A day of touring

Today our driver is John.  We were going to go to a village about 3 hours away where all the houses have thatched roofs but unfortunately part of the road was washed out in the past rains so we had to change plans. We head to the village of Viseisei where the first people landed in Fiji. Viseisei means scattered and is the oldest settlement in Fiji.

This is the church. The first Fijians practiced cannibalism.  They ate their enemies and drank their blood. They believed this gave them more power. It wasn’t until they were converted to Christianity in the 1800’s that they stopped the practice. 

This is the chief’s house



Had to cover our knees!





This is the drum they use to send messages out to the people. They still practice this today. 

Here are the locals cleaning up after a wind storm. Note the fellow with the large machete. 

We stop at First Landing Resort.



Such a beautiful place. 

We stop at a roadside food place that locals go to.  These men are working on the roads.  They were so funny and friendly.  All the people we met were amazing.

We then go to our driver’s daughter’s school.  The principal makes an announcement to the school that we are visiting and the children are so curious.

This is an elementary school of approximately 1300 children.  They all wear uniforms and are quite well behaved.  The school is strict by our standards.

This is a classroom where this older man is the teacher.  He has 49 students in his class.  He still uses a blackboard but hopes to get a whiteboard soon.  He says that a teacher is paid $20,000 FJD per year.