Little Lolly's Small Adventures: Suva

It wasn't the best of days in Suva - it rained a lot of the time.

Christina (from the ship's shop) and I headed out into Suva for a bit of a wander around town. Well... the wandering didn't take us too far. We headed into a shopping mall. When we tried to emerge sometime later - there was a nice downpour outside. Not to be outsmarted by the rain - we crossed the road to another shopping mall for a wander around, leaving puddles behind us from our dripping shoes and clothes. Cleaners in the mall were loosing a battle to keep the floors clean and dry!

It was still pouring with rain when we emerged from the mall and it was a case of "do you want to continue wandering or do you want to head back to the ship"? The reply would be "I don't mind - whatever you want to do". Being easy going - we didn't mind what each other wanted to do and couldn't make our minds up. On the way back we popped into the first mall again, once again getting a drenching whilst crossing the busy main road.

Christina's birthday is tomorrow and I had already got something for her that would be small enough for her to carry in her luggage; however whilst we were in the one shop again Christina had been looking at a nice woven reed box with tapa cloth on it for her jewellery. When she was occupied, looking for something, I found a nice box and dashed to the cashiers to pay for it. Unfortunately a very friendly shop assistant took it from me, even though I told him I was trying to hid it from a friend, and held it quite openly. When Christina appeared to ask if I was getting something, the gentleman smiled and started waving the item around even though I had told him I was getting it as a gift for a friend. It rather spoilt things a lot and I tried to hide my embarrassment. Anyway I turned away to pay the bill and the shop assistant disappeared with the gift to have it wrapped before I could stop him - I had wanted to put the something in the box before I wrapped it up. He came back a few minutes later and took me to the gift-wrapping service where my item was being wrapped up. Afterwards I found Christina but we both didn't mentioned the incident. She knew and I knew.

We walked through the rain, back to the ship. It didn't matter that we were wet to the skin again. Needless to say we had to dry off when we got back.

Later this evening Paul and I met up with Christina for dinner in the Pinnacle Grill. It was a joint birthday meal for us. Her birthday is tomorrow, my birthday was yesterday. The meal was delicious and afterwards the staff kindly presented us a joint cake and decorated the plate for us. Christina and I exchanged gifts. She had got me a bottle of perfume but had also got me and Paul a joint 'something'. It was a coconut cannibal cat! Ugly but beautiful. It's vampire like teeth are filed down shells, its ears are dish scrubbing pads, whiskers are made of a rough rope, the head is a hollowed out coconut with cowrie shells for its eyes. The body is a small round wood post with a bit of tapa cloth wrapped around its body. It is so cute! Christina was delighted with her woven reed & tapa cloth box and her coconuts soap wrapped in a tapa cloth bag.

Heading to Lautoka

It was a nice evening to round off the day.

The Maasdam is heading around Viti Levu to her next stop, Lautoka, on the west coast.

The Maasdam docked in sunny Suva and soon guests were heading out for a bit of sight-seeing or shopping. The tour busses arrived and the Excursions department did a good job of getting everyone onto their correct bus on time.

I was soon off and away in the bus on my assigned tour, the driver taking past the men's correctional facility and then the female's correctional facility - i.e. jail. Nanise, our guide, mentioned that there was barbed wire around the ladies jail to keep the men OUT 😉! As we headed towards Sawani Village, Nanise pointed out places and buildings of interest and talked a bit about this history of the island the the various customs.

Orchid.

We were warmly welcomed by villagers, a group of whom broke out into song as we arrived - men, women and children. We were given a flower lei each as we exited the bus and went into the village hall. A representative of the village welcomed us into the community and then explained what would happen during the kava ceremony - how the drink was prepared to the passing of the coconut cup filled with the liquid. One of the guests had been elected as our 'chief' and representative. He was invited by the chief of the village to take a seat before the warriors, the dried kava was put in a muslin bag which was then steeped in a wooden bowl of water, and the chief gave a speech. Before receiving a bowl of kava, our 'chief' had to clap twice to indicate he was ready to receive the drink and then the warriors clapped 3 or 4 times before the coconut cup was handed to the guest to drink. The warriors and chief also had a drink with the clapping ritual performed before and after each drink. The chief said a few more final words and that was the end of the ceremony. More kava was made up and guests were invited to come up and have some if they wanted it, with the clapping ritual before and after each cupful. I had some, for the first time, but it wasn't to my liking. At least I had tried it though. Someone else described it as tasting like muddy water!

Women weaving.

We were invited to take a walk around the village. As guests emerged from the village hall a villager would take 3 or 4 guests under his or her wing for a personalised tour of the village. It was a very nice idea because in smaller groups you can hear your guide better and it makes for a better visit.

Back at the village hall we were able to see some women weaving baskets and fans with dried leaves, there were arts and crafts for sale and the male villagers played music and sang as we relaxed. A short while later the villagers performed a few dances and for the final one - guests were persuaded to join in. Sadly it was time to leave the village and our hosts came together to sing us a farewell song and hoped that we would be back again in the not too distant future. Some of the villagers got a hug from the guests as headed to the bus. It had been a very enjoyable morning.

Our bus driver (Georgie) dropped off some guests in town, the rest of us preferring to stay on the bus and head back to the ship.

Paul had already had lunch by the time I popped my head around his office door so I ended up grabbing a light bite to eat and met Paul back on the pier. There was a small stall that sold coconut oil and coconut soaps so we got some oil and soaps. Paul got waylaid by the captain on the pier so I left him to it, to do his inspection rounds with the captain.

Ooops!

In the harbour water, not far from the pier, there was a sunken ship. Apparently it had been taking on cargo when it started to sink and was towed away from the pier where it, er .. sank. Ooops! Booms were put around it to contain any fuel spillage.

Later on we met up with Eduardo and Ananda (from the ship's shops) and had dinner in the Canaletto restaurant. It is usually difficult to meet up with them for a meal when we are at sea. This time, because the ship was on very late departure schedule, we were able to sit down and have a meal with them. Time flew by, the meal and the company was good.

The Maasdam is scheduled to leave at 11pm so Paul has to stay up until then. I don't think I can stay awake until he gets back so I'm off to bed.

Tomorrow we anchor just off Dravuni Island.