They Don’t Do These Things in America – Part 2

Besides climbing tall papaya trees (click here to read Part 1), Luke and Titus have done a few other things here in Papua New Guinea that they wouldn’t have learned to do in Pennsylvania.

Since coming to PNG, we’ve learned a lot more about banana trees.  Banana trees are everywhere here and while they all looked pretty much the same to us when we first arrived, there are a myriad of different varieties of bananas.  It’s pretty cool to watch the blossom appear and then before you know it, little hands of bananas are forming and growing.  When the bananas are close to ripe, the whole tree is cut down.  Luke and Titus have fun helping to chop down the trees with a machete.  Don’t worry, they’re careful!  You might be interested to know that kids here start using big knives and machetes at a very early age.

 

 

Another thing that grows in abundance in the coastal lowlands is coconuts!  And as with bananas, we have learned a lot more about coconuts since we have been here.  Coconuts at different stages are used for different things.  Young coconuts can be opened and contain what has been referred to as the perfect rehydration drink.  The meat is soft and is a yummy treat.  Older, dry coconuts are opened and the meat scraped out to use in different ways for cooking.   Lately, Titus has been trying to come up with different ways to remove the husks from coconuts that he’s gotten from a tree in our yard.

 

 

And what about Caleb?  We don’t want to leave him out of this post.  He’s quite accomplished at giving himself papaya facials and using banana hair conditioner!  🙂

 

***And just in case you wanted some proof about young kids here having knives, here is a photo of a friend’s son and the toy she gave him to keep him occupied while she worked in the garden.

When the photo was taken, this boy was about the age that Caleb is now!!  No, we’re not planning on giving Caleb his first machete just yet (or anytime in the near future).  Titus is next in line.