Friday, March 2 (FIJI time)

Well, those No Jet Lag pills seem to have worked once again! I was able to stay asleep for the night last night (with just the usual wakeups), and stay in bed until 7 AM. Today I am a bit tired but not too bad, and I just feel like I am in their time zone here. I will be wanting to go to bed by the time I actually do, for sure. But it is an amazing product. Jenny and I discovered them in 2004. As a seasoned traveller to Australia, she could never get over the difference. They are homeopathic, so not interfere with anything else, and are easy to take - you chew them.

Today I took a jaunt into Nadi. I am just on the outskirts. I boarded the bus near the hotel, prepared with my 70 cents fare. I scrambled in my wallet for it as the bus approached, and handed it to the driver. Just after I handed it to him, I said, "Oh I'm sorry, that is just 60 cents. I'll get you another 10 cents". He said, "that's OK". I thought it is pretty neat that they do not get up tight about these things and throw you off the bus for not paying full fare. Much later in the afternoon, I had a flashback to that scene. At the time I was thinking the 50 cent pieces were 25 cent pieces, so I only gave him 60 cents. So when I remembered they were actually 50 cent pieces, I realized I had given him $1.10. HA! The laugh was on me. No wonder it was "OK"! I had to have a chuckle over that one.

The bus ride was only about 10 minutes and I was in downtown Nadi. It reminded me a little of Costa Rica, but much smaller than San Jose. It was the condition of the streets (you really have to watch your step) and the poverty that gave it that flavour (though I was in a few very nice shops as well).

It was very interesting. Everyone you pass is saying "bula" (sp?) to you - 'hello'. Some of them want to engage you in conversation to get you into their shop, others just want to talk to you. I had two men in separate occasions start talking to me about the Indians and if I shop at this particular store instead of that one across the street, I would be supporting the Fiji people and not the Indians, and if I shopped at the Indian store the money is taken offshore. There have been two uprisings here in the past 10 or 12 years. You may remember them. I got the feeling today that there is still an undercurrent.

I visited a huge produce market while downtown. It was huge - I think the biggest I have ever seen. My pictures did not turn out great, because I was trying to not be too intrusive, but I will put a couple of them below. In most of the market, the people sat on the floor on tarps with their fruits and vegetables spread around them. If I was in a cooking unit I would have been buying things. The papayas reminded me of Maui. They looked delicious.

This was taken from across the street from where I entered

It is sort of unusual to take a photo of grass. But then this is unusual grass. I have not seen anything like it before, and I am not sure the picture will do it justice. I had stopped in a park across the street to sit on a bench for a few minutes.

I went trudging back from whence I came, as I had seen some taxis congregated in one spot. I had no idea where the bus stop would be for the return trip, so a taxi would be a more reasonable choice, given that my leg was causing me grief by now.

I could see that I did not have too far left to go, when a taxi pulled up alongside the curb and asked if I needed a ride. Did I EVER need a ride! So I got into the taxi. It was typical of the others I have been in - dirty, dusty, broken down, rattly, ready for taxi heaven. I guess it is a reflection of the economic conditions here, and the fact that they have potholes the size of the Grand Canyon.

I told him I was staying at the Hexagon. OK he said, and asked me which way I want to take. How do I know? So I told him the shortest way. OK he said, he'd take the back road.

I may not know the area but I have a very good sense of direction, and I knew that we were going in the opposite direction. I chirped u pand said that it is behind us. No no he insisted he is gong the right way. Now I am getting nervous. We are having this running dialogue where I told him I knew we were going in the wrong direction, and he told me he knew where he was going. he said it is near the airport. I said it is TOWARD the airport from where we started out.

Now we are going past sugar cane and whatnot and getting further away. And I am getting more nervous. The dialogue continued. he said we were circling back and would soon be at the roundabout. What roundabout?

As this thing continued, I started to plan to defend myself, and noted that he is an older guy, and fairly small. I am in the back and he is in the front. I was trying to see something I could hit him on the head with, but only had my camera. Good thing I have seen lots of Soprano type TV shows, because then I figured maybe I could choke him with my camera strap from the back seat.

The bantering went on until we got to the roundabout just by the airport. I said we had gone too far, that it is not at the airport, but we needed to be on the road TO the airport. Then the penny dropped for him.

Ohhhhhhhhhhhh I made a mistake. Ohhhhhhhhhhhhhh I made a mistake. By the time we got to the hotel, the meter was up to $14.50. It had cost me 70 cents (well - $1.10) on the bus!

He said to just pay him $6, but I said we would split the difference and I gave him $10. Now that I know I have not been murdered in amongst the sugar canes in rural Fiji, I consider it an experience I can remember.

Tomorrow I am being picked up at 8:30 AM to take me to a dock somewhere, where I will board a boat at 10 AM for an island, and a day of snorkeling, BBQ lunch and lounging around. The boat is one of Fiji's newest, and is called the OOLALA. I will be sure to take lots of pictures.

Below are a few photos I have taken around here.