25th January
Today we went to neighbouring island Motoriki to go to church. Motoriki is the place where most of the staff at Lelauvia are from.We got the boat from Leleuvia early because low tide was approaching and the village is a bit inaccessible at low tide. we were welcomed by the head man and watched some rugby 7's before church started. ( The HSBC rugby sevens are currently being played in Hamilton NZ)
The Methodist church service was difficult to follow especially in Fijian. But the bible was in English at least so we could follow the readings. No holy communion though, do the Methodist perform holy communion? The choir was especially good. Judging by the aluminium " Crittall " windows the church must be reasonably old. We also saw a "lovo" a south sea sub ground oven where stones are heated up to furnace heat and then the food placed and the mound of food covered with leaves and eat to cook for about four hours. There was even a pigs head in there amongst the breadfruit, taro and cassava. I watched somebody make a lemon, salt, chilli and tomato salsa which was pretty good with the bit of cheek I ate. (Cuts the fat apparently!)
It was a bit of a trek back to the boat as the tide had gone out, but all was good. Back to Caqalai tomorrow.
It was a bit of a trek back to the boat as the tide had gone out, but all was good. Back to Caqalai tomorrow.