Day 9 & 10-Starting in Suva
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Hi. Welcome to Suva and as you can see from the next two pictures, I am very sunburned, from only occasionally going in the sun (from bus to activity, back to bus). My nose is in sad shape (blister on it), but it will heal. Everything is good.
And the good news is, my rib is not broken after all. It must have been severely bruised, but now it's healed and there's very little pain now, almost completely gone. I am a lucky woman.
My first view of Suva from the back of the ship.
Captain Bligh put Fiji on the map. After the famous mutiny aboard his ship, the Bounty, Bligh, along with 18 others, were put in a small boat and set adrift. When Bligh returned to England 11 months later, he took command of another ship, returned to Fiji and charted 39 islands.
According to Fijian legend though, the great chief Lutgunasobasoba led his people across the seas to the new land of Fiji about 3,700 years ago.
Fiji Water really does come from Fiji (at least it did in the beginning-though they swear it still does). Its source is the island of Viti Levu on the remote north side of the Yaqara Vall.
Our excursion today was a scenic drive to a Farmers' Market 45 minutes away in an old hot school bus, with hot vinyl seats and no air conditioning and windows too high to see anything out of. Not much of a tour, but our tour guide Joe, was a great asset and kept us entertained with stories and views nonstop, both ways on our drive. He never stopped talking, but in a good way and was very kind.
We also stopped at a 4-floor shopping mall, where the going price for everything was about $99 Fijan, which came out to about $50USD. Our dollar is strong in Fiji, but then they inflated the prices for everything.
Welcome to SavaSavu Island-Day 10
Bear with me. I'm learning to take selfies and not always successful at it.
In SavaSavu, with the result of volcanic activity that created the island, the bubbling hot springs are a popular tourist attraction and are used by locals to cook their food.
Until the mid 19th century, this island was known as one of the "cannibal islands".
Today's excursion was to a Traditional Fiji Village. The homes weren't fancy, but clean and the property itself were very well-maintained. They lived less than a couple of hundred feet from the beach. The Chief of this village performed a Kava ceremony, which is drinking water mixed with a Kava root, which is non-alcoholic, but leaves a numbing feeling. Similar to what beer can offer.
In this picture, we were greeted with songs of the village and of course the magic "Boula" greeting in every song.
We also visited the kindergarten school, where the children performed a couple of songs for us.
They performed many dances for us. Taught us how to shimmy up the tree to get coconuts. Then how to open up the coconuts, make baskets and so much more.
I like Dravuni and SavuSavu, best of all the islands we visited. Very unspoiled, very relaxed-I felt at peace.
The beach near their home-beautiful.
So you can't see the flowers, but I finally got lei today (haha).
I hope I have inspired you to travel to Fiji or somewhere in the world.
Valerie Brown