Yes I really live on an Island with a tribe of Natives

[SeaMaiden]

The papers are for permanent curling. You wrap the hair in the paper before you put the curlers to it, or you will end up with imprints of the curlers permanently stuck in your hair until it grows out. So apparently if you're in a tight situation and can't locate rolling papes, you can use permanent curl hair papers. Who'da thunk? I would have been looking for an apple or similar and trying to figure out how I'd toke from a stupid apple without getting caught.

The shit a woman knows, eh?

 

[masamaaso]

If you have a dry bag of rice you can put your camera in it to dry it out.

Hey Man ,,my camera works...

The papers are for permanent curling. You wrap the hair in the paper before you put the curlers to it, or you will end up with imprints of the curlers permanently stuck in your hair until it grows out. So apparently if you're in a tight situation and can't locate rolling papes, you can use permanent curl hair papers. Who'da thunk? I would have been looking for an apple or similar and trying to figure out how I'd toke from a stupid apple without getting caught.

The shit a woman knows, eh?

And theres the 20+ year old mystery solved ,,,as I was writing that I said to self,,,someones going to know what those dam things were really for...2 bonghits for SM...

Awright,, were here,, get up this last little hill as we enter the farm you can see Berto way up in the center of the foto,,we left together 2 days ago,,no telling how long he's been here, In foto 1 the low green veg with the yellow flowers is a med plant used for open wounds, cuts, scrapes or anything that could get infected,it grows every where in the valley, the leaves are rubbed into and on the wound and have an antibacterial effect, this is the one plant I see used most often and every hut has some form of it inside, a bad infection can mean death if taken to far, so any and all scratches cuts burns scrapes anything that breaks the skin it seems gets a good dose of this stuff, for a fresh open wound, fresh green leaves are used in a thick layer like a bandage covering the wound and the area,and even put inside the wound, the tough fiborus stem of the plant is beaten into strands of little "strings" and is used as "stiching" to close open wounds and deep cuts, and lemme tell ya Ive seen what it looks like,, Ive seen open abdominal wounds, legs gashed open,, infection gonna set in any day now,,,with the flys and other insects buzzing all about,, but it never does,,skin dosent even turn reddish,, how much ya wanna bet neosporen,,and other anti/bact creams and sprays are based on this plant or one like it.
10 bucks ??? 25 ???

As we enter the farm, we answer the question ,,"do they keeps dogs", Yup ,,for companions and guards, the dogs are a part of the farm like everything else they have use,,,they have the roam of the farm and will sound the alarm if anythings out of place,,, they know whats here,,whats supposed to be here and whos supposed to be here, they'll keep wild pigs from routing up seedlings and keep the wild chickens and rodents from getting to close to grain crops. From time to time people from one of the other islands will sneak in and steal cherrys, it the dogs of course that prevent that,,You can see the brown male howling at me as I walked up on it,, he'll bark at me for a few then fade off when he figures out im not leaving,

It looks like Berto has let everyone know Im coming because the girls are wearing their "town cloths" , and Im glad ,,its the olny way Id be able to take any pictures of them,,the women usually wear a banan leaf "skirt" and stay bare breasted,, the soft cotton pant/short and a tshirt is about it for around here,but One of the first things I noticed was one girl is wearing jeans,probly bought or traded for on the big island where theres an open market, Shes been trying to attract Berto for about a year now, the whole time there she was near him,, not with him ,,,near him,mainly within sight,,if she gets to close he'll think shes being pushy and yell at her to go away,,,dont ask,,,native courtship is funky, but its for life so they gotta get it right..

In the back you'll see the hut we stay in,, ya gotta zoom it in so you can see the extention I started a few months ago,, need a little more room in the hut.
The other fotos are the girls playing vollyball, that is refered to as "playing ball" I have no clue where it came from or how long they've had a net and ball, the ball has no air in it,,its stuffed with coconut coir, and they just toss it over the net at each other trying to hit the ground,, no rules,, no lines,, toss the ball ,,try and hit the ground...
The structure next to them is for livestock and sometimes people during big storms.
This area of the farm is used for Fiesta's and gatherings,as we wonder around you'll see a lot of different fruit trees growing side by side or over the tops of others, one things for sure you'll never starve living in the valley, from asparagus like ferns(fiddle horn ferns) to wood worms(looks and tastes like oysters) theres always plenty to eat here,,and a fair amount of meat,, the animals are raised for food but when they get used for food is up to the elders and what the spirits tell them.
I'll try and touch on some of that if I can but up here Is not down in the ville so I keep a wide berm of respect when we come here and its paying off,Now they great me with smiles and chattering as we come down the mountain path, first time I came here they just sat on a hill side looking at me like I was Lunch..

