I spoke to my hosts, D' and P', who were kept up to dte periodically by their friends around the island and the news for the imediate present and future was looking grim. Three people had already been killed in the past week, washed away as they tried to make their way across flooded bridges and roads. One of the two main telephone networks was down, the television station was down, one of the radio stations were down and some parts of Nadi and its nearbouring boroughs and villages were under as much as ten feet of water.
Newsforcasts said that despite the temporary let up of the rain, with all the recent water pouring down the hillsides that the local river levels are rising by as much as half an inch per hour, and with a weater forcast of more heavy rainfall for the next week it did not seem to be a good omen. Apparently the rainy season in Fiji is from now right up until late March, but this amount of rainfall over such a small space of time is unheard of and also never this early into the season.
We got by by talking and watching some DVD's while the electricity was still up, though how much longer that would be is a lottery as both the power and the water had also both been cutting out at times during the past few days.
Around lunchtime we got a call from her friend at the airport, L, who said that she was sending over a couple more strandees and it shocked us both that still the airlines were doing nothing to prevent further flights come into Nadi although the airport facilities were already overworked, some offices being turned into makeshift emergency shelters with as many as eleven people, women and childred included, crammed into their to shelter from the rain for the night.
We had a bit of a fishermans bet as to who was coming over, but none of us were that close as it ended up being a lovely young English & Greek couple who were currently living and working in New Zealand, both in some form of education and both fairly seasoned travellers who had come with sleeping bags and tents hoping to sleep out under the stars on a secluded beach, weather permitting.
When they arrived we immediately all hit it off, and although D' and P' are not used to having guests within minutes we were all sittig around, laughing, joking and sharing stories like we were old old friends.
Throughout the day we all did a bit of shopping in the nearby stores, which were almost empty of essentials are the other locals had already cleaned it out of most of the good stuff in their panic buying incase the weather should only get worse.
At dusk the sky turned a deep red and it was so beautiful that we all rushed to get our cameras and do our best to take some photos to do it justice, although of course we could only get close and not truly capture its true beauty.
During the day we had talked long and deep about a good many subjects, about travel and about Fiji and I was a little surprised to hear that the island people were cannibals up until about 150 years ago, when the last recorded victim was the missionary Thomas Backer, whos remains including his half eaten leather shoe is still displayed in a museum in the capital city Suva.
Stories also abound that despite the islands main religion shifted to Catholosism many years ago that underground many of its religious roots still remain and there are places where you can visit out in the smaller and more remote islands where you can still find people practicing a little of their old magic.
For the first time in many weeks I felt as if I was really travelling again, out in the wilds where internet, 24 hour shops, full ATM machines and perfect roads were nothing but a distant memory and certianly not to be relied upon or expected.
Staying with D' and P' I was able to pick up a few tips and customs of the Fiji people, which include their slightly strange ways of feeling that they have a right to just walk into a house and borrow something, that the women have to be very subservient and take care of the entire family and finally the custom around drinking Cava.
Once we heard about the drink, and that you have not really visited Fiji until after you have drank Cava with the locals, we all jumped at their offer to mix us up some and let us try some later tonight. After dark we all sat round in a circle, on their fijian mat, swapping stories, jokes and magic tricks as we passed cups around of the Kava, or grog as the locals call it.
It was very nice to see the New Zealand couple J' and M' get on so well as their relationship seemed very solid, understanding and when they started to tell jokes and magic tricks they didnt even need to tell the other what to say or do, they just bounced off each other and more than any other couple I know I feel that they are very similar and have a deep understanding for each other.
One of the topics of stories that we shared was on about dejavu, e.s.p. and ghosts. I told my usual ghost story of being doubleteam scared by my friends L' and G' where L' ends up rushing out in a bright illumious yellow tshirt but then M' topped that with a story of her own. I had already heard of the story through the internet and grapevine about a lone driver who gets stranded in the middle of nowhere and as he heads to the nearby emergency telephone to call for help it rings, and it is his wife who misdialed and somehow rang this emergency phone instead of his mobile but according to M' this was actually her cousins and was all in the news. Now whether this is true that it is her cousins at this stage I can't confirm, but it makes a great story and addition to the night.
J' countered by showing us a magic trick that had the whole room guessing all night long, involving 9 objects that he could tell that we touched and in what order without being in the room at the time, and like any good magician he was very tight lipped about how he did it, which made it even better.
About an hour later it got very dark we got another phone call from L' to say that another stranded traveller was on his way, and a little before 10pm yet another call so before I slipped off into a slightly drunken and grog induced sleep there was a pretty full house.
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