Just as I was about to sit down for breakfast, I noticed that Made was out front on the shore, looking up at the coconut trees together with the coconut man,, trying to decide which coconuts to pick for the resort. Since I love watching craftsmen at work I decided to postpone breakfast and watch him. First of all this meant keeping quite a distance from the tree since he would be throwing down coconuts and leaves, and from a height of over 13 meters high, you don't want anything falling on your head.
Just the way he silently and easefully placed his long narrow bamboo ladder among the tree trunks at just the right angle on that specific coconut tree, already won me over. It is a grace I have seen among all of the Balinese….they just seem to know the most harmonious way to do something….it isn't the fastest, but it is exact and in a flow with nature. There is never a feeling of a separation between man and nature, or a conquering of….but just a flow with nature. He arranged his red sash around his waist which he knotted in the back, and then slid his 1/2 meter long knife through it against his back, He then climbed up the ladder, attaching it at the end to the tree trunk, and then continuing upwards past the length of the ladder, by placing the huge soles of his feet along the ridges of the sloping palm tree as he grasped with his hands, making his way upwards.
When he reached the top he disappeared among the leaves and clusters of coconuts. It was as if he had entered "coconut land". He "wandered" among the huge leaves, sitting himself down on one in order to start weaving the end of a long thick rope that he brought up with him, around the branch of 12 young coconuts that were a golden color and would be good for the welcome drink given to each guest that arrives. Made had told me previously that because it is so hot up on top of the coconut tree by mid morning, that the men only work early in the morning for a few hours each day.
So, there he was, having figured out how to securely attach the rope on the branch that held the 12 coconuts so that he could then slide out his knife and cut the thick stem. This released the cluster and allowed him to use the rope like a pulley to slowly lower it down to the ground. The coconuts twirled slowly as they came down slowly from the heights of the coconut tree. The beauty and wonder of it all brought me to tears. All i ever do is walk up to the counter and ask them for a glass of coconut water every day, happy that there is a healthy and delicious drink so readily available for me. But seeing this man, risking his life by climbing up so high, without any security measures just so that I can drink this daily, touched me. And that God had created this wondrous nutritional liquid, not to mention the aphrodisiac powers of the inner slimy coating, and the grated coconut obtained from the older coconuts, along with the coconut oil that is processed, and the shell and leaves used for fuel and building etc. suddenly hit me. And all this at such tremendous height which meant they had to work hard for this!
By the end of an hour or two he had climbed several trees and lowered down about 25 coconuts….enough for a few days for us to continue leisurely enjoying our fresh coconut water every day. He received his $2 for his day's job, and left Made to carry the coconuts over to a pile in the back of the resort. Wondering how much a cluster of 12 of them weigh, I tried to pick it up, unsuccessfully. What a surprise it was to see how they later lifted it up, weighing over 6o kilo, in silence.
I had noticed something else which caught me by surprise. When the coconut man cut a few big coconuts off while in the tree, letting them fall the 13 meters and hit the ground without cracking. But what I saw was his very purposeful attention as each one was released from the tree, as if with his eyes he guided the falling 10 kilo coconut where to land! It was like when I was watching the man shoveling earth and throwing it behind him, but "accompanying it" until it landed just where he intended on the terrace he was building. Here too, the coconuts were falling among the wooden fishing boats that lined the shore, and could have easily broken something if they landed on them. But all ended peacefully and with no harm to anyone or anything. Being able to witness this cycle of ripe coconuts coming down from the heavens and all of the hard work that is done so that I can sip my fresh coconut water is very humbling.
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