One of the older men grabbed my hand and led me over to one of the huts, with the gathering close behind. The roof was way too low for me to step in, so hunched over, I followed him in. Inside on the dirt floor was a bed of leaves partially covered by a filthy, heavily used, grayish cloth. Next to it was pile of large leaves, and a ring of black rocks surrounding a bed of smoking burnt ashes. Nothing else. No personal items, nothing. Other than the roof over head, it wasn't any better than my hiding spot the night before. With a friendly gesture, he motioned me to sit down on top of the pile of leaves.
Picking up a stick, he stirred through the pile of ashes searching for something. Smiling, he reached in and pulled out a black, sooty ball and handed it to me. I dropped it immediately, as it was rather hot! He tried handing it back to me, but it was too hot for me to handle, though his calloused hands had no problem holding it. I had no idea as to what it was, or what to do with it, but smiled anyway. Cracking it hard against a rock several times, he broke into several chunks.
The inside was white, similar to dried coconut, but seemed much harder. Gnawing on it he handed me a chunk to do the same. It was like a jaw breaker and similar to the taste of eating a brown paper bag. Smiled as if to say, "see, its good!", I smiled back, but was a bit disappointed with the menu. Stirring through the ashes, he collected two more black balls and handed them to me. Kindly I thanked him, and together we crawled out to the waiting crowd.
Outside the hut everyone seemed really joyful, so took out my camera for some photos. They paid no attention to the camera, either knowing not what it was, or what it did. After several quick shots, I packed it away, thanked them kindly for the roasted roots and bid them all farewell. The children ran behind me for quite a ways down the trail shouting and laughing. Eventually they tired, stopped, and threw a few sticks and stones until I was out of range. Me? I was still hungry.
