climbin' for kenips!

when people come to the property they are faced with a large fence, a locked gate and a barking dog:  welcome to the neighbourhood folks! 

that is just the way life is in roatan, unfortunately.

   but during fruit season people venture into the other unfenced part of the property hoping to avoid being attacked by moto if he chooses to dig under the fence.

so yesterday morning i heard the doorbell (i mean moto barking) and went outside to see 4 little kids standing in the driveway.  the one girl had a lovely mango in her hand which i assumed she took from one of our trees.  i went out and said, "que pasa" (what's happening?)  the little girl reached out her hand and gave me the mango and said, "es a regalo para usted"  (it's a gift for you)  i was a little perplexed because i have 4 mangos trees on the property and i certainly don't need another mango.  i asked where she got it and she told me from her friend's house.  i smiled, took the mango and stood there waiting for them to tell me the 'real reason' for their little visit.

it turned out they wanted kenips!

now if you  haven't ever been you may not be

familiar with them.

i remember the first time i had one i wasn't too sure about them.

you need to bite the top off, and out pops a slippery grape-like fruit 

that is more seed then fruit.

but they are sooo refreshing and delicious.

this is a kenip tree ... about 25 feet high .. at least

anyways, these 4 kids looked like they ranged between the ages of 4 to 9 

and i was a little uncertain about them climbing the tree

so i said to the oldest that it is very dangerous to climb up so don't go up too

far.

he was a little island boy who spoke english so he grinned and said

yes mam

but within minutes he disappeared into the gnarled limbs and leaves 

UP UP UP to the top and was scurrying along very narrow branches

in search of those succulent kenips.

i, in the meantime was hollering

"don't go any higher it is too dangerous!"

meanwhile the little girl had somehow managed to climb into

the other,somewhat smaller tree

and was shaking the branches and the littlest lad was

running around gathering up the kenips.

after looking up for about 10 minutes my neck couldn't take it anymore so

i hollered ' i am going inside now, you can stay up for 5 more minutes and then come down okay?'

YES MAM!!

so off i went and as i was cleaning i kept thinking about that boy up in my gigantic tree

and thought what would happen if he fell, splat to the ground on my property so i went out

again to see if he was down and what did i see??

ALL of them were up in the tree,

even the littlest guy was WAY TOO HIGH up

this is all of them climbing down

like i said that little boy was only about 4 years olds,

so when did he learn to climb trees like that?

last year?  last week?  just now??!!!

either way I told them to come down

so they all began climbing down with tshirts rolled up, full of kenips and the tip 

of it in their little mouths.

once they got down i stood there smiling and finally said

ummm.... por favor!

they clued in and gave me some of MY kenips!!!

they are so good.  

of course i took some for bob and carlos too and after a few photos

i sent them home.

 

about 5 min. later i hear them hollering at the gate

combined with moto barking furiously

so i go out

and they say

aqua por favor???

i decided to draw the line in the sand (not literally of course)

and said 

"no aqua para ti

go home and get water or just eat some kenips..they are refreshing"

when i went back in the yard i said to carlos:

give them an inch and they will take a mile.

he laughed and told me the spanish say it this way:

darles una mano y que se llevará a todo el brazo

which means:

give them your hand and they will take your whole arm!

but i am proud of those kids for asking! 

i am trying to teach the neighborhood kids

to ask instead of just taking (stealing)

apparently they were at the house earlier in the day and carlos told them that

they need to ask me so they came back, mango in hand to ask.

so what do you think i did when they showed up this morning at 6:00 am???

i went out, yes in my PJ's and said, NO NO NO.. it's too early.

please go home and don't come back this early .. ever.

i am nice, but heavens not  THAT nice!!  

so all this talk about kenips is making me want some.

i put mine in the fridge so they are cold .. and i am ready for some!

 

remember:  don't steal okay?

just ask.. (anytime after 8:00 am)