Plantation

Sadly, the other layout started having problems, so I'm trying another.

Yesterday was plantation day. I went with Lisa (My roommate) and Amanda Kelly to a plantation with two friends of Lisa's. Lisa met Mamma Antoine and Mamma Odeille at the Alliance Women's retreat and they go to Makombo (the church Lisa goes to when not making the several hour trek to Dousala).

Walking out to meet the mammas was pretty funny since we walked through the hospital and past the highschool (who have class on saturday). We looked pretty goofy (Tim Kelly said it looked like Holloween) with our head wraps and long skirts, machetes and Amanda with her own panier (that's the basket everyone carries to and from their plantations.)



These ladies were super nice and let us tag along to their plantation. We started out a little later than expected and we had problems meeting up with them in town because we went to the college (highschool) and they were waiting at the primary school. While we were waiting for Mamma Antoine to find us we got this cute picture of the three of us while sitting in the shade of a little building.



We met up eventually and introductions were made. Mamma Antoine's 16 year old son, Walker (named after one of the doctor's here) was a part of the group also. After walking a way behind the school past little houses we came to the edge of the jungle. Mamma Odeille led the way with a machete clearing the path. They go pretty much every week but everything here grows so quickly that the path becomes overgrown in very little time.

Amanda and I got a lesson in wielding a machete against the wiley jungle plants as we walked along the first leg of our journey. It was amazing how quickly they move through the jungle. It was difficult to keep up hopping over logs and vines and nearly running over the uneven ground closed in on either side by plants taller than me.





After a while the sceanary changed from tall green grasses and smaller trees with the occasional pineapple plant to more of a forrest with enormous trees all around. We eventually came to the Langonier river where there were a few pirouges docked.



I was thrilled to see that we were going to get to ride in the pirouges (this was on my list, after all!) We had to take two trips, with Walker being the master pirouge captain. It was pretty tricky to get into the little dug out boat without making it wobble much. Mamma Antoine and Walker put their sandals down as shoes for us (they can do all this traveling through the jungle in flip-flops!) and when riding in the pirougue I felt pretty confident that I might just tip us all over before the day was done. Thankfully, it didn't happen, but I did make it rock an uncomfortable amount a few times...

Walker took us across the river and down a ways to another bank where we got out and walked more. We forged through a shallow part of the river (I slipped and slided all the way across while they continually called out "doussament! dousament!" (Slowly! Slowly!) And yet whenever I slowed down I had a fear of being left behind since they seemed quite good at sprinting through the jungle. At this point I do believe we were all sweating buckets. It is harder work than I would have imagined just walking through the jungle.

Antoine and Odeille showed us some sap on a huge tree at one point which they let us smell (it has a strong pine like odor) and they said their ancestors would use it for a torche (like a torch or a flashlight). It burns very well and would keep lit for a few hours. After our quick and fascinating lesson we took off again.

Traveling through more woods and more little swampy river fording until we reached the river again where Walker met us with the pirouge. We took another short ride and continued walking. This next walk took a while but finally led to the plantation.

The plantation looks very similar to the rest of the jungle except that most of the plants in it are edible or produce something edible. There are no clear rows. As I understand it, many of the plants grow naturally wherever they want within the plantation. Lisa, Amanda and I were shown how to use the machetes to start weeding the plantation while Mamma Antoine and Odeille found Aubergine (they are small, round, bitter eggplants that come in red, green and orange), Okra, a few squash and Manioc leaves.

Weeding seemed like an endless and futile job since we were essentially weeding the jungle. But after thinking about how quickly everything here geows I imagine it is an important job to keep up on, otherwise I'm sure that the plantation would be every bit as overgrown as what we walked through to reach it!

I was exhausted by the time we reached the plantation and definitely wishing I had brought water along. The weeding was difficult as we were not familiar with the plants and had only a vague idea of what was a weed and what was not. To further complicate things one prolific crop were the sweet potatoes which grown on vines crawling all over the plantation floor. It was difficult to maneuver without stepping on all the vines and to then find the weeds hiding beneath and between all the plants so we could remove them. I was shaking and sore and feeling a bit like I might black out so after a while I had to take a rest. It was amazing to see Antoine and Odeille working and selecting the fruit with the ease that we American's pick up vegetables from the produce stands in Wal*Mart.

We were unfortunately a little crunched for time as we needed to be back for a baby shower for one of the resident's wives. This led to a bit of stress as time dragged on. Finally it came time to leave. Antoine and Odeille carefully arranged the harvest in their paniers and then explained that they were going to quickly stop to get some bananas from another plantation.



I was so excited when it was time to go since I did not really want to find out what would happen if I passed out from exhaustion in the plantation. The news of the bananas was a touch disappointing, but I knew they were easy to cut down so I wasn't to worried.

Once we made it to where the banana trees were they also began to dig up tubercule douce (sweet manioc, which you can eat more as is than the bitter manioc which they prepare by mashing and souring). It was fascinating to see Odeille chop down the tubercule tree then rip it out of the ground then chop off the roots and go on to the next while We helped walker collect the tubercule in a bag.

This took a little while but we were shortly on our way back to the pirouge. We kept the panier in the pirouge rather than carrying them between the two stops.


Walker, Lisa, Amanda, Odeille, Antoine

The river was higher than on our way to the plantation making the places we had to forage seem much more ample. During one such area I placed my foot part way down a little slippery, invisible trench. The water was very muddy and impossible to see through and the ground was slimy and slippery. My foot immediately slid down into the trench and I plopped down into the river. It was really quite refreshing and thankfully my camera and Lisa's cell phone which I was carrying survived alright. Any pride that I might have had (which was very little since I was already proving myself to be very American after tripping over every branch and catching my feet in every vine and even managing to cut my thumb with the machete) disappeared at this point. But at least it helped me cool off a bit.


At the second pirougue station I went on the first trip with Mamma Antoine and the panier. We each took a panier (I had Amanda's littler one) and walked back to the primary school (which was a much longer walk than I remembered) and out to the road. We were looking for Tim who was coming to pick us up and give us all a ride back. But he had had to go back to pick up Luke since he was watching him for the Baby shower which was starting in a few minutes. After a short wait and discussing the weather and trying to explain how it is sunny in the US too but it also gets very cold (and still sunny) and how even when it is hot and sunny everything is so far that we drive and so we don't have to walk in the sun like they do here. Mamma Antoine pointed off to a distant mountain which seemed quite a ways away as she explained their other plantation was on that mountain and that next time, we would go there with them. I felt a little weak at this idea and right about then the second group appeared. They were able to call Tim again and just as we were setting out to start walking till we met up he pulled up. I have never been so happy to see a ride in my life I think.

We dropped off Antoine, Odielle and Walker and they gave us Amanda's panier full of aubergine, okra, bananas, and squash even though Lisa tried to explain that the experience was really all we wanted. They wouldn't have it though and insisted that we take some.

Then we came and home and managed to shower and get dressed up for the baby showe in just a few minutes!

It was, all in all a fantastic experience. I'm still debating with myself if I would ever go again, and I'm vaguely hoping that they won't go to the distant one until I leave so that I don't have to decide! I'm not nearly as tough as these amazing women here!

This morning Lisa said Antoine and Odeille were leading worship and energetic as always, while we are sore and achy. It's really quite incredible.

We made our share of the aubergine that evening and had them for dinner and then again today. They're pretty good, but we learned you should peel these smaller ones from the forrest or they are incredibly bitter. But I think they're pretty good. And Lisa made fried okra that were fantastic. It's neat to think that all this food was just picked yesterday! I think it makes it taste that much better!

Jessica