OCTOBER 22: TWO GREAT DAYS ON TROPICAL FIJI

Our first visit in the South Pacific on this magnificent trip is about to end. FIJI - the dry west yesterday and the wet east today Sunday.

It is a country of 322 islands - 106 of them are inhabited. The country is independent since 1970. Before that it was for 95 years part of the British Empire. And before that it was an area known for its cannibalism :-(  Why did they eat people? Not because of hunger and famine. But because they were convinced that a killed enemy would come back, if you did not eat him!

They also at the time had the tradition that when a Chief died his legal wife had to die with him. She was allowed to decide for herself, if she wanted to be strangled, killed with hammers or to be buried alive!

The Methodist missionaries who arrived from London in the beginning of the 19th century managed to make an end to all that. Today most of the 900.000 inhabitants are peaceful Methodists, a third are Hindus from India, and the rest holds different religions.

We made two excursions into the beautiful countryside with mountains, rain forests and some villages and towns. The people living in a village we visited were dancing and singing for us in their traditional colourful dress. Very moving and friendly!

We were particularly happy, when we today crossed a new nice bridge across the river in the capital Suva. Why?  Because a big, blue sign with 12 yellow stars told us that it has been paid by the European Union - and the work done by Chinese engineers!

Fiji is definately a country in development. And it needs it!  A couple of areas where progress could move on: EDUCATION, where government paid compulsory schools for three years was only introduced a few years ago. POLLUTION:  waste water is still in many places to a large extent sent directly into to the river. EQUALITY:  girls are still not allowed to wear shoulderless clothes, mini skirts, etc.

But with all this said it is VERY important  for me to say that people here are a very friendly and helpful. Nature is gorgeous in most places. And the quality and quantity of fruit, vegetables, etc. on the many local markets is very impressive and tempting. As Fiji is a great sugar producer they also produce rhum. A very strong one. We managed to avoid testing it :-)

Finally, we also learned how to say hello, goodbye and many other nice things in the local Fijian language:

BOLA BOLA !

Now we are off for our next South Pacific destination on Tuesday:  VANUATU.

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