dive we did that day ranks as one of the best dives I have ever done. We saw three sharks: a blacktip reef shark, a graytip reef shark, and a bull shark. The bull shark was probably 10 or 12 feet and came within about 20 feet of us. It was quite an experience.

Changes Ahead

It looks like things will be changing quite a bit in the near future. Leslie and I just had our site visits, and the decision was made to change Leslie's assignment. She will still be working with some of the women's groups with whom she has established a relationship, she will just no longer be working for the larger network of women's groups. Her new official host agency will be the Women's Interest office. In addition, we will be moving to my village in the next few months. Although the house we move into in the village will, no doubt, be a step down from our current house, I think this really makes the most sense. As it is, I'm missing out on a lot of village gatherings because I am never in the village at night time. We have a huge Peace Corps gathering coming up in October. I think everyone is pretty excited about this. I'm looking forward to meeting some of the current volunteers.
I have been talking to my village a lot about cleaning up the piggeries in the village. I am hoping to get some compost piggeries built in the next few months. I am also looking into biogas digesters, which are quite a bit more expensive to build. If anyone knows anything about biogas digesters send me a message.

John stabs mouse

I tried to think of a clever title for this post but I think this one gets the point across. We have been having mouse problems in our house. Our produce occasionally gets nibbled on and we often find little shits in our kitchen. We put out traps and poison, but the little bastards seem to survive. I got up one morning and saw one of the mice hunching behind a papaya on our counter top. He didn't see me as his head was down behind the papaya. Slowly, I crept over to the other side of the counter where we keep our silverware- including a very sharp knife. I grabbed the knife, crept up to the mouse and swung the blade down on the little shit-head. I felt the knife penetrate soft flesh and come to a stop on the wooden countertop. The mouse squealed loudly. I had him pinned to the countertop. I searched the counter for something to dispatch him with. I spotted the wine bottle that one of our fellow Peace Corps volunteers had given us. I brought the bottle down upon the mouse's head and it immediately went stiff. My heart was literally racing. I didn't feel the slightest bit of pity for the filthy little creature. Rather I felt proud and triumphant. Leslie and I had just finished reading Lord of the Flies and I couldn't help thinking of the chant, "Kill the pig, eat her flesh, spill her blood." The way I see it, if I'm becoming a bit of a savage it just means I'm adapting well.

A Waqa named Saqa

I caught a fish. I think I mentioned in an earlier post that I built a small boat with the help of some people from the village. The boat is made out of a single 12-ft piece of corrugated roofing tin and is called a bavelo. By itself the thing is extremely tippy. A few days ago one of the guys from the village helped me make an outrigger for the boat out of a thick piece of bamboo. With the outrigger attached, I was able to paddle the boat on the ocean and easily handle moderately sized waves. For any Peace Corps people reading this blog, I always wear a lifejacket when paddling my bavelo and I stay very close to shore. Well, I took my waqa (Fijian word for boat- pronounced wanga) out on it's maiden voyage a few days ago and trolled a hook baited with some fish behind it just for the heck of it. I didn't have a paddle at that time so I just paddled with two plastic plates. It was very hard work. As I was returning to shore I noticed that the boat was handling very strangely. It was difficult to paddle and would not follow a straight path. I pulled on the fishing line that was stretched out behind the boat. It was tight. I assumed that I had snagged a rock. I gave it a tug, and it tugged back very hard. I fought the fish over the next half hour. The line I was using was only 10 pound test and was wrapped around a Fiji water bottle, so I had to play the fish very slowly. Several times I had the fish close to the boat when it decided to run and I had to let it take the line out. Finally I played the thing to exhaustion and pulled the fish up to the boat. It was a big, 24in saqa (pronounced sanga- bigeye trevally). I plopped it into the bavelo and headed back to the village. I received quite a welcome when the villagers saw my fish. The guy who helped me build the outrigger announced that the name of my little boat would be "Saqa".

More Pictures from Fiji

The volunteers in the Indo-Fijian settlement learned an Indian dance for the Swearing In Ceremony. I was as red as a tomato during the entire dance.

The Environment trainees in the Fijian villages learned a "Meke" for the the Ceremony. The group in the background are singing while the "warriors" do their dance. This picture shows John fighting off the vicious warrior Garrett! Can't remember who won.

Self-Portrait in the ocean!

Our house. Yes, it is VERY green! Ahndree thinks we should name it the "Pineapple Paradise" but we aren't too big on naming inanimate objects like cars or houses. We can see the ocean from the porch!!!

Another self-portrait at our favortie beach just outside of Rakiraki town. It is a 15 minute bus ride from our house.