“It
is perhaps a more fortunate destiny to have a taste for collecting shells than
to be born a millionaire.” – Robert Louis Stevenson
The cruise has now reached the south Pacific islands phase,
spending about 10 days hopping from one island to another. The first three have been a study in contrasts.
Samoa
First was the city of Apia, in Samoa. With a bit of a traffic problem, and a
cadre of taxi drivers happily attempting to cheat visitors (but cheerfully
shrugging off when the visitors don’t fall for it), Apia is very much part of
the modern world.
Samoa has certainly shown willingness to change. I already mentioned in a previous entry
that Samoa changed sides of the international date line at the dawn of
2012. Also, about six years ago,
it also changed from driving on the right side of the road to the left side,
apparently with little confusion or trouble.
Most of my time in Samoa was spent exploring the home where
Robert Louis Stevenson lived out the last 4-1/2 years of his life. During that time, he wrote 14 novels,
including some of his most famous.
Known to the Samoans as Tusitala (meaning “storyteller”), he was a respected
member of the community.. He
suffered ill health during his time in Samoa--largely believed to have been
plagued, and ultimately killed at age 44, by tuberculosis. However, in recent
years there has been some speculation that the ailment might in fact have been
asthma. Certainly if it were the
latter, the extreme humidity of his adopted home could not have helped.
The bed where
Stevenson wrote most of his novels in his later years.
Yasawa-I-Rawa, Fiji
This was one of the sweet surprises of the trip. An island with a population of 600,
Yasawa is a largely unspoiled place of friendly people and peaceful
beauty. Miles of lovely natural
beaches are broken up only by rock outcroppings. The people live just up from the beaches, in houses of
stucco, concrete, or corrugated metal.
This island was closed to tourism until 1987, and special
permission was required to visit.
The most famous visits were by film crews: the movie Blue Lagoon was filmed here (both a version made
in the 1950s, and the 1980s stinker starring Brooke Shields).
There were two things to do on this island: walk and
swim. I had not brought my swim suit,
having been under the mistaken impression that the beaches were far away from
where the tenders landed and hard to get to. And because the ship was anchored offshore, and we had to
tender in (i.e., take a small boat in to the island), it was not a simple matter
to just go back and change clothes.
In any event, the walk along the shore was extremely pleasant, and those
who swam raved about the experience.
The Super Bowl
By the time we got back to the ship from Yasawa, the Super
Bowl was in full swing. It was
being shown on large screens in a show lounge, so we joined in to cheer on the
Panthers—alas, to no avail. But it
was a fun way to watch the game.
Interestingly, the game was a live feed via the New Zealand
ESPN, even though it showed the CBS commentators. And the feed did not include the commercials. So every commercial break brought,
instead of the ads, promotions for ESPN.
The repetitiveness of the promotions brought home just how much “game
time” is actually devoted to commercials.
By the way, in our time zone the game was early afternoon on
Monday.
Lautoka, Fiji
Lautoka is the third largest city in Fiji, and is located on
the island of Viti Levu, Fiji
itself is a nation of 333 islands, with a population of 900,000 (and growing),
and with only about a third of the islands inhabited.
Lautoka is known as the Sugar City, due to sugar fields
being the mainstay of its economy.
Unfortunately, the sugar market has been flattening, and so the city and
the island are trying to expand other industries—including tourism—to
compensate.
The Fijians we encountered were warm and friendly, with a
wicked sense of humor. The
island’s cannibal history was a frequent topic of humor, as was the pervasive
use of the all-purpose word, “bula” (sometimes spelled “boolah”). It is a greeting, it is a farewell, it
is a response to a sneeze, it is a toast.
It also has a multitude of other meanings. But mostly, it is a gesture of friendship.
Our main activity on this island was at mud pools. Arriving
at a site heated by volcanic pools, one of which has a current temperature
above the boiling point, we were greeted by a kava ceremony, the proceeded to
the pools. There, we smeared ourselves all over with mud, then strolled around
the grounds while the mud dried on us.
Once it was dry, we went into a mud pool, to remove some of the mud—and re-deposit
it for future use.
From there, we proceeded to a volcano-heated pool (not the
boiling point one) to further wash off.
I would say completely wash off, but it may be days before that mud is
completely gone from my body.
Cleaned as I could be, I was then given a massage by one of
the “mamas” of the family that runs the pool.
A spa day, Fijian style.
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