My wife will ask the elder about eating meat tonight and if given the Ok we'll have a good feed,,I brought my own pig, Berto will go out and invite everyone on the farm to come join us,,,really Bad JuJu to eat meat and not share, everyone will bring something to add to the spread,but no fish,,not even dryed fish and one of my all time favs is up here, only place it grows and rarely gets to the ville,,,Purple sweet sticky rice rolled into balls with roast cashews covering the outside...

 

[noyd666]

hi pirate mass, ya can remember old mum useing those hair papers. bet that pig tastes fukkon goood had good laugh about cigi papers, ive' used brown paper, newspaper, shit paper, loll bloody terrible, but gotta do , old tally-ho papers not to bad. cray season just started here, any way have fun.

 

[Bud buster]

Glad the rice dried out your camera most of the time it will work if you wait long enough so it doesn't get fried when you start it.

The pictures haven't uploaded they sound cool as does the natural medicine and traditions in such a unique paradise.

This is the best thread it's like getting a page to a book one at a time.

 

[masamaaso]

Dunno what happened,, no BFD..

shit thats twice no fotos....

 

[nvthis]

Dunno what happened,, no BFD..

shit thats twice no fotos....

Aw man, that blows. This is gettin' good, bro. Hopefully you can figure it out. Any chance we can see the spread ya'll got for dinner tonight? A pig with all the goodies! And purple rice too? That's cool. Like a hawaiian luau with a spit pig and poi

 

[MJBadger]

I`m hungry & it ain`t the munchies , bloody thread is doing my head . LOL

 

[masamaaso]

still trying for fotos..

 

[Bud buster]

Cool what else is going on I`m about to transfer my plants from 4 gallon to 20 they should take off.

 

[masamaaso]

Im gonna give this one more shot

 

[Bud buster]

Are those the coffee bushes

 

[BRNEYDBVR]

Fork Union, eh?

A company, 3rd platoon here.

Spent a brief time there in the late 80's. (10th grade)

Long enough to figure out that nobody is ever telling me what to wear ever again...lol.

Went on weekend leave to Charlottesville, and scored some of the best skunk that I have ever had.

 

[masamaaso]

Are those the coffee bushes

No thats the yellow flowered med plant,, im having a bich of a time getting fotos upload, I might have to reboot the whole system and do some maintance..

Fork Union, eh?

A company, 3rd platoon here.

Spent a brief time there in the late 80's. (10th grade)

Long enough to figure out that nobody is ever telling me what to wear ever again...lol.

Went on weekend leave to Charlottesville, and scored some of the best skunk that I have ever had.

Yea took me 6-8 months to stop sceaming ways to get outa there, Its where "mary" was first introduced to me,,I didnt have much family in the US so didnt really have any where to go,, after awhile I settled in,,,weed really helped out with that in a big way...

 

[immaculate]

Oh this is AWESOME. Thanks for sharing. I hope you're able to get the other photos up! I like that you're pointing out the plants as you go...I wonder what the name of the yellow-flowered plant is... Nope, I sure don't want to bet against you on that one! Does it have a scent? I loved reading about the natives' method of making stitches and stuffing wounds. And the coco coir-stuffed volleyball...wow. Hope all is well on the farm and the feast was bountiful in both good spirit and victuals.

 

[masamaaso]

This is gonna suck with no fotos...........

Ok cool I think I got it,I think really dunno yet,,I download a LOT of stuff,,,movies music what ever, never had a prob before, but the fotos went up when I shut down the PC I use for downloading.
So we'll let everybody get caught up,,These fotos go with my big post, I'm gonna go fishing for awhile.

 

[chowdan]

Hey masa,

I didn't get to read your full thread. 21 pages is a lot to go through in a short time. However from the photos you just posted and others that i saw, it reminds me of my "home" land.

Was born in California, moved to the Fiji islands when I was 6 and lived their till i turned 19, almost 20, then moved to Seattle where i currently reside with my girlfriend.

Being only 22, Fiji was my home and always be my homeland. Ever since i've moved back to the USA, I've been experiencing new things and such but i've never felt like i fit in. Always have that island lifestyle engraved in me.

 

[Mrs.Babba]

Thank you masa, it just gets better and better. Such a different way life there. amazing stories, you tell them very well and the pics are wonderful.

 

[masamaaso]

Hey masa,

I didn't get to read your full thread. 21 pages is a lot to go through in a short time. However from the photos you just posted and others that i saw, it reminds me of my "home" land.

