I have to tell you about the pig roast. Each week a local Tongan family invites visiting boaters to their family dinner, donations cover the cost of the pig so it works out great for everyone. The hosts, Sia and Niko, are one of the more affluent families on the island though they live in small huts with dirt floors and cook outside over an open fire. For their family feasts a whole pig, breadfruit, taro roots and cassava roots are placed in a pit of heated rocks, covered in banana leaves, and baked for much of the day. The family eats together out on a tiny palm tree covered motu in the lagoon where the sea breezes keep the bugs at bay.

Before dinner I was served kava, a culturally important drink that acts as a mild narcotic. I am not sure about the purported relaxation and euphoria, but my tongue did go numb. As I watched the Kava be mixed by hand in a common bowl, the pig was crisped up on a huge stick over an open fire. The family rolled out mats under the palm trees and we sat crossed legged on the ground and ate with our fingers. There was little left of the pig by the end of dinner and Niko picked up the head, chopped it open with a small machete and passed Mary and me servings of the brain. Hmmmmm nothing to do but try it. It was an amazing experience, the family has a great sense of fun and clearly enjoyed themselves and having the company.

We went back to the boat at dark, and left the family playing music on a portable stereo and dancing in the firelight on the beach.