We are moored in Suva, the capital of Fiji today. It looks like it might rain and is both warm and humid. Yesterday we were in much smaller Lautoka at the other end of Fiji’s rather large island.
The roadstead at Suva is a busy one, I counted 7-8 ocean-going ships moored offshore. It is no Singapore, but relatively busy for a Pacific island. We’ve been here before and aren’t going ashore.
The Fiji population is a mixture of indigenous Melanesians and East Indians whose ancestors were brought here as indentured labor to work the sugar cane fields and factories. They subscribe to different religions and have different cultures.
The other DrC was in a market in Lautoka and noted the butcher shop had good looking lamb, probably from New Zealand, but no beef. Thus catering to the sensitivities of the largely Hindu Indian population. Presumably the indigenous Melanesians who are Methodist eat beef but buy it elsewhere, at a market catering to their culture.
The Indians work harder and are better merchants, so they ended up with most of the wealth, such as it is. They were also gaining political control when the Melanesians rose up and overthrew the government.
For the last 20 years the government of Fiji has been in turmoil, coups and countercoups aplenty. Multiculturalism has been no blessing for Fiji, quite the contrary.
