Palm trees and the bats

Trimming the palm tree from on high

The other day we returned to the guest house from breakfast at the main house to find palm leaves falling to the ground near our entrance.  High up in a palm tree, a young man was cutting down withered leaves with a machete.  No ladder, no safety harness, just him, his bare feet, the machete - climbing ever higher, holding onto palm fronds as he cut.  After dispatching the fronds, he cut down a large, orangey-red cluster of palm nut fruit.  He repeated this routine with several trees.

Palm nut fruit lying on the ground

The cooking pot spied from the guest house

The clusters were broken up, but left on the ground for days.  Now and then we would see folks gathering the fruits and taking then away.  What happens to all the palm nut fruit, we wonder.  Recently we found the answer boiling in a large pot in the yard.  The pot sits on a circle of large twigs, covered with palm fronds.  The palm nuts are piled to above the pot brim.  Georgette, Victor, and Jaan frequently check progress.  The softened fruit is mashed in a large mortar and pestle, the juice flows out of the palm nuts.  There is a big mushy mess.  The mush is filtered and the palm nut juice is returned to the pot.  The pot full of orange liquid ultimately boils down to a small amount.  The result, so we believe from gestures and a French word here and there, is that it is palm oil, with added ingredients, very tasty, that is used for cooking chicken, meat and many other foods.  It is delicious.

The pot sits on a circle of twigs & is covered with palm fronds

Jaan, Victor, Georgette check progress

A mortar and pestle are used to mash the fruit

A big mush

The palm juice is returned to the pot

And boiled down

Oh, by the way, remember the red tin door repair and the displacement of the bats from the “bat room”?  Sue was worried that the bats would come into the house, but Jim didn’t think so…  Time has told…  A bat or two did come in a couple of times, but readily found their way out again.  Sue’s real glad about that.  With curtains back on the windows, drawn where there are no screens, we haven’t seen them in many nights.  But we do see fire flies, aka lightning bugs, and THEY are fun… a reminder of home.