Sometimes Sun, Sometimes Rain: This is Fiji: Lautoka

I thought it was time to show off my new home for next few months, the city of Lautoka. Lautoka is the second largest city on the island of Viti Levu, with a population of roughly 53,000. Like the rest of Fiji, English is spoken here, along with the main Fijian dialect. The name of the city comes from two Fijian words meaning "spear hit". Apparently, there was a duel between two chiefs. As one speared the other, he was reported to have cried "Lau-toka!" (thanks Wikipedia- is there anything that you don't know?!).

For those of you with Google Earth, my address is 84 Drasa Avenue, Lautoka (I haven't checked to see if the house is on G-Earth).

Here are a few pictures of my new hometown for the next 5 months:

One of the main downtown streets

The mannequins in the storefronts are hilarious... is this what Fijian retailers think North Americans look like? I especially like the ½ mannequin on the bottom left hand corner because he looks like my coworker Stephen (minus the blue hair). Snazzy and kind of creepy all at the same time...

The Farmer's Market. It is huge and you can get any kind of fresh fruit here for very cheap. Last week I bought 4-5 papayas (so yummy!) for FJ$1, approximately 50 cents Cdn. Lots of spices, Indian sweets and Fijian “home-cooked” meals can be found here too. Vegetables, on the other hand, are not as abundant. The inside of the market is mainly commercial and things tend to be not as fresh, while the outside has all of the farmers from inland who come into town Thursday night. They sleep outside at the market until Saturday afternoon.

Inside the market

This is kava, which is ground up and turned into an alcoholic drink. Fiji is known for the kava drink and I'm sure it is all part of the tourist experience, but it has contributed to a lot of alcoholism in Fiji.