Viti Levu, Fiji
The sea is incredibly calm this morning as we head to Lautoka, Viti Levu, Fiji for the day. We are traveling through what is called by Bligh water. Yes after Capitan Bligh of the Bounty. Capital Bligh is the European credited with the discover of Fiji. Fiji surrounds the Koro Sea. According to one source it lies between the Equator and the South Pole. The map dosen’t seem to support that however. It is south of the Equator that is true, but we are well north of the South Pole. Ok, so yes it lies between them, just not equally.
The excursion today is to the Garden of the Sleeping Giant. The Sleeping Giant is a legend used to describe the shape of a mountain on Viti Levu as seen from Thunder Bay. The photos online can be interpreted as a large man sleeping on his back. How he got there who knows. Posted to Facebook as well.
The Garden of the Sleeping Giant which lies just below the mountain of the same name. The gardens contain a vast collection of more than 2000 varieties of Asian orchids and Cattleya hybrids. The garden was started by none other than our own Perry Mason, Raymond Burr, in 1977 to showcase his personal collection. Raymond Burr was a part-time Fiji resident.
We walked along the winding cement and rock paths. There were exotic and “ordinary” orchids on either side of the path which offered a plethora of vibrant colors, against a back ground of green, red, yellow and variegated foliage. There were lily ponds with small frogs playing on the lilies. There were various places for holding weddings or other events. It was magical to say the least. While Raymond Burr started the garden to grow and breed orchids, he didn’t life in the garden. He apparently lived elsewhere on the island. When he passed away in 1988, he left the garden to the community. It was well worth the stop.
We left the garden we headed into town to visit a market where we could by local products. Which it turns out was a more modern market than those of the past. More importantly I found Fiji Fire; a chili hot sauce. There are two styles and and there is a sense of excitement about trying them both.
After the market we headed to Viseisei. Viseisei is considered to be the oldest settlement in Fiji where its villagers still follow traditional ways. That implies ingenious dwellings, and perhaps ingenious dress. There was supposed to be an authentic kava ceremony: this would be our second one. There was also supposed to be a meke dance preformed for our benefit. As the bus pulled off to the side of the road there palpable feeling of disappointment. What lay before us was a group of somewhat ramshackle shacks, built of plywood and corrugated tin.
While thy might possibly be ingenious dwellings today, the weren’t the historical dwells we had the expectation of seeing. In front of a couple of them were tables filled with ingenious trinkets for sale. Walking through the village, in the center we found a church which could have come out of a New England picture book. There were one of two very nice buildings. It was explained one was the administrative offices and the other was the meeting house. The village guide then explained because it is Lent, a Christian holiday, and the chief of the village had mandated a Holy Week, which meant no dancing or drinking of kava.
There is no way the bar could have been set so low as to keep us from being disappointed. In less than twenty minutes we were headed back to the bus. There simply wasn’t anything to see, watch or do.
There were several of is who were actually looking forward to trying kava. Kava has many names; it was seen in Hawai’i as ‘Awa and ‘Ava in Samoa. It apparently is same intoxicating, mouth-numbing drink with sedative like effects. 60’s brownie anyone? Research did reveal some new information. The active ingredient is called kavalactones, and it is made from pulverized pepper plant root.
The meke dance we missed out on is a traditional story-telling dance incorporating music and movement and used to send messages from one village to another. Before european and western influence, Fiji did not have the written word, so historic events and important information specific to a village were taught to the young and preserved for future generations through these songs and accompanying dances. Apparently, Meke is a joyous and uplifting thing to see. Supposedly small rotating groups take turns to dance while the those who are not dancing clap and sing to provide the musical accompaniment. Singers encourage and celebrate the active dances and there might have been howls of laughter and very happy faces. Oh, well.
Looking over the highlights sheet for Lautoka there are a number of things to see and do, which unfortunately we won’t get to. That is both the beauty and tragedy of only stopping somewhere for ten or twelve hours. Tragedy in that you don’t get to see everything, and beauty in that you get introduced to things you can go back and see.
Here, for example, we missed Vuda Point, Fiji’s Plymouth Rock. There is a sugar mill you can visit, although if it is anything like ketchup you may not want to if you want to keep consuming sugar. On the other hand, if you are trying to cut back, maybe it will help? There is the largest Hindu temple south of the equator. We we did get a glimpse of out of the window of the bus as we passed it. If you are into beaches and diving there is Savala and Tivua Islands. For nature there is the Koroyanitu National Heritage Park. Several reasons to come back.
On the drive back to the ship the driver did point out the islands were the movie Survivor and Castaway were filmed. Not that you could ever really pick out which one of the several islands you could see was associated with which movie. Nor could you possibly ever pick them out if you passed them a second time.
Back at the ship and checked in standing at the elevator, someone from La Veranda announced La Veranda would be open until 2:45. A quick glance at the clock indicated that if you wanted some lunch you had better get going. It was 2:30. So instead of going back to the room and putting our things down we headed straight up to La Veranda.
Unfortunately, there was sufficient time to take the shuttle into town to do a little more sightseeing or shopping. We decided to play cards, but first Mary had to do something for the office. So, I took a cigar and headed to the Connisseur Lounge while she did her thing. We both waited for each other to tell the other one that it was time to play cards. Finally at 4:15 I texted and said I was ready.
Once the meeting of the minds was properly established, we headed to the card room to play canasta. We could have gone to tea, but at this point we weren’t really hungry. Although, Mary had the vodka hot chocolate; hot chocolate mixed with premium vodka and stopped with whipped cream. It was the usual cappuccino for me. Cards didn’t go my way at all. I was in a hold them mood and that wasn’t the proper strategy for playing today. I got beat by more than 100%. So much for arrogance.
We went back to the room and did a little more planning for the summer and fall. Not really deciding on anything, more like talking out options. Serra wrote and let us know the grape harvest was more like October 10 than September 10. This changes up the timing a little. Trying very hard to learn to be flexible. We don’t have nor need a fixed schedule.
The Mariner was underway to the Bay of Islands. The Bay of Islands is a collection of 140 subtropical islands next to New Zealand’s North Island. It’s known for undeveloped beaches, big-game fishing and Māori artifacts. This area has the Port of Russell which was New Zealand’s first colonial capital.
The pool deck was a disheartening sight. The chaise lounges were battened down. The safety net was back on the pool. These aren’t the signed you want to see as you begin two full days at sea. Leaving the harbor the sea and winds were calm. We took a table on the pool deck and had dinner.
Tonight, I was armed with my hot sauce purchased this afternoon. Tonight was the first time the kitchen had put out Thai Hot Chili Sauce. Somehow the kitchen has finally received the message that a little more spice in the food would be nice. Just like playing canasta, you make the canasta with the wild card because you are tired of waiting for the 7th card to make a natural, and the next card you draw is that 7th card.
Stewart was in the cigar lounge this evening. He and Chrissy both play canasta. We reviewed the rules and came to the agreement we even play the same variety of canasta. After exchanging suite numbers, emails and phone numbers it was agreed that we would have dinner one of the nights we are at sea and get together and play canasta.
9:45 and time for lights out. Tomorrow, we have massages. Although according to the slips we got on our door we each have two sessions tomorrow. We both agreed that we didn’t sign up for that. Deal with it in the morning.
Buonanotte e ciao, Enrico
Comments