Plantation

A trip to the Plantation

The day started with me helping out with cooking.  I was scraping (I guess in the States we would consider it shredding…) the coconut to help make coconut cream.  When asked if I wanted to go with the boys to plantation, I jumped at the chance.  Today’s mission: to collect firewood. 

We started out with our two baskets and quickly chopped down a tree to get an amo (the stick to help you carry the baskets on your shoulders).  When only one was chopped down I kept pestering to get mine too.  I was told not to worry about it…but I really wanted to help…so I kept looking for big tree trunks to carry around myself.  I soon learned what was good firewood and what I should just throw back into the woods. 

I helped carry the baskets of firewood for a little bit when they were half full and they were heavy!  I tried the trick of alternating shoulders by rolling the log back and forth, but I was struggling.  I was happy to give it back and find a new log to carry around without the baskets. 

When the baskets were full, we began heading back.  All of a sudden, clunk, clunk, clunk!  One of the baskets broke and probably one hundred pieces of wood fell out.  With nothing else to do, we doubled up the baskets, and used my lavalava (thank goodness I wear shorts underneath!)  to make a second “basket”.  During the entire hike back from the plantation, the wood showed signs of breaking the other basket bade from coconut leaves.  I was really nervous because there were no other lavalavas and I didn’t want to lose any more clothes!  When some fell out I quickly picked them up, and by the time we reached the car, I had my giant log and at least 10 other pieces of firewood. 

It was a day I will never forget because anything that could go wrong seemed to.  But all in all, I still had a whole lot of fun!