Day 189,190 - Suva and the Fiji sum up - Sunday 22nd, Monday 23rd April 2012

Our last early morning for Fiji started at 4am (we were most disappointed to be missing the amazing breakfast at the homestay!) and by 8.30am we were back in Suva. We were at a bit of a loss as it was Sunday and most places were closed but after a bit of hunting we found a nice place and settled down for a couple of hours of reading with our coffee and breakfast.

Come 10am I called the Suva homestay we'd stayed in at the start of our journey and they confirmed they had space so to come along. We decided to just chill there for two nights especially as the weather was so rubbish.

And so we spent the whole two days lazy around, eating, catching up with everyone on skype (free internet) and planning routes for South America. Unna, the most amazing lady who works for at the homestay, did all our washing and so we were ready to hit our next destination!

Sum up

Although the weather wasn't on our side, we really enjoyed Fiji and were glad to get off the beaten track and see some of the real Fiji on the other islands. The people are the friendliest we've come across and are so happy and smiley the whole time that it becomes infectious! And Fijian men……….oh my, they are massive! All over six foot and just as wide - Adam looked like a little kid in comparison although his bottom was very similar!!!!ha ha!

And the food……this is especially for Steve Penin after several requests for more details of our daily consumptions! We've done a little run down of the Fijian food, especially for you!

Kokoda - This is raw fish that's been marinated overnight in lime with added chilli that packs quite a punch. It is served cold and it thick coconut milk and presented in the original coconut shell with a chilli and pepper garnish. The texture took a bit of getting used to but once you do it is delicious, we even eat the coconut from the side of the shell!!

Lovo - cooked fish in coconut milk. As you can probably guess, coconut is a big ingredient! This was particularly good - the fish was so fresh and its cooked amongst all the juices for just long enough that it literally melted in our mouth, yummy!!

Fish curries - again amazing. Because of the big Indian influence in Fiji, curries were inevitable, but they tasted different to the curries we had in Indian, with more attention to the preparation of the fish and loads of tropical & coconut flavours - We love curry and we love fish so what's not to like hey?!

Palusami - bele greens cooked in coconut cream. Really tasty but a little too salty for me - you definitely needed a cold Fijian beer to wash it down with!

Cassava - a strange root crop vegetable served up like chips. Now we tried this a few times and the first couple of times I wasn't sure, it tasted too starchy and thick for me. However, we then had it again in Levuka and it was really tasty - like big potato wedges but much nicer. You didn't even need sauce with it!