A word about the food here...

Within the first few days of being here it quickly became clear that, of the four work-exchange staff here, I am the only one who truly takes joy from cooking, besides being the only one who has any experience cooking vegan food. The only meal formally served here is breakfast, so, despite having the run of the kitchen at all times, it was tiring and annoying and baffling for Virginia and Sue, the ladies from Toronto, to have to think about cooking completely foreign food after a day of work and tourism. So they offered to each pay me $10 per meal if I would prepare and clean up dinner for them.

So, I've been the chef for the group the last week or so, and have so far collected more than $100. I used the money to take a three day Lomilomi course, which is a Hawaiian healing tradition similar to bodywork or massage. It was taught by Kahuna Harry Jim, and he's a native Hawaiian. Kahunas are likened to Hawaiian shamans, but "keeper of the deep mysteries" is more accurate. Kahunas specialize in different areas, so it's possible to become a hulu kahuna, specializing in the dance to praise Pele, the fire goddess who makes the volcano flow. Or kahuna 'ana'ana, sorcerers! Craft kahuna, like the kalai wa'a who are expert canoe builders, and the ho'okele who are expert navigators. Or healers, which Harry is. More on that in another post.

So, a few things about food. I suspect Elisha will resonate with this: it's such a pain to have to be super careful with ALL of the food you eat. Surprisingly enough, being in a rainforest attracts creatures which enjoy dampness. One such creature is the slug. Slugs around here (and, incidentally, in Asia) often carry rat lung worm, which is a parasite. If you get infected, you get nasty headaches which last for months, among other symptoms, until your body can kill the parasites off. In order to avoid this, anything fresh has to be washed really carefully. The slugs prefer lettuce, and crawl into the crevasses and leave slug trails that can contaminate the food, so everything must be washed really well, then rinsed again, taking care to look in every nook. Imagine washing broccoli like that! Around here it's just normal practice, but for someone like me who grew up picking stuff from the garden to snack on, it's annoying. Even oranges or grapefruit from the trees - rinse before eating, just in case.

That said, there are a lot of amazing foods here!

For example, we have a whole grove of fruit trees. Among these fruits are oranges, avocados, papayas, limes, and lemons. Scattered around the property are bananas. In front of the house is a grapefruit tree which is, by itself, almost as fruitful as all the orange trees in our grove! Also in front of the house is an abiu tree.

That's me picking abiu. They are yellow and round and inside have the texture of thick jelly, or dissecting squid... They go bad within a day of picking them, so they aren't often shipped or sold, and are kind of difficult to get, unless you have a tree. Very yummy, and they leave the lips all sticky.
There's also yellow liliko'i, or passionfruit, all around the property. The insides are red or orange liquid/jelly consistency with black seeds. The seeds get eaten along with the liquid. Usually we use them as a dressing for fruit salads in the mornings, and it brings out the natural flavors so well.

Rambutan is really expensive, and this branch was a gift to Choco (whose hand you see in the abiu picture above). Her friend started work harvesting them, and he brought some over for her. I'm told they're the consistency of lychee, which I've never had, but Wikipedia says the plants are related. Very delicious!
I've been sitting on the post for several days now, because it takes SO LONG to upload pictures!! But, there's another one on the presses about my interview yesterday at a yoga studio and about Lomilomi training with Kahuna Harry Jim. :)

Love to all of you!
Carmen