At night we tried to take part in local culture by participating in the kava sessions. Kava's a root that they pound up with dirty socks and mix with water or whatever to form a brackish, dishwater-like brew. I wasn't too into it. Anyway, all it seemed to do was numb my lips.

There's an odd ceremony to it: you sit in a circle and have to clap a certain number of times, then you do a shot of kava out of a coconut shell, then you need to clap again. After a couple rounds everyone gets real spacey. Despite the fact that Fijians all get dry, flaky skin from taking the stuff (people have to put "kava lotion" on their skin), it's now widely sold as an anti-anxiety remedy in health food stores in the US!

I tried to turn Fijians on to some better stuff, but they weren't interested. Kava appears too be a matter of national pride. To each his own, I guess.