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This morning we arrived at Lautoka, Fiji, which is part of the area that was flooded during the past few days. Dale woke early hoping for a sunrise picture and, while he missed the sunrise, we were happy to see that the sun was shining and there was no rain in sight!
We had another excursion planned for today so we are off to see the “Garden of the Sleeping Giant”. We really didn’t know what to expect, but at least it was a little sunny and we were able to experience the lush green of Fiji. The bus took us to a village where we needed to meet with the chief who would then, if he liked us, grant us access to go through his village to the Sleeping Giant.
We drove up to a large building where we sat in chairs surrounded by locals selling their pearl and shell jewelry as well as various trinkets made from wood. Fiji provides a significant amount of mahogany to the U.S. and other places around the world.
The guides had selected a member of our group to act as our representative “chief” and the warriors and village leaders came out to perform their welcome ritual. This was followed by singing and dancing (a lot like yesterday) and then the drinking of the kava, which is a strong tasting liquid made from the root of the kava plant. Once we were “accepted” they danced some more and invited some of our group to dance along with them!
Then we were off to the Garden of the Sleeping Giant. The Sleeping Giant, it turns out, is the name of a mountain area that resembles a, you guessed it, large man lying down. The garden area contained lots of orchids (they claimed 3,000 but, while we weren’t counting, we doubt the claim). After a sweet cool drink we were back on the bus. There was supposed to be another stop, but due to the flooding they just took us for a drive-by of the airport (??). That was sort of strange, especially since it was the opposite direction we needed to go! Then, we had a photo op outside of the Budget rental car facility where we were to take a picture of the sleeping giant, which is a mountain range that looks like a fat man lying down, sort of, if you could see it with the power lines in the way. I guess you have to be a local.
Downtown Lautoka was not at all like the downtown Suva experience. Here, it was more like being in India than Fiji. Almost 50% of Fijians are of Indian decent and there seemed an even higher percentage in Lautoka. Where downtown Suva was clean and modern with large buildings, the area in Lautoka where we were brought was filled with smaller vendors and wasn’t as modern or clean.
Back on the ship we relaxed a bit and took an early evening walk around the deck. There are a LOT of walkers on this cruise and sometimes the walking deck has maybe 50 or more people walking around and around. This is not a large ship (about 600 passengers) and when 50 of them are all in one place it gets pretty crowded! We opted to walk at sunset and only saw a few other couples enjoying the cooler evening weather. Next we were off to dinner in the main dining room.
We have another sea day tomorrow as we make our way to Port Vila, Vanuatu.
Trip Summary » Travel with Dale & Margaret - […] Lautoka, Fiji […]