Sigatoka

Sigatoka

Apart from the Activities arranged on site there is also plenty to do in and around the surrounding area. Following the departure of Casey, Elaine and I decided to venture into Sigatoka or a spot of window shopping and exploration.

Elizabeth had kindly taken me into town at the beginning of my stay and I was eager to return to pick up a few things I had seen. The bus into town is caught from the main road and luckily Elaine and I got a lift to the top of the hill upon a minibus that had just brought some guests to the resort.

We (I) had dawdled too long at reception chatting away and by the time the mini bus dropped us at the main road we had the strangest feeling that the bus was gone! We waited for a good fifteen minutes chatting away as clouds gathered overhead. I was inclined to stick out my thumb and hitch but was afraid of the reaction I would get from Elaine.

Five minutes later the first of the fine rain began to fall, Elaine announced that SHE was going to stick her thumb out at the next car that passed. Surprised and revealed I enthusiastically joined her and we were soon in the back seat of a black car racing towards our destination.

Sigatoka is a 45 minute drive by Express bus from Mango Bay, a drive that is both scenic and enjoyable. The fact that we made into town within 30 minutes that day will give you some idea of our ride in!

Double white lines, as Elaine remarked, seemed to have a different meaning to our driver than to other road users. More than a dozen times he had to swerve sharply back onto his side of the road (usually on a blind bend) as he came face to face with a car or lorry coming in the opposite direction.

We flew through a herd of cows ambling along the road, a quick backward glance by Elaine confirming that no-one, luckily, would be eating road kill beef that night. I grasped the handle above the door as Elaine braced herself against the back of the seats in front of her and all conversation stopped.

At Sigatoka we handed over our donation to the fuel and shakily walked the last 30m into town nervously laughing at our escape and deciding firmly on the BUS back to the Bay.

Sigatoka is a wonderful collection of shops and stores that contain just about everything a household would need.

On my first visit with Elizabeth I had discovered Big Bear, a great Indian shop that would put the £1 shop back home to shame. There is a large Indian community in Fiji and their shops although five times the size of the tiny garage style openings of India are no less packed with stock. Shelves rise up to the ceiling, stock is spread along the floor, cooking pots and flowers hang from the roof space.

Exceedingly harp knives from $1 (there are three Fiji dollars to the pound) lie in baskets at child height. Beautiful stainless steel bowls lie stacked in tall towers, large, small, shallow, deep. There were six small shiny bowls of fractionally different sizes, together they made an exquisite set of six, a set of six that were NEEDED by me!!

I bought more knives and another three sets of six bowls to add to my already purchased three sets of six! I bought more pegs, a garland for Peter to hang in the Taxi, a bag of wash powder, all the usual tourist things!!

From there Elaine and I entered the one of the two big department style shops designed for the tourist and fashion conscious clientèle.

Beautiful carvings, gifts, clothes, souvenirs, locally made Ice-creams, Black pearls (that they swear come from Fiji but I was later told are probably Polynesian) Gold pearls (that do come from here) gold and silver fill the halls while live musicians serenade you as you browse.

There are people to open the doors for you, people to reach and assist, people to hover four steps behind you in just case you will need help in the future, people to explain, guide, direct and advise.

Never has shopping been so pampered!

There is no hard sell, there is not in fact, any sell at all. These people seem to have received staff training to genuinely help and care for the guests who enter into the air-conditioned (to a comfortable warm temperature rather that the freeze chill of the bus) halls of their realm.

Elaine and I delighted in the attention, pointing and picking things up as assistants explained their use and meaning. I admired the intricate workings in the clubs and spears that hung on the wall and picked up a strange four pronged stick bound with string and symbols.

A delightful guide, smiling so broadly with the sweetest smile imaginable, launched into a very visually descriptive narration as to the meaning and use of all the implements before us. She graphically explained the way the disembowelling spade worked. Her words giving meaningful power as she went on to explain how the neck breaker, skull crusher, gut gouger and throwing hammer could kill a person with ease. She calmly and still smiling sweetly told us how the eating of the brains of ones foe was said to bring knowledge and power to the conqueror, as I gently replaced the Brain Fork in my hand back into the basket on the shelf!

Fully enlightened I led Elaine to the large open market hall past shops of fabric, thundering music, hard ware and shoes. Here we entered the hustle and bustle of the sellers, their rented space filled with the crops from their gardens and plots.

Shell fish sellers clustered together sorting out 'lots' for sale.

No-body sold individual items, everything was arranged into groups of three, five and six, a price in dollars for the pile propped against them.

Local shoppers rearranged the 'lots' swapping one lettuce for another, changing an under-ripe tomato in one pile with a rich red one in another as they talked and bought.

We entered an area dedicated to the Kava plant, their roots lying in rows, their scent filling the air with throat catching ferocity.

Kava root can be bought whole or pre ground into its fine powder state and sold in small packets. The powder is soaked and kneaded within a cloth to infuse a large bowl of water that is then drunk by the local people at all social gatherings. It has slight numbing properties, making the mouth numb after one or two cups, the legs numb after three or four and the whole body inactive after ten!

Kava root is grown for three to five years before it is harvested. The older the plant the stronger the Kava. Alcohol, although not banned, is expensive to buy and an imported introduction to the Islands All social events, and there are many within the Islands as chiefs and families from different areas and valleys negotiate, gather and join together to achieve benefits for all, are dominated by the Kava Ceremony.

During our boat trip to the Island on my first day in Fiji, the group had gathered to drink Kava. At the time I had declined but during the past two weeks I had joined and enjoyed the Kava ceremony at the resort.

I looked up at the Temple on the hill and wondered if I had time to visit but the heat was rising, our shopping grew heavy and the bus was waiting at the main stop.

I entered the supermarket for my last purchase of the day, a crate of beer for Kris. The sales assistant took my details – a wholesale cash purchase for Mango Bay Resort!- and just as I had finished my transaction I turned to find Danny standing behind me shopping list in hand. No bus would be needed for our return to the bay, no struggle would be had as I tried to climb aboard the refrigerated ice trap with my case of stubbies. Elaine and I smiled broadly as Danny pointed to where the Jeep was parked.

Even in the supermarkets a work force stands ready to assist and despite my protests that I could manage, my case of Fiji Gold was carried to Dannys Jeep and deposited on the back seat.

Elaine and I retired to one of the street side cafés to watch the world pass by as Danny finished the last of his shopping and I once again looked up at the Temple.

The next cloudy day I told myself, the next day that was not filled with activities and plans arranged by Kris, the next day I was free I would return to Sigatoka simply to visit the temple.

With that thought still firmly in my head Danny beeped his horn to get our attention and we climbed aboard for the 50 minute trip back to Mango Bay!