Yes, we spent another entire day in the village of Maunicake (pronounced “Manuthaki”) in Vuluga (pronounced “Fulunga”). What a delight!

For my part (Bob), I spent the day with my mentor, Joe finishing the carving on my bowl. He is confident enough now to let me do all the carving. He just sits and watches with an occasional, “Vinaka!” which means (in this context) “Well done”! This bowl is a 12 inch by 6 inch bowl with seashells inlaid in the four “corners” and Fijian carving pattern between them. It looks pretty good for a first try. Several of the carvers have examined it very closely and noted that no one has ever used “this kind of shell” to make carvings. Ann and I are pretty sure this design will now be replicated as part of the island repertoire!

As before, the most fun part of doing the carving is the camaraderie. People come by, stop, look, talk and then move on. You tell a joke or two, everyone laughs and it’s just fun! Bright Angel Bob and Linda were part of the group today too. Lucy, who is the wife of one of the carvers (Niko) was preparing pandanas leaves for weaving. It’s an exhausting process that starts with taking the sharp edges off, then rolling them up, boiling them, drying them, etc. Linda is going to learn some weaving and wanted to start at the very beginning and dropped in to help Lucy roll the pandanas into rolls that will fit into the pot for boiling. Just that part of the process took most of the afternoon! Bob is interested in the anthropological aspects of Fijian life and was asking about a number of the ceremonies and sayings of Fijian life. In particular he asked a question I hadn’t thought of — “What is the significance of the pattern that Bob is carving?” Both Joe and Niko shrugged and said, “Our grandfathers taught us these patterns.” So there you have it. I’ve become part of the history of Fulunga by carving what their grandfathers taught them. I couldn’t be more proud!

Ann continues to work on the genealogy of the village and to say people are fascinated and thrilled by the attention she is putting into this is an understatement. More on this going forward as it gets finalized but she could at this point easily be mistaken for a village elder not because of her age but because of her knowledge of the village relationships. She has tracked folks back through great – great grandparents and the process is getting a LOT of attention.

We just heard that tomorrow we are going to be able to go to Naividamu (also known among cruisers as the Third Village, since it is mostly accessible by boat across the lagoon). The only issue– the longboat is showing up at the beach at 0700.

OK, time to get to sleep. Stay tuned for more.