We saw the sun today, briefly, for the first time since we arrived in Fiji on Tuesday. So Ryan ran outside with the camera to take pictures.
They look like this:
This morning we shared a taxi into town with Sunita, Subash and their daughter to go visit the market. Saturdays are the best days to go pick up groceries in town because the ships arrive in port that morning and all of the stores, including the local market have fresh supplies. A women at one of the grocery stores, who must live on the island here because we saw her later driving a jeep with Fijian plates down the road, advised us not to buy carrots at the grocery store because she said they are fresher at the market today. Funny thing, Subash who lives here told us the exact opposite, that he doesn’t buy items like onions or carrots from the market because there’s no refrigeration during transport, so his family buys those things from the grocery stores in town.
Sunita (the resident housekeeper and chef) said she’ll teach me how to make roti, the hindi tortilla type bread. We bought some from her the night we arrived with dinner and inhaled that stuff because it’s so delicious.
Really all of the food here is delicious.
Also at the stores in town: Fijian Rum. We bought a coffee flavored version they were sampling in one of the shops in town because we are coffee whores. And booze hounds.
Most people drink a version of Fijian Rum called Bounty. We opted to pay $15 FJD more and get the flavored stuff. We were not disappointed with our decision.
Fijians are really fucking nice. Seriously. Everyone we’ve met since we’ve been here, have been really warm and welcoming. The only rude person I’ve seen so far was this loud white lady from LA who was here the past month sampling turmeric from around the island as she’s looking to get into the agricultural business, which I guess includes growing and selling turmeric.
We ate lunch the other day at Surf and Turf, and she introduced herself to us and then proceeded to be disappointed by the level of service she received, which included things like waiting for her water glass to be refilled and waiting for her pineapple drink to be delivered. People say you have to get used to “Fijian Time” here. I think it’s more like, yeah I heard you and I’ll bring you your drink when it’s ready. There’s one person waiting tables and waiting two minutes for your drink order will turn out ok for you. We promise.
Although it’s been raining here (which we are totally fine with coming from Seattle and all) it’s that combined with the 25+ mph winds that have made it a little challenging to get outside and really enjoy paradise. It sounds like the winds are supposed to calm down over the next couple of days so perhaps we will break out our snorkel gear soon.
Subash commented that he’s heard on the news the climate is changing. This is typically their dry season here but it’s been raining since before we arrived and continued through the week. Labasa, the town on the other side of the island, has been without rain for six months, so they really need it. Gene, who owns this place commented on the phone (he’s in Hawaii at his house the entire time we’re here) “you’re in the tropics now and the weather can be pretty unpredictable”.
They say the weather should be nicer on Monday next week. We'll see!