Nadi is pronounced “Nahn-dee” in Fijian. David is sure it’s an interesting place but he wouldn’t know ‘cause he stays in bed the whole day, until just after sunset, which he is sure was spectacular. Nadi is on Viti Levu, literally “Island Big” in Fijian, which the original inhabitants named to distinguished it from the other 330 islands that comprise Fiji, 106 of which are inhabited.

(Interesting tidbit: Though Cook was merely a navigator when he first came to Fiji — not a captain — it was the everpresent-in-the-Pacific Abel Tasman who was the first Euro to hit shore here. Also, it wasn’t Cook who mapped most of the islands; it was Captain William Bligh in 1789, after the mutiny and long before Charles Laughton/Trevor Howard and Clark Gable/Marlon Brando were born.)

Cynthia seems mostly recovered and she and Wayne and Myra get bus passes, go into town, get waylaid by two Fijian women who lead them down alleys to a “real Fijian market” (think tchotchkes), and escape to shop for food and other provisions.

We have a lemon chicken dinner and David returns to bed. Cynthia will have to expand on this day.

Another paradise lost today.

From Cynthia:

Leaving David to rest we three head off to get groceries and data plans in preparation for our Fiji visit.  We are staying is a tourist enclave and so there is a shopping area with most anything one would want.  But, we decide that we must get into town and shop with the locals.

Our shared brunch of eggs, bacon, paulasami, assorted fruit is about US$15 – this is the tourist trap area.  Then we find the shop that sells SIM cards and bus passes and get the next bus to town.  The sun is hot, the road is dusty, and I am a mess before we even arrive.  It is about 3 pm when we get there.  The market is starting to close and vendors are moving onto the concrete outside.  We buy fruits and veggies and then move onto a supermarket for bread, meat, milk, etc.  Altogether it probably took us 2 hours to get provisions.  And, each bus ride was about 30 minutes.  So, this was our afternoon.  Back home we prepared a chicken dinner and planned for the rest of the week.