The last couple days have been amazing for the incredible hospitality that everyone here at Fulunga has shown us. Today was incredible for the adventure we were able to take to see the caves where cannibalism was performed a hundred years ago.
You have to climb up the rocks, then you peer over the edge-oh my!
Yup, after hiking through the jungle and climbing up the hill, here it is!
Climbing up to get to the cave.
Our guides to the caves.
Judging by the condition of the trail (almost non-existent) we are a of the few who have had the good fortune to visit this spot. We gathered in the village with our friends from Blue Rodeo, Slip Away, Evergreen and Just In Time, a Kiwi boat we just met.
Anyway, Mattei had mentioned the existence of these caves and we said we would very much like to see them. Not expecting too much, we gathered outside his house this morning around 0900 for the hike up to the cave. Well…our expectations were far exceeded. As we hiked up the hill behind the village, we were treated to an anthropologists dream. Mattei showed us where the “old” village used to be situated back when there was open warfare among villages as well as islands in this part of the world. As we hiked higher up the hill, we were literally transported back to a place in time when sentries were posted on the peak watching for any sign of an enemy approaching. The rock foundations of the old village-not inhabited since the late 1800s-are still visible and we were able to see how it was sited literally at the top of the hill and on the edge of an impassible cliff. This was a fortress in its day-now mostly swallowed by the jungle-since the village moved down to its present position nearer the water a hundred years ago. Still-you could almost feel the spirit of the ancestors.
And if you couldn’t quite feel the spirit, once we came to the cave and climbed up to look inside, you could see the spirit. Skulls and bones. Stacks and stack of them. Some staring out at you untouched for these many years. It was eerie and amazing. The fact that this is still here completely intact is absolutely amazing! We ended the day feeling extremely privileged that we could experience something like this in such a pristine environment, untouched, in a state of repose that so vividly depicted a way of life that (fortunately) has been gone for over a hundred years.
Amazing. (I can’t wait to share the pictures when we’re back where we can access internet)