Davis Pictures

Fish comes in every day.  You can by hunks of tuna or whole snapper or handfuls of minnows or a variety of colorful reef fish.

1.50 Euros buys one kilo of White Albacore.

Breadfruit trees grow 85 feet tall which is all the more impressive when you see your friends scamper up them with a butcher knife tied to a 15 foot pole.

The yield is a round fruit that can be cooked like a potato—fried, boiled, baked.  Here it is baked in a fire of coconut husks.

The outside is charred and blackened but inside is a delicious white starchy food much like potato or fresh bread. 

Delicious

So we have had lots of guesses as to the kitchen implement.  Here they are (in the order we received them) …

Sonja: “Hmmm, it looks like a juice extractor of some sort.”

Kathy J: “a coconut press”

Jackie: “an implement to scoop out coconut meat”

Bosh Family: “I'm going to go with fish-gutter.”

Patty-Leigh: “um, coconut scraper?”

Bosh Family (again): “coconut crusher???”

Sydney: “A funnel?”

Peter: “Coconut grinder or whatever you call it when you get the meat out of the inside of a coconut!”

Anja: “Is this tool a coconut-cracker and the plastic bowl to keep coconut-milk???”

Then, of course, we had a bunch of smarties like Bridget, and Richard and Barbara, and Monte who knew exactly what it was…

Mbuzi wa nadzi is the correct answer, which translates, “Coconut goat”.  It is used for scraping coconut out o the shell, and is therefore, a very common kitchen tool here.

Good guesses all!  I suppose the winner would be Kathy J., although as my sister pointed out, if you make the trip out here we will be happy to host you!

First person to guess what kitchen tool this is gets 5 nights free stay in our guest room!

These aren’t great pictures, but they were all I could get without going out in the rain.  One is the street in front of the house where we are staying.  The other is mosque 2 doors down.  We hear the call to prayer 5 times a day—first time at 5:00am and the last time around 8pm.

For lunch we had fish and fried bread fruit.

“It’s not delicious, but I still like it.”

--Lami

Although I suspect the numbers…

Here’s a picture of the prow of the boat while in port, before people got on, and the prow of the boat after the storm (when everyone needed fresh air.)

“It was like living a Sprite commercial, except there’s no Sprite, and the camera doesn’t capture the smells.”

--Jen

We got to board first because we are the commissionaire’s friends…. it wasn’t really a benefit.

But here’s our family, and the boat/dock, and the cabin before it filled, and the rope that was mooring us to the dock (made of twisted nylon sacks.)

On the last night, after packing the last bag, as I was cutting the last zip-tie, my knife slipped and I cut my arm.  Thank God it happened in Nairobi and someone was able to take me to the emergency room.  Kenyan efficiency had me in and out in less than an hour with 20+ stitches later (inside and out).  Every once in a while something like that amazes me in Africa!

“You have a fat arm.” Said the doctor complimentarily.