It was a day of culinary ups and downs...

It was my first trip to a mountain village. After a long and winding drive up a mountain, we arrived to find the smiling village chief and a couple of others waiting for us, bearing gifts...

1. Green coconut water followed by jelly-like coconut flesh.

Upon arrival, we were presented with a green coconut, complete with hole cut out for drinking. There is a slight fizz to coconut water, and it was very thirst-quenching. It also cools you down when you spill the liquid down your chin and onto your t-shirt. Upon completion of the liquid, we handed our coconuts back to the men bearing machetes, to be prepared for the next stage – a few swift motions with the knife and we had two coconut halves and a little spoon, made from husk, to scoop out the soft flesh. Wade had been side-tracked, looking at some bamboo nearby, so the men just kept feeding me the coconut halves. I was getting full, but I liked it.

2. Pig in broth with eyes

For lunch, we went to the village chief’s house; a lovely spot on the side of the mountain with a gorgeous breeze and shady trees. On the table a big bowl of rice accompanied another bowl , the contents of which reminded me of the “gravy beef” dish that my mum makes, although it wasn’t so much “gravy” as “meaty water”. There were small pieces of flesh floating around, and I’m relatively certain one of them was an eye. I piled my plate high with rice and slopped on some water and a couple of little bits of meat. As I ate, I discovered that one of the pieces was pure, congealed fat, and the other was meat, with skin and hair still attached. It was a bit like eating a piece of cheek with a five o’clock shadow... I would IMAGINE. I couldn’t really know for sure.

3. Popcorn
I must admit, I was still a little hungry on the way back down the mountain. Luckily for me, we were stopped half way down by Tia Maria – the local medicine woman. She offered us sweet tea and coffee, and then brought out two huge bowls of organic, lip-smackingly salty, crunchy, puffy popcorn! Now, I don’t often use the word “gobbled”, but I’m telling you - there were four of us - and we literally GOBBLED that popcorn down. Too quickly, it would seem, because no sooner had we polished off those two huge bowls than Tia Maria had put down another two bowls. A thought flashed through my head as I looked at this strange medicine woman, gums shining bright red with betel nut, her fiery eyes excitedly watching us gobbling her popcorn down: Maybe she’s put a curse on us!!! And we’re doomed to eat popcorn on the side of a mountain for evermore!!!!! But then I realised: she’s a medicine woman, not a witch. I took another handful and thought no more about it.