Disaster, a trip to remember and redemption.

We had booked a trip than inland village called Namaumau as a chance  for us to see some of inland Fiji. There is only one main road here and that sticks closely to the coast. Apparently it takes 11 to 12 hours to drive around the whole island. So travel into the hinterland you either need a 4 x4 or you take a boat up one of the rivers. We chose the latter option.
We left our hotel at 9.10 but were held up by an Australian who we waited for but it turned out that he or she hadn't booked anyway. As a result we got away at 9.30.
After an hour on the us we arrived at Maria's house, where we could use the toilet and get changed I to our swimwear, it was made fairly obvious to us that we were going to get wet. We had imagined this staging post to be something grand but it was in fact only someone's house with the bedrooms used as changing rooms and two toilets, silly us.
After being given a life jacket the group was separated into eights and we were taken to our longboat, ours was called "Loverboy, the runaway." The journey up river was about an hour and a half, our outboard engine kept stalling,in a river swollen by rainfall the night before, which wasn't awfully comforting.
At one point we came to a fairly steep set of rapids. The expedition manger and I had watched to boat  in front of us make an attempt up them and slip backdown again, so that gives you a small indication of the amount of water passing through. Our turn to ascend arrived, up we went, the engine stalled and down we came, this happened thre times, then the captain rearranged the seating moving some us back in the boat. Another attempt which failed, at this point four passengers in the front of the boat were requested to leave the boat and walk along a stony ridge to the right. They disembarked and we had another attempt which was successful although by this time we had shipped quite a lot of water.
After a hour we stopped at the base of a waterfall where there were two natural pools people could swim in. The expedition manager thought she would like to try this although I couldn't as the first people to go in reported that the water was extremely cold. Anyway I was put in charge of the manager's possessions, her watch and her glasses, hat and top ,whilst she went swimming, and very glorious she looked as well.
When she came out of the water I gave her her towel, top, watch and hat and was then asked for her glasses. As I was wearing swimming trunks I had very cunningly folded these and put one arm into the v shaped neck of my t shirt, so I reached for them only to discover that they were no longer there. Major panic ensued on my part, I returned to both pools but could not find them, the manager was slightly more than furious. Maria came with me to search for the glasses but we couldn't find them and came to the conclusion they must be in the pools where I had photographed Rosemarie swimming. Maria promised to find a pair of goggles in the village and have someone dive I to the pool to find them. I was disconsolate, having worn glasses all my life I recognise how important they are. By the time we had got back into the boat for the second part of the journey the expedition manager had calmed down a bit and we had come to the conclusion this was a s legitimate insurance claim. I was still inconsolable.
We arrived at the village, were given a traditional welcoming ceremony, were sung some songs and then encouraged to join in some "traditional" dancing. The first dance was called the "bingo" and when someone called out" Bingo" you had to change partners. The second dance was called " Disco", which is exactly what it seemed to be, the third dance was a version of the "Conga" and was probably the most traditional of all.
After the dancing we were taken to the village school for 85 children aged 6 to 13. It was very basic and almost Victorian. Sme people had taken the children sweet biscuits which we felt was condescending and there was something about this part of the visit I didn't like. Perhaps it is the idea that children become like zoo animals an item of tourist attraction?
After the school we had a "traditional" lunch which included tuna sandwiches,but also roast chicken, papaya, salad and a root vegetable served with a spinach sauce.
Lunch over we were treated to a market of the villagers' handicrafts, before some farewell singing and re embarkation  to our boats. The journey down river was much quicker as we were travelling with the flow. We stopped for a ride on a bamboo raft ,which is the traditional form of travel, and after about half a mile of that we were put back into our boats to take us back to Maria's.
As we were in the last part of the journey, Maria's boat overtook ours and in her outstretched hand was