{"id":1855,"date":"2008-11-29T18:44:38","date_gmt":"2008-11-30T01:44:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.wend.ca\/?p=1855"},"modified":"2020-06-19T21:34:23","modified_gmt":"2020-06-20T01:34:23","slug":"los-cocos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wend.ca\/?p=1855","title":{"rendered":"Los Cocos"},"content":{"rendered":"

“For your own safety do not stay under the palm trees in the gardens, this could be dangerous. Please use just the paths of the hotel.”<\/em> — Hotel Service Guide<\/p>\n

At some point on the ride to our hotel the word “coconut” was uttered and a million questions ensued. What is a coconut? Where does it come from? How does it grow? Why is there water inside? Can I drink the water? What does it taste like? What colour are they? Do monkeys really throw coconuts?<\/p>\n

In the course of 30 minutes La Ni\u00f1a<\/em> learned all about the wonders of el coco<\/em> and became obsessed with everything related: finding coconuts, seeing where they came from, seeing a coconut palm, tasting the fruit, and drinking the water inside. Within seconds of getting off the bus we were in search of palm trees and delicious coconut delicacies.<\/p>\n

It took a bit longer than expected to find a coco vendor; a day, actually. But once we found one La Ni\u00f1a<\/em> got the full experience: testing the sound of the coconut, using a machete to cut away the top, and finally drinking the water without the aid of a straw. From that point on there were coconuts everywhere: washing in with the waves, falling from the trees, appearing as babies that needed to be rescued, and in rather random (and abandoned) piles around the hotel.<\/p>\n

I think the most exciting experience for La Ni\u00f1a<\/em> was seeing a man shimmy up a palm tree, chop the coconuts, watching them fall to the ground with a loud thump<\/em>, and then seeing the man shimmy back down the tree. After witnessing this from the hotel balcony she came running back into the room saying in hyper-speed: “Guess what guess what a man climbed his way up the tree and hit the coconuts and they fell to the ground where they made a really loud noise and can I learn how to climb a coconut tree too?”<\/em><\/p>\n

I’m not sure if La Ni\u00f1a<\/em> ever got over her coconut fascination; each one seemed to develop it’s own character and personality. In the end, she became the ever vigilant coconut-in-the-tree watcher and made sure neither of us put ourselves in danger by walking under a palm tree. In the end, I did learn one interesting tidbit about coconut water: in a pinch it can be used as intravenous fluid<\/a>.<\/p>\n