The Adventures of Michalina: Fijian Adventures

The patio of the resort.

Feb 25:

I went grocery shopping today. I got dropped off on a road in Nadi that had several sketchy shops along one side. There were two supermarkets, one a little sketchier and less full than the other. I went to the least sketchy one eventually and got a pile of food. I wanted to buy a coconut but I wouldn’t be able to crack it open… Instead I got a bunch of cute little bananas and some oranges and a pawpaw, etc. They only had avocadoes from Italy, and they had nasty peaches for $4 each. There were a couple people selling vegetables I’ve never seen before out of their cars on tarps by the road but they were far out and I couldn’t stop at them. I’ve seen a couple coconut trees though, so my fruit scenario may vastly improve shortly once I climb one of those…

I also went to an op shop in the back of a bootlegged DVD store and got a beautiful Indian shirt thing that I can wear as a dress. It also came with a pair of my very own diapy pants! The people were really nice and I also got some bindis while I was there.

I waited for the bus across the street and asked some nice ladies to tell me which one to get on. It cost one Fijian dollar, which is about 60 cents. It was a rickety bus that drove along with the doors open and had a bike bell and rope stop indicator (very cool). I got off at my stop and then walked along the puddly gravel road towards Stoney Creek. It would have been quite a long walk, but I was happy because I had lots of food and I could look at the misty mountains around, the ramshackle houses, feral dogs, and sugar cane growing beside the road. Everyone yells “Bula!” when you walk by, which means hello/welcome and you have to yell it back. I feel like a local! Just as I was worrying about getting sunburnt and had to put my rain jacket on my shoulders, a truck pulled over and 2 brothers and their son gave me a ride right up to my hostel. So kind!

When I got home I was as sweaty as a politician hooked up to a lie detector. I tried the yogurt that I bought, and it tastes like it has been left on a shelf for 4 days in the heat, aka EXTRA tangy. Oh well, fermented foods are healthy! The watermelon thingy I bought tastes like water… Oh well, I’ll get better at this! What a fun adventure!

Feb 26. Fiji Observations and Notes.

People love plastic bags here. I was buying produce and a nice lady came up to me and weighed it all, after putting every single piece of fruit I had into bags (sometimes even double). You can imagine how delighted I was. I don’t understand this. You’d think that bags would be an extra cost that people want to avoid. All the bags end up on the street amongst all the other garbage around here too. It’s sad. There is no compost at my resort so I’m going to sneak all me fruit and veg peels somewhere.

I think the owner expects me to buy dinner from her everyday. I told her that I am poor after all my travels, but she doesn’t really understand. “What are you going to eat?!” she says, and keeps asking what I want for dinner. It’s too hot here to eat much anyway, and I have my extra tangy yogurt for sustenance, which seems to have improved since a time-out in the fridge.

The people LOVE mosquito coils here. The owner practically follows me around with them. I sit at my laptop with plumes of smoke on each side of me. I feel like the caterpillar in Alice in Wonderland. The lady and her husband were outside my room this morning strategically lighting mosquito coils in plant pots and garden beds outside my door. At the store they have an entire aisle devoted to mosquito coils, across from the potato chips. There is also a little vapour thing in my room to keep the mosquitos away. I think I’ll have lung cancer by the time I leave. I won’t ask them to stop since they are trying to be so nice, and I have lots of mosquito bites anyway (which I think fuels their dedication to following me around).

Men sometimes wear skirts.

There are lots of miniscule ants that mill around everywhere. I like them.

There was a gecko on my window yesterday. Too fast to take a photo of.

There was a cyclone here in December that damaged a lot of buildings. One of the local school’s roof is all torn up, and there are several tents outside that they are using now. Michelle says it’s taking them a very long time to fix it, but it’s partly the fault of the school since they aren’t complaining to the government enough to fix it.

Michelle will make me a free egg breakfast today! Yay!