Coconuts

The other day I found out that the liquid within a young coconut is one of the richest sources of electrolytes known to man. That the water, or milk, as some call it, is nearly identical to blood plasma. And that when you drink fresh coconut water, it’s as if you’ve given yourself an instant blood transfusion.
So, after being in a country full of young coconuts for nearly ten years, I thought it might be good to buy one and try this miracle drink for the first time. I found a guy in the barrio who could get me any amount of coconuts I wanted, so I had him bring me ten. It literally took me an hour to get the liquid out of the first one. For most of the following nine coconuts I was fortunate to find people who know how to use a machete who helped me get the miracle liquid. It is so much work, yet I must say it’s well worth it! I’m giving credit to the young coconuts for my good health these past few weeks. And now I’ve learned that the coconut salesman can peel them a little bit so they’re easier for me to open.
If you haven’t tried a young coconut before I highly recommend it!

garbage

The new Governor of La Vega will be taking office on August 16th, so as expected here, the present Governor has pretty much stopped doing his old responsibilities. For example, the garbage men only pick up garbage if they are given funds to do so, and supposedly he hasn’t been giving them the money. We went well over a month in the barrio without getting our garbage picked up. It was so bad that it was not uncommon to see up to thirty rice sacks full of garbage stacked up in front of a vacant house. Others even made a small business of carrying people’s garbage off to the nearest garbage bin in the city.
I’m looking forward to seeing if things get better when the new Governor takes office.