Pacific Odyssey - Leg 3

I am sitting in the aft cabin with Arwen beside me reading Farley Mowat´s "The Dog Who Wouldn´t Be," and Sam across from me putting finishing touches to our Leg end slide show which gets shown on the night of the final dinner.  Jose and him were working all last evening and into the night going through about 10,000 photos from cameras from at least 10 crew and trainees.  There are so many amazing photos of this voyage; one sometimes feel overwhelmed when you see them, the feeling that you want a copy of nearly all of them; each one is so full of a memory we can all relate to.  Sam and Jose worked all day today as well, staying on the Grace putting the show together out of the photos they chose. They also have about 10 bits of video clips and are setting the entire show to music.  It will be wonderful; something we´ll want to be shown over and over.  Today was a very hot day, but a good day.  People were spread out in many directions.  At 0600 hrs Karen, Antony, Jordan and Susan left with a driver to Suva.  Antony and Jordan are shopping for the boat and Karen and Susan are getting Chinese visas for several of the trainees who don´t have them yet.  Carolyn C. and Katie visited Nadi and Krista, Carolyn S., Robyn, Jaimie and Leslie rented a car and visited Suva.  A group of fellows, Caelen, Graydon, Paul, Scott, and Chase took a few days in a hostel in
Nadi visiting and relaxing.  It´s a quiet boat.  Skipper and his boys are asleep on deck.  I was able today to take a walk into town with the boys and look at everything.  We loved it; there was so much to notice.  The town is not large and I was pleasantly surprised at how many green spaces there were.  We picnicked in a large park with big shade trees, picnic tables and benches.  There is a wonderful grocery store here for the cooks, Gillian and Katie.  Claire helped Gillian begin some of the shopping for the next leg.  We were able to find rye pumpernickel bread, extra old cheddar, real juice and some chocolate for a wonderful lunch.  There are about 3 long blocks of shops, 3 streets deep, and they were very busy today.  I was surprised at how many shoe, watch and clothing shops we walked by.  We were able to find some cheap shirts for Simon, he wears the same favorite day after day, for $3 Fijian (about $2 CA) a piece.  I need to steal his shirt off him overnight, wash it, and leave it hanging on his curtain rod for the morning (mom, it´s his Indonesian shirt).  It is wonderfully inexpensive here; we noticed it with the food as well.  We went to the open air market which was incredible!  We´ve seen a few large markets, this is probably one of the largest and it takes place daily in a huge, very high-ceilinged, covered, but open-sided building.  There were tables and tables of the most beautiful fruit . . . and it all cost so little.  We bought 3 ripe, delicious pineapples for $2Fijian (exchange rate is $l.6Fijian to $1CA).  You could get 3 papayas and at least 6 or 7 mangoes for the same amount.  And the taste is so good, they are 100% tree ripened.  Once at home I´m pretty sure that tropical fruit we buy at Thrifty´s will pale in comparison, taste watery and not sweet enough.  We are truly enjoying the fruit. Gillian was also able to find brocolli and fresh mushrooms, something we haven´t had for months (except for canned).   It was a small group at supper and she made a delicious stir fry.  At the market there were also many tables selling all kinds of Indian spices.  Big bags of incredibly beautifully coloured curry, turmeric, masala, and I don´t know what else; bright yellows, oranges, reds, greens, and varied shades of browns, light to deep chocolate coloured, a real treat for the eyes.  There were also lentils of every colour, in large plastic bags, spreading their bright hues to us, the viewers.  We so enjoyed the colours and the smells of that section of the market that we asked permission to photograph. The people in Lautoka are beautiful and very varied in their appearance. After a few days observing I am starting to be able to distinguish between the Indo-Fijians and the native Fijians. The native Fijians look more African than the Polynesian we´ve grown used to the past few months.  Both groups of women are beautiful, simply but stylishly dressed in floral mixed with plain prints, usually a shirt and skirt, minimal make-up if any, often a flower behind the ear and a simple but elegant necklace of shell, bone or pearl.  Some of the men wear the lava lava.  There is a special one made for the men which looks like a wrap-around and is often in a dark blue, brown or black colour. They wear it with short-sleeved cotton, button-up shirt, also often printed, and leather sandals; it looks pretty smart. The people are friendly and quickly ready with a ´bula,´ the fijian word for ´hello.´ I am trying to learn four words from every island group, though I forget them pretty quickly, once we leave.  It feels good to be able to at least greet them in their language, and they seem to enjoy it, they smile, we probably sound ´cute´ and ´childlike.´  Workdays this leg are October 7th and 8th. Our final dinner will be on the 8th and then crew will be taking turns having their 2 nights away from the boat before Leg 4 begins.  The feeling on the boat is good.  People are enjoying the freedom to visit the island, still having a ´home´ to return to.  I enjoy the evenings where those on the boat chat about what they did or bought or saw that day; we live off each others experiences that way and make plans for the next day because of them.  We will miss the trainees from Leg 3, it´s been a very full and fun leg.  Only 7 trainees are remaining with us for Leg 4.  This is it for tonight, until tomorrow, good night, Bonice.