This morning we went on a thoroughly enjoyable tour to see the various spices and fruit that grow on the island. It was a fascinating and exhaustive promenade through a massive variety of plants and trees with a friendly guide who delighted in our poor guesses as to which plant we were currently looking at.
At the end of the walk we were treated to a taste of all the fruits we'd seen growing and were given hats and ties made out of plaited palm leaves. We'd earlier seen another tour group wearing these and thought they were slightly twattish, but when we were presented with our own as a little end of tour surprise it was hard not to feel heart-warmed, even if we knew we also looked like twats to anyone new.
There is a refreshing lack of cynicism that seems to pervade most tourist locations and you felt that everyone enjoyed showing us the produce of their country as much as we enjoyed being shown. Of course we ended up buying lots of bags of spices and coffee, but again it's all so cheap by our own standards that it still felt slightly embarrassing.
I thought the tour was over but then we stopped by a palm tree that was at leat 50 feet high and were told that a man standing nearby limbering up was about to climb it. It was clear at this early stage that the man they referred to as "Butterfly" was quite a show-man. He fixed a rope round his feet and rubbed his hand against the bark, looking slightly apprehesive about this climb that seemed completely impossible to us.
Soon enough though he was manouevering up the tree as easily as I might walk up the stairs, maybe a little more easily. "Hello!" he cried from about 30 feet up, waving at us with no sign of fear. He then started to sing and had a quite wonderful singing voice which echoed across the plantation. "He's good," I commented, "But this would be a hard act to do in the clubs." You'd need to carry a fifty foot tall tree around with you for starters.
Then Mr Butterfly started doing some acrobatics, holding on to the smooth straight trunk with his arms and kicking his legs out. We gasped in horror. There was no real fear that he'd fall as one could only presume he did this every day, but the whole feat still seemed so implausible and such larking around at forty feet in the air seemed totally foolhardy.
But then he was soon on his way to the top, slinking up the palm tree and then jumping around in the leaves at the top. He started to chop down some of the giant branches. As the first one fell with great comic timing he screamed as if he was falling so as the branch clattered to the ground we all jumped thinking it was him. He then went for more comedy as he tryed to fight off some flies, then cut down the coconuts which plummeted to the ground with dizzying speed.
It was one of the funniest and most entertaining ten minutes that I have ever seen, infused with a real sense of danger. There were no safety nets or wires. This was just a man with a bit of rope between his feet.
He desended, still singing and swinging his legs around for our delectation and even when he was finally down the show was not over. He then got out a sharp knife and started hacking the coconuts to bits and finally handed us one each instructing us to drink the milk. It was the most wonderful refreshment and Butterfly claimed a cure for Yellow Fever if regularly drunk, much more palatable than the injections we Westerners favoured (though if we had to collect the coconuts ourselves I suspect it might not be so appealing), also a remedy for malaria and also something that might assist a gentleman with his "strength" - (many of the spices we were offered were given similar Viagra-style claims. I bought some of course, but only for comedy value, not because I have any problems in that area and anyone who says I do is lying).
Then once the healthy milk was drunk he cut the coconuts up for us further, allowing us to eat the flesh. It was just one of the most wonderful things I can ever remember. Pure entertainment, plus a drink and a meal and potentially an erection. We gave him about four pounds for his trouble, though he genuinely looked like he might have been happy just to have made us smile. He probably wouldn't have been happy, but the trick is that he looked like he would have been. I can't help thinking that we've lost our way in the west a bit when you experience this kind of thing. But it's not like I'm going to start doing my act in the hope that people will pay me afterwards if they've enjoyed it. Mind you, if I had an act as good as Mr Butterfly I might just do that.
I might put some photos up of some of this when I get home, so check back later.
I am starting to properly relax. I am feeling much better (though was a bit hungover today - hey I am on holiday!) and so glad that I've got over a week and a half to go of all this. It's just what I needed. So if you don't mind I will be off to do some more of it now.
