10/28/02

This was a busy weekend. All of October is Kweyol month, and yesterday was Jounen Kweyol (Kweyol Day). They had main celebrations in certain towns around the island, but there was something small going on everywhere. The Canadians, Shannon and Heather, were doing an around-the-island trip to visit several of the places, and I went along. These ventures are always sort of an odyssey. You see a lot of crazy stuff, and it’s usually a lot of fun. When I go to Choiseul with work, we always go the same way, so it was nice to see a different part of the island.

First we went to Anse La Raye. It’s the town known for the Friday fish fry. We got there around 10 and they were still setting up most of the stuff. They had some breakfast-y things though. They make a cocoa tea with the local cocoa, cinnamon and nutmeg. It’s kind of like a thick and spicy hot chocolate. They also had bakes, kind of like fried biscuits, cassava bread, and pemi. Pemi is a cornmeal cake thing, also made with the local spices. It’s sort of like a sweet tamale, or humita (for those of you who know what that is). They wrap it in banana leaves and boil it. I ran into Hitoshi, one of the Japanese guys there.

Next, we went down to Laborie. There were a lot more people there. We stopped by Clint’s, which is right in town. Down a bit from there, on the beach, they had several food places set up. We got fresh cane juice and a lunch bowl. The lunch bowl is all traditional foods that they serve in a calabash, or hollow gourd bowl. The whole event in Laborie was run by Abu’s aunt (our trainer from when we were at the monastery). Clint said she had made really strict rules about what people could make and sell and what they couldn’t. Normally chicken is a big thing for occasions like this, but chicken was outlawed. It isn’t traditional enough. What we got in the calabash bowls was salt fish, smoked herring, breadfruit, avocado and cucumber. They were pretty good, but I can only eat so much breadfruit. Unfortunately we didn’t have too much time to wander around Laborie. It turned out to be the best place we stopped.

Lastly we went to Micoud. The stuff was all set up in the soccer field by the highway instead of in town. It had a town fair feel to it. I got some popcorn and coconut tablet there. Tablet is a really good candy made with sugared coconut and almond extract. Heather, Shannon and I wandered around some. There were some Rasta guys selling crafts there. They were different crafts than the ones at the Arts and Crafts Center. I bought a little carved calabash bowl and a bamboo mug. I also talked to the Rasta guys and told them we need some new stuff at the Arts and Crafts Center. While we were wandering around, I ran into a few people that I know. Two of the Choiseul trainees were there, and Doris’ host family.

I was beat by the time we were done. We had a really nice day. It’s been really rainy lately, but the sun came out for long enough that we had the chance to get sweaty.