Suva has confirmed our theory that the amount of time a population spends smiling is inversely proportional to the level of urban development. Savusavu is unequaled in our experience as the leading population of smiley people any where in the world. So it was amazing to see effect of the pressures of urban life in the faces of their Suvan cousins.  Suvans are just as beautiful but their brows are furrowed as they make there way through the stress of urban life.

The stress is palpable.

Friday afternoon shopping for the weekend could steal your smile.

Or maybe life just isn’t that easy even in orange and lime.

Cell phones are definitely a factor

 

There’s certainly nothing funny about standing in the median on a busy Suvan street and Policeman are paid to put on a serious front, even in white fringy lavalavas.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If we are honest, Suvans still smile and give strangers a friendly greeting 5 times more than Seattleites. This may have something to do with the nasty weather and overeducated angst rampant in the PNW. We still saw plenty of good nature in Suva. We saw smiles of the hopeful and the demure.

 

Young eyes are almost always friendly.

Chinese fishermen are notoriously good natured

And who could frown in a Spiderman bula shirt?