A typical fijian day: invited for lunch by Moses and his village fellows

Take Off
Jörgen Wennberg
Fri 24 Jun 2016 20:19
The day after we were invited for lunch at the village. We had agreed on fish and lobsters. The Chief’s son, Mosese junior, had gone fishing in the morning coming back with these, which we bought from them for the lunch.

    

We want to assist in the cooking, however we were not allowed / invited to help. We were clearly their guests!

 

So we took the chance to have a look around the village. 
The house and its entrance.

 

The bedroom and the living room. The view from the window.

 

Grandpa and his grandson.

  

This “hall” is the village’s welcoming hall, where they have their welcoming ceremonies and other village gatherings.

  

Alex and Inez got quickly acquainted with the kids of the village and had great fun together, climbing in the trees and cutting more coconuts!

  

  


Lunch is getting ready soon...

   
 

Checking out on the lobsters 

 
    

And the crabs. Just by sticking a needle in the crab, on a specific spot you kill the crab.


Knox going off showing the pigs to Alex.

 

Some cleaning up before lunch.

   

Inez had found a new toy...

  

… however the kids in the village were not as happy about that: “Now Inez it’s time you give it back…"


Knox preparing the coconut milk so it would be drinkable. He cuts the coconut and gets rid of the real transparent coconut milk that is somewhat bitter. Then he scratches of the flesh from the coconut into bits and pieces. 

     

 

With the shredded flesh they mix it up with water and makes the “whiter” coconut milk that is so much nicer to drink than the fresh straight from the coconut.

 

  

The kitchen

 

Now time for lunch! We tried hard on making them understand that we wanted to eat together with our hosts but they held strong on their tradition making us understand that they eat after us and what is left… And it was totally delicious!

  
  

Together with our friends on Chili Bee!

     

Once lunch was finished we welcomed more of our World ARC friends: Wishanger, Paradise Found and Blue Summit. Kate on Blue Summit handing over the “cava” as a thank you gift.


Now we are to experience the real welcoming ceremony “Suva Suva”. The cava which had been handed over is a root. It is dried and they “maler” ner den into a powder as in the picture below. 


We all sat in the “hall” with Mosese at our side and the other village people leading the Ceremony, which is very traditional.


Moses welcoming us. 


The cava powder is now mixed with water and then filtered away so only the “cava water” is left. Notice the bowl they use: it is a half buoy!

  

And now for the drinking. Before drinking you have to clap your hands in a certain way and 3 times slowly.


While you drink, everyone else claps their hands, 3 times. And once you have finished you clap your hands again 1 time.

 

Everyone else got their turn. So what does it taste? Seriously?… Not very good. It has a slight liquorice taste and it makes your tongue numb. So now we have all been officially welcomed to Fiji!

 

Claudine and Bryan on Wishanger.

   

Knox playing with the kids.

 

We left the village after lunch and met up with the Chief’s son later on that evening on Champagne Beach for more fish and coconut.

  

Let the fire be our cooking stove, the beach be our dining table and the palm leaves be our plates!

  

 

The kids playing with Sam and Ben on the beach