Having just returned from the very lush &
tropical
Gay/Lesbian MAN FRIDAY resort in FIJI, I sure have
a much deeper understanding of island culture that still thrives
in FIJI today. Because it's an 11 hour plane ride from
Los Angeles to Nadi (pronounced Nandy) many of the
visitors are from Australia and New Zealand... it's only 3 hrs.
from Australia. We lived in very authentic grass huts, called
bures (pronounced burrays), that were very clean & modern
inside... highly shined & beautiful parquet floors in the front
main room with 2 queen beds and end tables, behind which
were the tile bathrooms with hangup closets, sinks with a wall
of mirrors, and 4'x 8' tile showers with 2 shower heads, each
on opposite 4' walls facing each other, just in case you wanted
to shower with your partner ... or a friendly native. GAY is a
completely NON-ISSUE in FIJI... the natives still live in the
native Fijian villages run by the local chiefs, and they have Gay
people in their villages that they accept as perfectly normal
members of their society. Ben, one of the Gay men from the
village that works at MAN FRIDAY, is a very respected elder
in his village, which is right next door to MAN FRIDAY, and
the village OWNS the land that the resort is on, and leases it to
them... native land cannot be sold, ever, but can be leased for
30 or 99 years, whichever deal is arranged.
And speaking of land...
you can only begin to imagine what the beauty of this island is like.
If you saw the movie SOUTH PACIFIC, then you have a basic
idea of how incredibly gorgeous the water and the vegetation might
be. This is really tropical jungle to the max. We were walking along
the beach and saw this fabulous white flower that smelled like a
gardenia, and had 3" hair. It had fallen from a VUTU tree, a native
tree, whose leaves look a bit like a rubber tree plant, and whose
fruits are basically poisonous, but are used by the native women to
catch fish. They pulverize the flower in a bowl and scatter it on the
shallow water close to the beach, near fish that they want to catch.
The fish in the "drugged water" become rather numb and lose all
sense of fear of humans and their desire to hide, so they just come
swimming right up to the women, and in a few minutes... instant
dinner! Assuming you like fish, that is. And they do have very fresh
and good seafood, but the rest of the food leaves a bit to be desired.
They do raise cabbage, so you have coleslaw with just about every
meal, and they also raise potatoes, so you have potato salad a lot!
We were told that the food was "OUT OF THIS WORLD". There
were times that we thought that it came from ANOTHER WORLD!
So don't go to FIJI expecting food of the quality of the Ritz Carlton,
because that is not going to be the case! You are on a very tropical
island and the pineapples are absolutely magnificent, like no other
that I have ever tasted, and not a bit of acid in them, unlike the
Hawaiian variety. Breakfast was always cold cereals, rolls, frozen
juice, pancakes made 2 or 3 hours earlier and covered with plastic
wrap, and excellent fruits, tea, and coffee. Drinks from the bar range
in price from $5.00 to $9.90 Fijian, (70% of the U.S. dollar) Soft
drinks $1.80 Fijian... $1.40 U.S. Dinner was Buffet every night but
one, and the chicken, beef, and pork were less than spectacular, as
well as being in small quantity. This is an extremely casual destination
and shorts are the order of the day, other than swim suits, so pack
very lightly! NO NUDE sunbathing at the MAN FRIDAY or
IN FRONT OF THE VILLAGE... these are the only 2 rules that
we were told. It is a once in a lifetime adventure, the trek to the
200' high waterfall (after asking the chiefs permission) was worth
the entire trip, even though I slipped on a rock and drowned my
camera on my seventh trip across the running stream. BULA is the
Fijian welcome, and they are the friendliest people that you are ever
going to meet. They have figured out that American dollars flow more
freely when we perceive them as being friendly and outgoing, not like
the cannibals their ancestors were, but that's a whole other story that
you will find on your unparalleled incredible journey to a
FIJIAN PARADISE..... BULA!
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In a earlier issue we had touched briefly on
the opening of a new business in the
Highland Square area. Angel Falls Coffee has just opened in the former
May
apparel store at 792 W. Market St., and what a coffee shop it is, the atmosphere
is so comfortable and homey that you won't want to leave. The store features
a
retail side and a very comfortable "Sitting Room". Desserts and
coffee's will be
featured along with a limited sandwich menu. The new owners (Jim and Rafeal)
have teamed up with the folks at Cheryl's Daily Grind to bring you the
most
exciting coffee shop in this area. We wish them great success. Check it
out!
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