Where to Next?: Suva, Fiji

ancient boat

Clear to partly cloudy, 30 degrees

Bula! Since yesterday we’ve heard this Fijian greeting what seems like a million times; everyone says it and you say it back.

It has been quite a while since we’ve gotten off the ship first thing in the morning. Today’s morning tour is of Suva – the capital of Fiji. We’ve been told that Fiji has about 1 million people (2018), and Suva (2009) has 90000 (urban) 180000 (rural) – we

world's second largest beetle!

learned that most Fijians live in villages and rural areas. Suva is a whole lot more urban than what we saw yesterday.

The weather today was great. It was hot, but not too humid…nice. The bus had great AC and was very roomy. Like yesterday much of our tour was ‘panoramic’, but today of the city.

Our first stop was the Fiji Museum. I would describe this place as an archeological and anthropological museum. The artifacts dating back 3700 years, and represent Fiji’s indigenous groups as well as other

cool looking flower

groups that have settled Fiji over the last 200 years. Our visit was self-guided which was fine especially because Fiji’s official language is English, so the written info in the museum was in English. We were the only group there, so we could have gone around with a guide, but that’s not how they do it. We visited displays of ancient ships, endemic animals and insects, and learned about the people who call Fiji home.

guard wearing the national dress...the Sulu

Just under 40% of Fiji’s population are descendants of Indian contract labourers brought to the islands by the British colonial powers in the 19th century. We learned that in the 1800s people from India came to Fiji as ‘contract’ or indentured labourers. I had basically only a vague idea of

the president's house

the term ‘indentured’. What I learned was that this was just a way to get around the fact that slavery had been abolished. These indentured labourers from India were contracted for 5 years to various British colonies and then either returned to India or stayed on for additional 5-year contracts. Life was never rosy if they stayed or returned to India.

Continuing our panoramic tour after the museum, brought us past the government houses, and various countries’ embassies. We saw a funeral…this is where a TON of people gather in a house or few houses. These gatherings are outside, so we could see how many people there really were.

We also visited the “Pure Fiji” factory where spa products are produced. The factory part was a bit of a let down…we saw what they did and were told some info, but it was minimal.