Blake and Deb in Fiji: Cruises and Curries

Friday we walked into town with plans to take a boat tour that also included transport to a nice beach area across the bay. Unfortunately, even though it was late in the morning, when the tour company called the captain he was found to be asleep. And no amount of encouragement could seem to arouse him. So we rescheduled for Monday.

A cruise ship was in the harbor tendering large quantities of white people into town. This only happens about once a month so it is a big event. The craft and souvenir vendors were waiting with their temporary tables set up on both sides of the main street in a kind of commercial gauntlet from which the tourists could not escape. Actually we didn’t escape either as Deborah asked, “Wouldn’t you like to buy me this bracelet?” There is no good answer to that question. We also noticed there were other cruise ship preparations including new flower and palm frond decorations adorning building fronts along with big signs proclaiming “bula” and “welcome.” By late afternoon the ship and its moneyed foreigners had sailed away and it was back to business as usual.

The owners of the island craft shop from which Myra bought her kava bowl and cannibal forks asked us to join them for dinner (not to make bona fide use of the cannibal forks, we hoped). Mariam and Kam love to host visitors. They are an interesting couple in that he is twenty years older and a Hindu, while she is mixed Indian/Fijian and a Muslim. We were also joined at dinner by a lively young French woman named Celia who had dined with Mariam and Kam the previous night as well. Celia had just finished working for 16 months in Australia and was on her way back to France. Having just been in Australia last year we enjoyed comparing notes on the Australians’ friendliness, disinterest in culture, and fondness for beer. Deborah is convinced Celia would be the perfect match for our nephew Jordan.

We showed up early as Deborah was granted her request to also get a cooking lesson in authentic Indian cuisine. Mariam and Kam treated us to three kinds of curry – fish, chicken, and lamb – as well as a fresh salad and roti, one of the types of Indian flat bread that I love. (We don’t normally eat chicken or lamb but have felt okay about straying from our pescatarian ways here a couple of times already given that the food animals here seem to all be free range and organic, not the horrible factory farm products of back home). Deborah and Myra picked up some good cooking tips and made imperfect but nevertheless admirable first attempts at preparing the roti.

Mariam and Kam thoughtfully prepared separate nonspicy versions of the curries for Celia’s more delicate palate. I thought our curries were plenty spicey, reaching the level of nose-blowing but not quite eye tearing, then Myra pointed out that Mariam and Kam actually added extra hot pepper to theirs. It was an absolutely delicious meal but I think that if it were much spiceier I would no longer have a tongue.