"Bula" is the greeting everyone uses in Fiji. We hear it from everyone we see on the street, at hotels, restaurants...wherever we go. The funny thing is that the first day, before we knew what they were saying, we thought it sounded like "Hola", which we haven't heard since leaving Galapagos. At first we thought that either Spanish had been adopted as the language in Fiji, or that perhaps they have a lot of Spanish speaking tourists here and maybe we looked like we speak Spanish (which I do). Once we figured out that they were actually saying "Bula" and that is their way of saying Hello, it made a lot more sense!
Fiji is a beautiful island and much larger than the other islands we've visited so far. There is a very strong Indian influence, both Hindu and Muslim, as well as a significant movement towards westernization of the culture, particularly in the cities. There is also a notable number of Koreans and Chinese. In fact, according to one of our guidebooks, the native Fijian population is only 59% of the total population in the country. It is evident in many ways that the Fijian people are struggling to maintain their cultural identity. They are very proud to be Fijian and are quick to point out anything that is part of the Fijian tradition as well as businesses that are owned and operated by native Fijians.
When we arrived in Fiji, I was on watch on the ship for the first two days. I like that arrangement because I get my responsibility to the ship out of the way, then I can go ashore for the remaining days and not think about having to go back to work for a day or two in the middle of our visit. In this case, we were scheduled to stay eight days, so after two days on watch, I had six days ashore. Also, the first day that we arrive those who are going ashore usually only have half a day by the time we dock or anchor, clear through Customs, and whatever else we have to do before being stood down from all hands.
For the first afternoon's work we "osphoed" the topsides of the ship. Ospho is a chemical cleaner that removes rust stains from the painted steel hull. We've converted the name of the cleaner to a verb which means scrubbing off rust using the Ospho. It is one of the least favorite jobs on board. Since we were at anchor, we had to work from the skiff with one person to hold onto a line that kept us close enough to the ship to do the work while the other two of us used long handled scrub brushes.
On my second day of ship work I was assigned to galley duty. Joe, our Cook, prepared breakfast and most of lunch. We made the fruit salad and carrot slaw. Joe also took boneless chicken breasts out of the freezer and told us to cook those along with scalloped potatoes for dinner. We had sufficient vegetables and fruit leftover from lunch that fixing dinner was quite simple. Especially since Jeff Bartlett, my galley partner for the day, made the barbecue sauces and took charge of grilling the chicken. All I had to do was figure out how to make scalloped potatoes, and with two cookbooks to reference I was able to improvise. Since I know everyone likes a sweet treat I also made a batch of my favorite chocolate chip oatmeal cookie bars...without the recipe I use at home, this was another improvisation. Fortunately, it was successful and I managed to bake it without burning it...quite an accomplishment in our unregulated diesel cookstove.
By the time I came ashore, a number of shipmates had been back and forth to the ship with reports on where to stay, what to do, restaurants to eat at, bars for night life, etc. I stayed in Suva for the first two days...sent my laundry to be cleaned, checked for email messages, got acquainted with the city and did some shopping. We found delicious, spicy Indian and Chinese food. I quickly decided that very spicy food would make a good diet for losing weight because it's difficult to eat a lot of it or to eat it too quickly. In the city we visited the Municipal Market where they sell all types of fresh produce, eggs, and fish (I don't recall seeing meat...I think that is at the butcher shop elsewhere). The second floor of the Municipal Market is entirely Kava, both roots and powder, and some spices. I learned that Kava can be made from the stem or the root, however the root is considered higher quality and more potent.
Kava is an important part of the traditional Fijian culture. The kava ceremony is very important and whenever you visit a village you are expected to present kava to the chief. They then blend the kava with water to make a beverage that is shared ceremonially. A coconut shell cup is used to blend the kava and water in the kava bowl; another coconut shell cup is used to drink the kava. A cup full of kava is presented to each person in turn and you are expected to drink down the entire cup at one time. It tastes rather bland, however, when sufficient quantities are drunk it can have deleterious effects. One of our shipmates describes it as "paralyzing the body while leaving the mind alert." I only drank one cup full, so I can't say what it does when taken in large quantities.
After the kava ceremony, during which our tour guides requested permission for our group to walk on the village owned land, we hiked inland to a waterfall. Along the way our guide told us about traditional medicinal uses for a number of the local plants, which I found very interesting. The watefall was beautiful and we spent some time swimming in the pool at the foot of the waterfall.
Another day we visited the Garden of the Sleeping Giant which is home to a collection of rare orchids on 50 acres of beautifully landscaped tropical gardens and rainforest. It was founded by the American actor, Raymond Burr, and is still maintained in beautiful condition. We spent a delightfully relaxing couple of hours meandering along the trails, stopping to sit on a bench occassionally to take in the beauty and fragrance of the plants and listen to the elusive birds.
Of course, we spent a little time on the beach in two different places. One beach was mostly white coral and shells...beautiful to look at and difficult to walk on barefoot; while the other beach was brown with a muddy sand that was very easy to walk on barefoot. Ironically it was the second beach, which had a relatively small number of shells, on which we collected some beautiful shells.
Tonight I go back aboard the ship and tomorrow I am on watch again. We had expected to leave port tomorrow (Monday, Oct. 10th...which is Sunday in the U.S.), however, at noon I learned that we are staying an extra day. That's not unusual. So far, we've only left port as scheduled one time; all of our other departures have been delayed anywhere from one to four days.
Our next destination is Vanuatu, where we will make several stops. I don't know whether I will have Internet access in Vanuatu. Watch the ship's website for updates as we sail: http://www.picton-castle.com
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