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neon signs, fast food joints, and souvenir shops. A different kind of buzz.
That evening, I ventured a little further than‘ downtown’ to find an area full of Australian accents and obnoxious tourists. A waterside bar presented a feeling of home, a waitress handed me a laminated menu and asked if I’ d like the“ Island Welcome Cocktail.” It came in a plastic coconut with a paper umbrella. It cost more than three days of meals in the villages.
I drank it anyway, quietly, looking out over the water as the sun dipped below the horizon. It was pretty. Instagram pretty. But behind the orange haze, I kept thinking about that tanoa bowl, about the callused hands of farmers, the muddy trails through the bush, and the laughter of strangers who became friends.
If you come to Fiji, come for that. For Fiji doesn’ t sparkle in a glass. It hums in the hills, echoes in the laughter, and waits patiently for those willing to leave the resort behind. LW
TRAVERSE was invited to ride Fiji with Mai Island Ride. The enduro style riding allows for exploration of areas where the tourist buses certainly don ' t venture, taking in remote villages and almost inaccessible locations that provide an outlook on this island nation that few rarely get to see.
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