Gallivanting Grandma

Thursday – December 6, 2018

“Bula! Bula!” Means “Hello” in Fijian.  The full greeting is “Bula, Venaka!” Literally “Hello, Thank you” but serves as a warm welcome.

Here’s the view of Suva, Fiji from our balcony. It looked like more like a commercial port, not the tropical paradise that the word “Fiji” conjured in my imagination.  Suva is the capital of the Republic of Fiji and biggest city on the island of Viti Levu.

Jeff and I went ashore and I saw a No Smoking sign which included the local “Pidgin” language widely used all across the South Pacific Islands.  “E Tabu” means ‘it’s forbidden’ – taboo.  “Na” means no.  “Vaka” as in vapor/smoke.  “Tavako” is ‘tobacco’.  “Eke” means here.  Loose translation: “It’s taboo – No smoking tobacco – Here”

We crossed the street and went toward a sprawling covered market.  Several people had mats spread out on the ground outside the building.  They were selling peanuts, eggplants, and a variety of root vegetables. The woman in the photo below had crabs tied together with a strip of a palm leaf.

Inside the vast market building there were about a hundred vendors selling taro, pineapples, coconuts, potatoes, eggplants, different kinds of bananas, mangos, papayas, beans, other fruits and vegetables which we didn’t recognize.

On the street outside the market there were more permanent stalls offering shoe and leather repair, cell phone services, and hot prepared foods.

We had been warned about the “barrow men” who used wheelbarrows to deliver fruits and vegetables to the vendors.  They had a reputation for mowing down unsuspecting visitors in their haste to perform their jobs.  I saw two of the barrow men relaxing between deliveries and asked one of the men if I could take his picture.  He nodded gruffly.  When I showed him his photo, he beamed a wide smile and laughed heartily.  You never know what people are really like unless you communicate with them….

Jeff and I saw a sign which read “Grog Upstairs” and we discovered the second floor of the market where kava roots, tobacco, and Indian spices were sold.  We were told that the islanders drink kava especially during celebrations and special events.  My dictionary states that kava is “a narcotic sedative drink made in Polynesia from the crushed roots of a plant of the pepper family.”

When I took the picture of the kava roots above, the woman who ran the booth came forward to talk to me.  She explained how the roots were dried and finely ground, then water is added to the powder.  The plastic container to the left of the roots held ground kava.  The woman’s assistant offered me a drink of kava, but I declined graciously, thinking about drinking the local water as well as the unknown effect of the kava.

Outside on the street there was a large banner celebrating the recent visit of Prince Harry and Megan Markle.  They visited New Zealand and Australia as well as several other Polynesian islands.

Here is a photo of one of the main intersections in Suva.

A few minutes later, there was a huge tropical downpour.  Fortunately, most of the sidewalks were covered and we ducked into the modern, air conditioned Tapoo department store to get out of the rain.  This sign directed us up to the 4th floor:

We didn’t want to have Fijian New York pizza but we sat at a table in the food court and had refreshing cold Pepsi Colas.  Did I mention it was 84 degrees with 93% humidity outside before it started to rain?  Christmas decorations in Tapoo:

The food court included a young brown-skinned Santa who gave me the Hawaiian/Polynesian double-handed greeting.

Later, we found the post office and I dropped some postcards into a slot labeled “Over Seas” so I hope my family gets them.  When we got back to the Amsterdam, there was a U.S. Coast Guard ship in the harbor and the light was interesting as gray clouds increased.

In the evening, the Amsterdam pushed away from the dock and we left the Port of Suva, Fiji.  More amazing cloud formations on the South Pacific Ocean:

Wednesday – December 5, 2018

Bula! Bula!  That’s “Hello” in Fijian.

The Amsterdam anchored off the village of Nadi on the island of Viti Levu, in the Republic of the Fiji Islands.  The ship’s tender took us to the dock of the marina at Port Denarau.  The Fijian Dollar was worth only half of our American Dollars, so shopping was a good buy for us.

Denarau Island was a former mangrove swamp on the west side of Viti Levu, which is the largest island of 330 islands in the Fiji archipelago.  Denarau Island has become Fiji’s five-star tourism enclave with seven international resorts, residential villas, and a championship golf course.  A tourist haven.

With 82 degree temperatures and 85% humidity, it sure didn’t feel like Christmas!  The “tree” in my photo below was made of plastic Fiji water bottles.  (Yes, some Fijian men wear wrap-around skirts.  Much cooler than pants!)

Unfortunately, we didn’t go off the island because transportation was limited.  We did a little shopping at the famous Jack’s of Fiji and had lunch overlooking the bay.  We watched a couple of men fishing with nets from shore.

Huge clouds were gathering on the mountain across the harbor. I could smell the rain.

As the clouds moved across the bay, we decided to return to the ship.

The cloud formations over the water were fascinating and I couldn’t stop myself from taking dramatic photos:

We got back to the ship just in time to watch a huge downpour of tropical rain.