Imagine Fiji. White
sands, cobalt blue waters with reefs of coral and bright vibrant sea life, peaceful
resort pools, deep strong drinks served with long straws in an unpeeled cocoanut,
and a gentle cooling breeze sweeping over your bronzed suntanned body as you
peacefully meditate on life and its meaning.
Yeah that’s not Lautoka.
Lautoka feels ten degrees hotter than anywhere else in the
world. The air is stagnant, the roads
are dirty, the people hot and bothered and not in a good way. There’s a B.B.Q. chicken right next to the
Australian horse book, and two restaurants named Sea View, one good one very bad,
with hardly a view of the sea at all.
Ah Lautoka, our first impression was the fresh, wet gum under the table at the Jolly Good that Simona accidentally dipped her backpack in and then quickly spread to her pants and blouse. And it didn’t get much better from there.
But! -there was the Market. Situated next door to the Lautoka Mall (not a
mall) and the bus station which smells of diesel exhaust and leaves a palpable
layer of soot on your skin and lungs, the Market is the absolute best thing
about Lautoka. It’s sick good if you
like produce. Crazy good!
The produce sold there is grown
all near Lautoka in the villages and farms by ordinary people like you and me
who aren’t subsidized by the government and have no interest in pesticides and
hormones. It’s like if we had a really
good apple and orange tree in our back yard and sold it to people. The pineapples were the best I ever had, the
oranges succulent, the apples to die for and the chili peppers so fresh they
get moldy on the bus trip home.
2 comments:
no pix of the gum? market looks fantastic.
Pointing a camera at Simona at that particular moment of frustration is not what I would call self-preservation.
Thanks Yee.
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