But that was a tangent. Lush forest surrounded by warm, clear, clean ocean. It's the rainy season, so everything was wet and green. The people who live here have been here, as far as they know, since the beginning of time. Lou land is volcanic and very rich.
Food is incredibly plentiful.
Gardens are hacked out of the bush and the women, it is mostly the women, grow many types of taro, banana, casava, sweet potato, greens, coconut, peanuts, green beans. I was encouraged to eat enormous amounts of food while in Rei. And I had casava in more incarnations than I ever dreamed possible. My favorite food was taro leaf greens cooked in coconut milk and saksak, which is a glutinous something from the sago palm mixed with grated coconut. Plus papaya every morning.