The market by the sea wall

Bundles of taro for sale at Levuka's informal market. Photo by David Lansing.

A few years ago the Levuka town council decided to build the sort of covered market area you’d find in the more sophisticated Fijian towns like Suva. It’s a nice area with clean, covered stalls just along the road outside the Royal Hotel. The only problem is that the old women who comprise the market didn’t like it. “Too far from town,” they complained, though the distance between the covered market and the old sea wall where they liked to throw down their blankets and plastic tarps was maybe a two minute walk.

I think what they really meant was that at the covered market, they couldn’t keep an eye on what was happening along Beach Street—even if there really wasn’t anything happening. It also made it more difficult to say hello to friends walking around town to pick up a bottle of palm oil at Katudrau Trading Market or candles at Young Yet & Sons General Store.

It’s a congenial place, Levuka. Everyone pretty much knows everyone else. So if you are one of the old ladies who lives out in the country and you grow just enough taro to bring in a few bundles for sale on market day, you don’t want to be stuck inside a small stall in a covered market on the edge of town. You want to sit along the sea wall where the air is fresh from the ocean breeze and you want to be able to shout out “Bula!” to an old friend walking out of Emily’s with a fresh loaf of bread.

So that’s what you do. You sit squat-legged on the ground, a cloth spread in front of you, selling a few yams or maybe some breadfruit or aubergines. And though it isn’t a very sophisticated market—and certainly nothing like that in Suva or Nadi—it’s good enough for Levuka. In fact, it’s just fine.