Rassi mixes the kava

The resort here is so small that I now know everyone who is here. We’ve connected with some interesting characters. There are people from Italy, Russia, Kenya, Switzerland, and Australia. Yesterday we met a Canadian (now living in Australia) who knew exactly where Sarnia was, so it was fun to talk hockey and politics. 

The craziest person on the resort is Ben, who is an Aussie. He worked his charm on the staff and they put on a ‘kava’ event last night. I’m hesitant to admit this, but kava is a drink that’s actually considered some sort of mild drug here. However, it’s completely natural and totally legal and the Fijians say it’s quite mellow. It’s extracted from pepper root. When in Fiji, right?

Uncertain of what to expect, and perhaps a bit apprehensive, we sat in a circle on benches and were introduced to Rassi, a local Fiji man with a beautiful smile that accentuated a huge gap in his mouth where a tooth should have been.

Bula!

Rassi stands in front of a huge caldron and puts the powdered kava in a nylon bag of some sort and drops it into the cauldron. He adds water, lots of it, to the mixture. The result is a grayish-brownish looking, soupy liquid that smells a little like clay. The designated spokesperson (who happened to be Ben, the crazy Aussie) must indicate that he wants a round for everyone, and Rassi dips half a coconut shell (as a bowl) into the caldron and offers it first to the chief of the event (Zeek, for some reason). He then makes his way around the circle. When receiving the drink, you clap once and say “Bula!” (hello). You take the bowl and chug it down, like a college kid with beer. When finished, everyone claps 3 times and you say, “Mala!” which means, finished, and give the coconut bowl back to Rassi. This is repeated for everyone in the group. When he is filling the bowl, you may say “full tide” or “low tide” to indicate how full you want your coconut bowl to be. You talk and chill for a bit after everyone has partaken, until the spokesman declares another round for everyone. We probably had about 20 rounds over the course of 2 hours. It was a lot, I’ll admit that.

It tastes neither pleasant nor unpleasant. It’s a very woody taste- almost like a cross between cold tea and licking a tree trunk. Not that I’ve ever done that, but you get the gist.

The effects. Numb tongue and basically just a peaceful, mellow feeling. As I said, we drank a lot of it, but it was mild. No one got loud or saw crazy things or got out of line. That having been said, it made me feel a bit nauseated after a couple hours. By 10pm I just wanted to get to bed in the worst way, and I slept like a log and felt great the next morning. Due to the sick feeling, I’m not sure I would partake in kava again, although I would certainly recommend it to anyone visiting here for a cultural experience. It wasn’t mind altering or anything. It was a great social event and a fun and interesting experience.

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