Sunday morning in Rotorua we went to a Maori village with the longest name. I don’t know how to pronounce it but you can see how it’s spelled. As you leave the village the archway says “thank you for gracing our village” The guide talked about the Maori history and life. As you greet each other the Hello is “Kia Ora”
As we crossed over the bridge we were told of the village custom for the young boys to dive for coins that are thrown in by the visitors. The one boy told us he makes about 50.00 a day. 
The building is call a Marae (Ma – rie) it is their ceremonial building and all parts of the bldg. represent parts of the body. The N.Z. and Maori words have been fun to learn. Flip flops are called (Jandals) the bathroom is called (dunny) 
The village is surrounded by geysers and steam. Our guide told us that some of the steam vents have appeared within the last few years. She said, “ if I run, you run too.” 
The dancers were great and after the tour they showed us how to make the skirts out of ,N.Z. flax. Very labor intensive. The men stick out their tongues to scare off the enemy and the women open their eyes wide to do the same. WOW 
The tour was over and they served us corn on the cob (in season) As you can see they use the pools to cook the corn. Other food is put in pots and heated in steam vent covered with grates.
We also saw their bath house or area, and the whole village has access to this “hot tub” 
The evening was concluded with our bus ride to another village where they cooked a “Hangi” roasted food underground with heated rocks. Hawaiian’s call it a “Luau” 
The food was so yummy and the night was great.
PAVLOVA for dessert and we ended the night playing with cards that Sheryl bought in town. The card game Speed.
1 comment:
I would have wanted to go swim and dive for coins. How fun. The dinner and entertainment looks way fun.
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