Labasa

Today we took a bus to Labasa (pronounced Lam basa) with friends from catamaran Morning Glory. This is the largest town of Vanua Levu Island (Fiji's 2nd largest island) and brags of the first set of traffic lights on the island.

The area is very fertile and consequently has a big bustling market where we all excitedly purchased large pamplemouse (the grapefruit-like fruit that we loved in the Marquesas)! But sadly when we got them back to the boat and tasted them, they were not good at all. We have never found any that taste as juicy and sweet as in the Marquesas.

Happily selling their wares

There were a couple of parades happening in Labasa while we were there. One was quite unusual and I haven't been able to find any information as to what was happening and why. The Indo-Fijians (predominant here) were dressed up spectacularly in their very bright and jewelled native outfits...

2 lovely young ladies

Some lined up, lay down in the centre of the street, and then a fancy hand-drawn cart was pulled over the procession.

The other parade seemed to be promoting crime prevention. Leading the parade was the police department dressed in fancy outfits, and there were a few floats with pretty princesses, a stilt walker, cars with masked people, sign carriers, etc.

Dapper police

Everywhere we go in Fiji, someone is always saying Bula (boo la). This means a friendly Hello and Fijians are extremely friendly. The other word we use all the time is Vinaka (vee nah ka) which means Thank you.

We had an excellent curry meal at a restaurant before waiting amongst the din and bustle of afternoon pedestrians at the bus station. It was a long 3-hour return over verdant ridges to our boats on the other side where we arrived after dark.