While I was able to take hot showers in their home, cold bucket showers are the norm elsewhere in Fijian villages, like a Trinidadian relative told me is the norm for many island people around the world. In some of the remotest of villages,the people still bathe in still beautiful rivers. The electricity was powered by a generator the whole village pays for although my hosts pay a higher percentage of the share because their electricity is on all day for their many guests vs. just three hours at night as in most of the few villages that even have access to the generators. The government is sponsoring an increased percentage of them now and dare I say I'm afraid the whole country will be modernized and lose all of their traditional charm soon. My hosts even had a tv & microwave for goodness sake!
While the face painting, everyday grass skirts, bare breasts, tribal warfare, & cannibalism were long ago eradicated by Christian missionaries from Britain and America, things are changing so fast, now the "indecently dressed" people are limited to foreigners who come visiting from these and other western nations, baring far too much for the now modestly dressed, mild tempered, and warm Fijians. Still, visitors to villages (besides mine, according to my hosts) are not expected to bare more than their lower legs and even shoulder baring is seen as improper. Nowadays, the only warrior dancing you'll see though is at a Fijian show. Pictures coming...
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