Powa Wata

The church in Lucea held a dinner fundraiser to buy a new set of drums. The menu was chicken, goat, pork, rice and peas, tomato and cucumber, and powa wata (power water). Powa wata is sometimes called mannish water. At first, I thought it was some sort of homemade alcoholic brew, but come to find out it is a soup. It is a soup made out of goat head, goat feet and goat entrails. I must confess I was not man enough to try it.

Sis. Mel was in charge of the cooking.

Everything was cooked outside over an open flame.

One of the cooks washing up a cook pot.

Todd was served a cup of powa wata.

By the look on his face, how do you think it tasted?


One of the helpers serving juice from a red stripe bucket with tin foil over it.

Nathan collecting rocks.

The serving bowls covered with a large cloth.

Waiting to be served.

Todd said the powa wata tasted better than it smelled. According to him the smell was pretty bad. It was late when we got there so, we got ours "to go." They fixed us two "to go" boxes with fried chicken with a sweet sauce over it and some pork. And they fixed one with pork and curry goat for "Pasta" Todd. On the way home, Todd sipped on his powa wata. I guess he was trying to acquire a taste for it. We stopped at a roadside fruit stand and bought some mangoes. When we continued the drive home, Todd no longer had the cup of powa wata.

Nathan decided he was hungry, and Todd told me to get the dinners out and try the chicken. Fried chicken should be safe enough. We all tasted it. Good enough. Nathan loved it. The pork tasted good, some pieces were a hairy. I avoided them. Todd ate the curry goat. Nathan and I tried it. It was not something I want to get use to. As we continued driving, I commented, "That sweet sauce over the fried chicken tastes pretty good." Nathan said he thought so, too.

Todd said, "I didn't tell you about the big pan of sweet sauce, did I?"

"No you didn't," I said. "What about it?"

"There were four large fish heads floating, in the sauce pan!"