A Fijian Standoff!

Hello all! It is Monday night Feb 19 and we have just got back to our bure from dinner. Naomi was glad that she finally able to unpack her suitcase completely as our bure had more than enough room to store everything. She got to wear some different dresses and shoes with heels for dinner.

 Here now are a few pics of the Neviti Resort grounds and one of front lobby taken from the computer station.

Now to explain today's blog title..A Fijian Standoff..? It appears that we may have a plague of toads in the area. They appear at dusk and are all over the resort grounds. Unlike our toads in our native Canada, these toads stand up tall and erect and seem to be trying to stare down anybody who approaches them. Hence, in Naomi's view, the Fijian Standoff. Any guesses as to who has to lead the way and clear the path?

 The local Fijiians say that the toads have only one main predator and that is the Mongoose, who normally prey on snakes. Naomi is not sure what would be worse, the Plague of Toads or the Pack of Mongeese's!!(yes,sic)

INFO UPDATE: Naomi was just told by our maid that Iguanas also eat them and the local cats just like to play with them!

Today we took the shopping tour into the town of Signatoka and picked up a few things but what was very interesting was the local market where all the area farmers sell their wares.

This next picture shows the Kava ròot before it is ground up. Kava is the nation's traditional drink. They do have some ceremonies based on it so it is tied into their island culture. They take the ground up root powder and put into a permeable cheese cloth and swish it through the water, almost like a tea bag, until it gets to the right color. They then use a little round gourd cup to scoop some up to drink. The Kava master then passes the refilled cup to the next person who says BULA!

Yes, it is a communual cup.....they did say "no problem" when someone said that they had a cold...they just kept scooping and passing the cup!

 I must have drank a gallon of it on our first two days here. Naomi was getting her hair braided so Ali, our cab driver, and I hung out at the market in Nadi and drank Kava. Naomi did try some on the Fijian Princess so we will use her description of it. "It looks and tastes like dirty, muddy bath water!! Never again, yuck!"

I kept wondering when I would begin to either feel drunk or high after I drank so much but it supposedly just mellows you out so sleep well at night. I don't remember how I felt cuz I was sleeping by that time.

The spice selection at the market was incredible and very aromatic. This next pic shows Naomi in front of one of the spice stalls.

To finish up today's post, I included a picture of downtown Signatoki that still had a remnant of the old narrow gauge railroad that the sugarcane plantations would use to bring in the crop to town.

There used to be a bridge across the river there and you still see sections of track visible through the jungle as you travel along the highway.