Sole-less in Fiji

Yesterday, April 3rd was spent in Suva, Fiji, the largest city in this part of the Pacific. Our excursion departed at 7:50 am - necessitating an early wakeup call if one was to eat before setting out to see all the sights of Suva. No worries, I made it to The Terrace in plenty of time to enjoy my coffee, fresh-squeezed orange juice, bacon, and heaping plate of delicious fresh fruit, berries and nuts.

Aboard our air-conditioned bus, our guide shared many interesting facts with us including her name (which I did not comprehend) that I shall try to share with you in case you are as ignorant about the Fiji Islands as I. Suva is the capital and largest city of Fiji. Early on, sugar was the primary export and economic staple of the islands; however, it has now fallen to fourth with tourism topping the list followed by timber (mostly Mahogany) at second place and...darned if I heard what was #3. Fiji is a Provence of The United Kingdom,

thus English is their official language but more than 300 different languages/dialects are spoken on the islands. The majority of the people of Suva are Catholic, thus "Good Friday is a national holiday... so much of the city is closed, meaning traffic will be light..." Nothing could have been further from reality than that statement. We might as well have been on I-35 on OU weekend! To add to the traffic snarl, they, like New Zealand, dearly love traffic circles! Observation by yours truly: EVERYONE in Suva owns a car and EVERY one of those persons were in them and on the very streets we were to traverse!

On the way to the Fiji Museum we crawled past a large Catholic Church with hundreds of parishioners gathered all over the sidewalk and into the street. Those were the only humans not in cars, I do believe. First stop was Fiji Museum-loved it! One of the exhibits which we would be able to see was "the soles of the first missionary's feet." Soon after his arrival, he made a fatal error - he reached out to touch an ornament in the Chief's hair. That action was misconstrued, resulting in his death by the cannibalistic crowd who left only the soles of his feet. Right?! - I skipped that part of the museum! Otherwise, it was wonderfully informative/entertaining as you can see from the many pictures.

After passing out of the museum and its gift shop, we were offered local foods and cumquat juice. Took a pass on the foods but very much enjoyed the juice. But, my favorite of the day was observing and talking with the ladies making clay pots, beads, etc. Was even invited to take a sit and visit - which I happily did (probably for much longer than they anticipated). Lovely, lovely ladies!

Also on the grounds of the museum were all kinds of plants in pots looking remarkably similar to our nurseries but lacking a means to purchase? Puzzling. Don't know what kind of trees canopied the grounds, except Old and Beautiful.

The remainder of the excursion was comprised of traffic jams, an open-air produce market, traffic jams, inching along through a rain forest. traffic jams, rain, a 15 minute stop at a lovely upscale market, more traffic jams to the dock and weaving our way through the towering stacks of shipping containers to the ship. Enjoyable, informative, exhausting day. (No need to repeat, however...)

Today is Someday! Visit Fiji, or not . . .