Fiji Impressions

• An assumption that Fiji stands in the ranks of so-called "third world countries" is probably fairly common. Yet, in comparison to other "third world countries" I've visited, especially tropical ones, Fiji is different.  In all of Fiji's major cities you can drink the water without concern.  There is no need to obtain and employ any malaria prophylaxis (HALLELUJAH!) because malaria is not a risk.  And I observed throngs of kids headed to and from school--all clean, pressed, uniformed, and, quite frequently, barefoot.  ('Tis the tropics, afterall!)  I also had the chance to visit a school on the island of Nacula, and a basic education for all seems to be culturally valued.  Since returning from Fiji, I have checked its ranking on three different listings of countries by GDP/PPP (gross domestic product/purchasing power parity), and out of 190-ish countries, Fiji shows up on all three lists somewhere in the 150s.  It's literacy rate is about 93%.

• Time is not so measured and allotted...Fiji time, they call it.

• People sing--these amazing, full-bodied voices seamlessly shifting between unison and harmony, sometimes a cappella and sometimes accompanied by ukulele and guitar.

Children singing for us at the school we visited on Nacula Island.

• Conceived in all the blues of the tropics, crystalline, the sea laps pristine white-sand beaches extending from canopies of coconut palms or else crashes against rocky headlands with dramatic spray and thunder or else grumbles and breaks into lines of white surf across the tops of coral reefs.

• Night is tangible, so dark the Milky Way seems to spiral across an endless swath of black velvet.