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Cindy's World Trip Blog

November 4, Month 6

Samoa - 1001 Ways To Use A Coconut Palm

In my yard there are men I don't know and their holding machetes...two-foot long knives with sharp blades. Normally this would be quite alarming to me. But hey, this is Samoa. These men are the landscapers. No need for hedge cutters when a sharp machete will do. During a break, one climbed high in the mango tree he was resting under and got himself a snack. Why not?

Coming to Samoa is somewhat traveling back in time. It is a place where people still know their neighbors, still wave and make small talk with each other and random strangers. Traditions are held fast to. The community and individuals seem to have a strong sense of identity. In most ways I view this as a positive thing.

One place that I like to observe the people and the culture in food market in Apia. There is a large covered area where lots of people come with the food they have grown and it is set out on pieces of plywood raised off the ground enough that it comes about to my knees. Many of the bigger items are stacked in baskets weaved from a split coconut tree leaves. The sellers sit behind the rows of food fanning themselves from the heat and switching periodically to the food to keep the flies off. Common items include papaya, small bananas (both yellow and green), bread fruit (larger than a softball, green outside white inside and tastes a little like a potato when prepared), taro (commonly eaten root kind of like a potato), tomatoes (a little larger than cherry size), cucumbers, coconut (in various stages of maturity), firewood, and stringy stuff (used for ringing out shredded coconut to get it's milk. Until recently I didn't know what it was.). Usually in markets like this in other place in the world, stinky smells come along with the interesting sites, but not here. It is just hot. Richard has made friends with a particular vendor and goes to her section of plywood each time we buy fresh food.

At the edges of the food area other commonly needed items can be found in booths. Prepared food can be purchased, and older men can be seen engaging in games like checkers- with different soda lids as the pieces. They also have booths that have handicraft items. Lava-lavas made with designs from the traditional stamping process of carved wood, jewelry of coconut shells, and Kava bowls are among many other things. The merchants usually come and begin fanning us as we look (which is much appreciated). It would be hard to tell where one merchant's area ended and another's began if it weren't for a subtle change of the fanner.

Fans are a wonderful thing here- a near necessity. We haven't given in an bought any because they would be hard to pack without destroying them, but if I lived here... I would get one for sure. I am not sure what the are made of. Some sort of dried organic material that is weaved to make a nice handle then further weaved to make a nice flat fan. I wouldn't be surprised if the material wasn't a palm leaf.

So much comes from the palm tree. The people use it for everything. One man we met makes great soap from coconut oil. The says he views palm trees as the "tree of life." He said, "When we are thirsty we drink the water from the coconut. When we are hungry we eat a coconut. We use the wood to make a house and the leaves to make a roof. The coconut tree takes care of our needs."

I have thought about what he said a lot. From what I have observed from the culture he is right. Not only just what he said either. They use coconut palms for everything. Take just the leaves for example. The baskets I see used for everything are woven from the palm leaf. They are used for garbage sacks, carry stuff to or from the market, in times past I hear they even used them to carry their babies when going from village to village. They have plastic biodegradable bags at the stores, but for a lot of other needs it is the woven basket. The ribs of the coconut leaf are ripped out, dried out, then bundled to make great brooms. People can be seen all over the island using them for even more demanding work outside like sweeping fresh cut grass up into piles. Three strips from the leaf can be woven into a ball for a toy. At church they had one wrapped in a cone Christmas tree shape with a big bow on top for the children's presentation. Need to bundle your green beans to sell them at the market... a couple strips of leaf make perfect ties. This is only a partial list too. I am amazed at the ingenuity with such simple materials. They have found a myriad of uses for the coconut itself too. Yeah, I think I can see how the coconut palm is a tree of life.

I lived in Florida for a while with coconut palms in my back yard. I wish I knew as much about them as I do now. I remember an old guy across the fence from us. He advised me one day to rip them all out because they were messy. That is a big difference in perspective. I think I like the Samoan view better. Who cares about a little mess when the benefits are so big.

The food market isn't the only place to buy fresh food. In fact there are no limits on who can sell or where things can be sold here. If I were to have a fruit tree that produced more fruit than I could eat, I could go out and sell them on the side of the road (which is what a lot of people do). There are also regular grocery stores (their produce usually isn't that great). If I only need a thing or two I can go to the corner store which is so small that it isn't a go-in type of store. Items needed are ordered at the counter. These types of little stores are in every village. We have purchased items such as a cold bottle of soda, toilet paper, rice, and other small things. There are no labeling requirements here so items can be put in smaller bags and sold. One day at the store they had single serve sandwich baggies of a fruit-loop type cereal. Why not? This is Samoa.

The men with machetes are almost done with the yard. They are sweeping up the hedge pieces and the grass they cut with a weed whip with their palm rib brooms. At some point it seems like all of the daily life stuff I see will become less interesting, but it hasn't happened yet. I love seeing how others live and handle daily life.