Balmy Fiji!

Having not seen Chita for 3 months, and its always a daunting task, to emerge through the customs doors and see if he is there waiting for me. I had bought some food and seeds I had to declare but they just waved me through.
I came out, he wasn't there, so I rang him on the mobile.
I am walking towards the airport now...
I walk out, and find him sitting on a bench waving a newpaper at me. He has cut his hair short, and looks fit and healthy.
We take the trolley down to the airport cafe and talk. No military in sight. Welcoming, smiley faces everywhere and it's warm..... two rum and cokes later, we are very relaxed.
We decide to stay at Tubukula cottages and catch a taxi there. I order dinner and a bottle of wine.Nice.
Can we have dinner in our bungalow?
Sure?
Can we go now to our room?
No I am sorry the security guard must take you and he is just fixing the gas.
Can you open the bottle of wine for me?
Sure... Sorry sorry, I will ask the cook to do it for you.
We pile the trolley with my 50 kg of luggage and head for the bungalow. Showers, a drink and dinner and a long talk.
Back to Votua the next day by taxi.
Kalara's house where I was going to stay, has a fence around it and her family are sending her back to their village. She has been drinking and carousing and not looking after the house. Chita's bure is a mess and he doesn't want us to live there. I spend the day talking to everyone, swimming, and find out at 7 o'clock at night, we are staying at his mum's.
I take a walk up the beach in the afternoon to see Simon, an Australian Fijian who is wanting to start a water sport business up and down the coast. He is a builder. Inoke the aging Fijian movie star, yes he was in a telemovie with Tele Savalas and played a sheik in a dramatic piece in Egypt greets me.
Bula Amanda.
I have been looking at your place. It looks good. But where is your room?
Hey, what a good idea! We build a room next to the bar and we have independence, privacy and can look after the bar. Once I start making bread I will need late night and early morning starts, so I can go and crash nearby....
I am ecstatic. Simon gives me instructions, a room made from tin, 14 x 8, with a toilet and shower - two doors so that visitors have bathroom access too...
Its only Day 1 and I am feeling more secure.
We visit Victor's for a barbecue dinner with pork spare ribs soaked in beer, the usual, garlic, chilli and lime. Delicious. Even grilled potatoes, not cassava on the barbecue!! How very European.
Day 2 sees me having tea and fresh passionfruit for breakfast. I sit talking to Chita's mum and then read my book until 11.30. I am about to head down the beach to go snorkelling, but lunch is waiting.
I have already prepared lunch for you.
Sit down, have a cup of tea... the meat will take 3 minutes....
I sit down, and tell her, that I have come to Fiji to get healthy and I am on a diet.
Okay, okay.
A huge bowl of beef stew appears.
That's for you Amanda.
Vinaka.
I eat about a third of it and gather my things to go. Chita has organised a mask. I stop at the bure bar to talk to Tamo who has a mouthpiece. I go nextdoor to Mike's dives and borrow a pair of flippers which I promise to return promptly.
Loaded up I head for the Marine Protected area. There have been so many changes in the last few months. A wedding chapel has gone up next to Vilisite's with a big fence and two security guards. I try to duck down the alleyway beside Asela's shop and she has built a gate and locked it. Unbelievable.
I stop at the concrete cage or drinks bar and order a sprite. Talking to the new shopkeeper, I find out she is from the Yasawas and wants to develop a small business there. I offer to help her plan it next Monday. Projects appear everywhere....
I walk into Villa Della Cowrie, the wedding chapel and ask the security if I can take a shortcut.
I will walk you down to the beach madam
Vinaka.
I am gobsmacked at the wedding chapel, its perching on the sand and it looks a little unstable. I walk over the rocks to the beach and wait. I swim in the crystal blue water and just float. My white body is changing colour rapidly as I turn into a sun lizard...
Victor and Melanie turn up and we head out into the lagoon to map a snorkelling tour they are setting up. I just follow along behind, not really caring where I am going and what I am doing. It takes a few minutes to get used to the snorkel again, and I need to use my flippers more to move me along.
I see fish, clams, sea slugs and sea urchins. I hit an area where the coral is high and I am not sure I can swim over it. Victor calls out
Amanda don't worry keep going, you will float over the top
I sure do.
We visit the deep ponds at the edge of the lagoon. I float over soft coral in an array of pastel colours, pink, yellow and mauve.
Victor and Melanie start pointing. I take my mask off, and turn around in the water, missing a reef shark completely....Thank God! I would have been paralysed with fear.
We are trying to find plastic bottle markers and they seem to have disappeared. We swim in a huge loop and then cut across it, for swimmers who may not be as strong. The current is building, and I have to paddle hard to get there.
My mask is initially too tight and hurting my nose. We expand it, and my mask starts filling up with water....
I am getting tired and the shore seems a long way away.
Yes, we have figured it all out now Amanda.
Great!
I head for the shore.
Victor tells me I have to cut through Simon's family house to get back to the main road. He leads us along the old road in the jungle, which finishes at Villa del Cowrie's fence. We end up doing a bush walk through the overhanging fronds back to the beach.
My freedom has been curbed. My long beach stroll to the Warwick for a swim and magazine can now only be done at low tide.
We get back onto the main road and run into Abo.
Amanda I am so sorry.
Why? Abo?
I cut my arm.
I know.
I am so sorry I have not been able to help you.
Its okay. You need to look after your arm.
He has sliced it and done some serious damage to his fingers. The feeling and movement is slowly coming back.
I know I could have stopped it, but I am Fijian you know, and I couldn't stop myself.
IE. I knew I shouldn't have been drinking and I could have stopped myself, but I didnt.
Victor and I laugh. How Fijian is that!
My mobile rings.
Where are you?
Walking down the beach. See you soon.
I decide to broach the subject of a master plan.
Chita is very defensive, short.
I have built this bar for you, now it is up to you to make it work.
No, no,no. I need your help.
I will be around.
I smell fear.
Everyone talks. I have made this, a shitty little bar.
What?
I love it. It's got atmosphere, it's great.
We walk back to his mum's for another curry.
Chita gives me some instructions about what to wear and where to sit. I must wear a sulu in the village at all times. I must not enter by the front door, as that is only for the owners of the house. I must make sure I cover my legs when I sit down. In fact it is better that I don't sit and face the door.
His brother Joe and wife natalie arrive. I find out that there is walkway past the dining room of the house. Chita's mum has a door which is always open and because people walk past, you must greet them and offer them either kana ( food) or tea.
Natalie suggests they move the door and put in windows, as it is the only house in the village where everyone can see straight in. Maybe plant a hedge of flowers to block the view.
I am learning new things daily.
The kids have raided my chocolate in the fridge, after lollypops, nuts, chips and cordial all day. Pacing yourself is not a Fijian way. Whatever you have you eat it all, or drink it all.
Chita and I talk. He is worried about paying back my brother's money.
Worst case scenario, I go back to Tassie and relief teach or work for a while to pay it off.
We need a small business development loan to get the business up and running so I will go to the bank tomorrow to see if they are still on offer under the current seeming unstable government. Fijians are behind Bainimarama's clean up campaign. Stories of corruption at all levels appearing daily and a naughty list with the first name of an offender, has been printed in the paper today.
Foreigners organising land leases which they don't pay for, borrowing huge sums from banks and a variety of funds, with pitiful payments back to the local landowners. Its all over.
Last night Chita was wavering. We will do what we agreed to do. It will be tough. But if we can make this work now, imagine in boom times.....
I am positive. I now have to activate my own personal action plan and show everyone and myself what I know I am capable of...