Was born in California, moved to the Fiji islands when I was 6 and lived their till i turned 19, almost 20, then moved to Seattle where i currently reside with my girlfriend.

Being only 22, Fiji was my home and always be my homeland. Ever since i've moved back to the USA, I've been experiencing new things and such but i've never felt like i fit in. Always have that island lifestyle engraved in me.

Cool,,at yer age you can now invest the nest 20 years perfecting a needed trade, craft or skill by
the time your 40 you can return to Fiji with something to offer.
I love the place, and the economy is in good shape for a tiny Island nation,,The Fijian Dollar makes it way to this area a lot, its one of the better of the the Island currencies that flow through the open markets on the bigger islands.
Are ya in school now ??
Learn Diving while your in school, if interested look into Marine biology or related classes, but mainly learn to dive,,,I'll tell ya why............
A few years ago I meet 2 guys in their late 30s,, both Americans, thay had a business that I thought was pretty cool. They filmed people on their dive trips,, they would travel with their clients and film all the underwater diving activities then edit into some cool footage, I watched some of their movies and dude,,,It was cool, and they charged some way out money for it,,,1000s.

Thank you masa, it just gets better and better. Such a different way life there. amazing stories, you tell them very well and the pics are wonderful.

Ello Luv,, always good to see ya looking in on us,,,Did you do something different with your icon today ??? Looks smashing.


Ok we are down on the farm,, We're in a small valley on the western side of the island 2 days hike from the Ville.
being a certified coffee junkie my wife never told me about this place until we got here years ago, its one of the coolest places on this rock,,and food is everywhere, just not a lot of meat and hardly no fish. Up here would be a vegatarians dream, you'd be shocked to see how many ways you can cook Papaya, ripe and green.
Theres 2 things that do not grow well in the valley,,corn and rice,both staples of the diet, in our caravan is 2 water buffalos pulling sleds piled high with corn flour, cracked corn, whole corn, 3 different kinds of rice(the sweet purple rice grows uncultivated in the small open patches of meadow and is considered a major treat, mainly because of the time it takes to collect enough to make it worthy) and the last thing on the sleds,,,sugar,,cash of the mountain,,with sugar you can get anything you want,,,as long as its up here, in the ville its different,,but up here is a whole new world in the the land of the lost.

Lets head into the coffee forest.
No one can really tell me where the coffee first came from,most will say its got something to do with spirits, and hey,,, it might, we dont know so we wont judge,, best answer I get is,,"it has always been here" my wifes grandfather, whos got some serious age on him says he has been useing it since he was a boy and remembers it always being here and tells of how it and peppercorns were used as money when he was young, in a way it still is,,,its used for trades mainly,, like the corn rice and suger we humped in here, we'll in turn hump coffee beans back to the ville..

The coffee trees them selves are a sight,I'll get me a good morning buzz and wonder through the coffee forest just looking at stuff, gazing at the way they grow, flower and fruit, ancient looking knarled trees, with big dark green waxy leaves that completly blocks out the sun and basicly get left on their own most of the year,,around Sep-Oct they'll clear the ground cover from under and around the trees, trim any dead and transplant young trees that are root born from the older ones to other parts of the farm, the flowers form little tiny green balls that will grow into a cherry with a small 2 piece bean inside, and thats what were here for. I used to (still do) call coffee " BROWN ELIXER OF THE GODS" I dont do it much because here,, it really is.

 

[SeaMaiden]

If you're in California you might be able to find an ROP (regional occupational program) that includes scuba diving in its roster. That's how I first learned to scuba, through the North Orange County ROP. Its focus is teaching scuba for future instructors, and the way my class was taught we were not allowed in the water until after we'd passed several Red Cross certifications, including basic and community CPR, basic and community first aid, water rescue, deep water rescue (rescuing a diver from depth, giving them resuscitation while they're brought to the boat or beach, as well as how to perform helicopter rescues), swift water rescue and some other stuff I can't remember now. But once you've got those certs you're diving at least twice a week in beautiful, though COLD, California waters. After that if you choose to continue you can take the specialty courses--night diving, cave diving, gas-mix diving (for very deep dives), and you'll then be a master diver prepared to go anywhere in the world to instruct others.



Sippin' on some joe right now, enjoying looking at tropical beauty, wishing my Puerto Rican uncle would get on it and send me some coffee from his plantation!

 

[Coba]

" BROWN ELIXER OF THE GODS"

yessir!!!

I like my coffee like I like my... well, coffee... Black and first thing in the morning!

great photos masa...