Nadi

So we had reached Fiji  first few days in Nadi there was a sheet of grey cloud and heavy rain however the evenings still yeiled impressive sunsets. We stayed on the outer rim of the town by the beach, it wasn't the most beautiful location, the waters were murky and the sand a dirty brown. The shore was littered with fish guts, leftovers from the fishermans' catches. In the evening locals rode sandbikes that looked like they had been driven straight out of a Mad Max set. This was an active fishing spot but I would always choose stepping on fish entrails over it becoming a sterile behemoth of a holiday resort as the billboards in the area suggested it could soon be.

 Jumping on an old school bus we made our way to town collecting locals here and there and passing a few seaplanes on the coast. The town had a relaxed atmosphere but was still busy with people, the buildings were painted in bright colours and old school coca cola stencils that were now very washed out. Soon as left the bus we experienced the friendliness the Fijians seem to be well known for, everywhere we went someone would shout "bula!" and everyones overly helpful with everything, It was obvious that this was at least in part because we had cameras on our shoulders and packs on our back but still the majority seemed genuinely warm and welcoming and before we knew it Alana, Andy and myself found ourselves sat crossed legged centred around a large wooden bowl inside a woodcraft shop hosted by two Fijians who looked like they would be good at rugby. We were given Carva in a 'ritual' Its a weird herb strained in water that made your mouth tingle. After refreshments the shopkeeper showed us replicas of the traditional war masks and weapons. There was the numerous types of club made from heavy woods, It appeared they had one for every purpose; the Tebetebe for example has been carved with an angled edge on one side designed to snap the neck, the Totokia on the other hand is implemented for the sole purpose of bludgeoning the skull. These are all genuinely weapons used in the past, perhaps the most macabre of all was the spiky looking tool about carving knife sized. This was for scooping brain out from the skull, it surprised me because I was expecting more of a ice cream scoop shape or maybe just use a shell?