Dillons Bay Lunch

Tashi Delek
Mike & Carol Kefford
Wed 1 Oct 2014 09:56

After visiting the caves David asked us to have lunch in the village for which we would pay a small fee.  Delighted so to do. 

 

We got to the village just as lunch preparations were finishing.  There is an area where the village cooks together.  Fires are lit to heat the stones then moved to one side.  Banana leaves are laid on the hot stones and the cassava, tapioca or other starchy, gelatinous root  grated, mashed and squidged with coconut milk are put on top in a big block about 2 inches thick.  Sometimes spinach leaves are added which makes something called lolo.  More leaves go on top and the whole lot cooks.  Once set the top leaves are removed and the block cut into smaller blocks.  There were several versions of this on the go and once cooked pieces were given to the children.  This was literally the whole village cooking and eating together.

 

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A table was laid for us and everything served buffet style after which we sat under the tree and ate with everyone else.  They had gone to a lot of trouble and we were very happy to contribute to the school funds for this enterprise and opportunity to get together with the village.

 

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We had heard several times how highly education is valued in Vanuatu and there was clearly a thriving village school here.  We did not have time to visit but Moana Roa did and they had a great time.  Because Laurie and Sonya are educating three children on this trip they have quite a lot of educational resources aboard and the school had several computers so there was then a whipround within the anchorage for blank CDs that Laurie and Sonya could use to copy the various documentaries and other resources they had.

 

Again, this village was immaculate but rather more substantial than at Port Resolution with more wood and stone in the house construction.  This is David’s house.  Martin from Katy M2 on the right, David on the left.

 

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