Tree Climbing

Pohnpei is an island where much of the edible resources are from trees.  Developing a fearless sense of balance seems natural.   And in fact, youngsters do develop a lack of fear and an agility on branches that would test the hearts of mothers back home.

Tree climbing, though is the young men’s arena.

A large mango tree grows in front of our balcony.  These fruit (which are much smaller than other mangoes and tart rather than sweet), have been tempting Laurie.  They have called her name and teased her with their closeness yet still out of reach.  The largest fruits were, of course, at the top.

Last week end the call was too much.  We called for our local “Good Man,” Roswell.  

 

 

 He happily climbed, taking a sack with him.  This is one of the largest trees in our little neighborhood.  In less than 20 minutes Laurie received a plethora of mangoes from the highest branches!

 

 Breadfruit trees are another food stock requiring climbers.  In this case, the large breadfruit is dropped by the climber and assistants attempt to catch  them so they don’t split open on impact.  Jay Jay (our host son) and his friend were the chosen ones!  What became obvious very quickly, is that a breadfruit in the hand is lighter than a breadfruit on the air. . .(er… wing?)

Betel nut attract loads of attention from chewers but climbers are swift and tend to not wait for pictures in their furtive collection of nuts.

 

Of course, in our group of volunteers, we have a particularly talented climber.  Scot has successfully retrieved both coconuts and papayas! This insures him increased job opportunities in the future!