More memories of Rivo!

Joel hanging out with Lawrence and Lucy...and eating of course! :)

Lawrence, Lucy and family took us over to a beautiful island with bright blue water and pure white sand! It was goregous! They built a fire and cooked fish for us, it was delicious. The kids ran around and played in the water all afternoon. The kanu (canoe) we took over there was quite interesting...I thought Joel would surely flip us over! Ha! :)

Here I'm just sitting and storying with Lucy...she was the best bilum (a brightly colored/patterned string bag used by men and women) maker! She desperately tried to teach me but I just didn't get it. Lucy made us several bilums as gifts before we left for home.

Lawrence, Simon (a big man in Rivo) and Roddy all spent the afternoon showing Joel how to weave a mat. They use these mats for guests to sit on when there's not enough seats or they take them to sing sings or meetings to sit on. The mats are made from palm leaves.

Here's Joel sitting with Francis and Papa Lawrence, who is Lawrence's father. Joel is holding a big bunch of beetlenut (or buai), a nut that they chew and mix with 2 other ingredients to get a little "buzz". Everyone thought it was so funny for Joel to be holding this!!