This morning we woke up at the port of Suva, Fiji. As we had a shore excursion scheduled we just ate a quick breakfast, and met our group, and took a 40 minute bus ride out to the village of Sawani where we enjoyed a Kava ceremony (a non-alchoholic drink produced from the Kava root), plus some singing and dancing before we did a short walking tour through the village of around 500 people. The village is very dependent on tourism as there is high unemployment. But the people seem genuinely happy. We concluded our time there with more singing and dancing and an opportunity to purchase local handicrafts.
We then took a longer bus ride back to the city where we left the bus to get sone local currency, purchase and mail some postcards, enjoy some local food (sheep neck! and cassavas). Both were yummy! We then wandered the streets and shopping malls and the very large produce market before returning to the ship for dinner, a movie (O'Keefe's Kingdom - filmed in Fiji in 1954), and a cultural show put on by a local dance and singing group that was quite good.
Bula is the word for greeting and throughout the day it was repeated countless times.
We watched the departure at shortly after 10:30pm with anticipation of a full day of snorkeling at Dravuni Island tomorrow. All in all it was a good day in Suva, Fiji.
Remember, while the destination is important, savor the journey.
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