Bowling For Coconuts

I think we would do very well on Survivor- it seems we have been preparing for it for years as we always look forward to getting the chance to forage for our own food.  Donny has been perfecting his coconut opening skills with only his pocket leatherman and so when we found ourselves on a beautiful secluded beach of Ko Phangan with towering coconut palms everywhere we were in foraging heaven.  I started on the beach, into a grove and up some kid of path, rather gutted by erosion to look for dried ones while Donny tested his monkey skills shimming up the beachside palms for the green coconuts.  Finally I came upon four good ones- huge, unbroken and with the sweet sound of water sloshing inside when shaken.  But I had a long and steep descent back down to the beach and was thinking there was no way I could hold all four when a quote from The Big Lebowski popped into my head; “screw it dude, lets go bowling.”  Never really knew where they’d land as they bounced their way down the bush covered lanes (sadly, there was nothing to block gutter balls for me and it would sometimes end up in the tall grasses along the side, or deep in a ravine and I’d have to climb in after it and retrieve it with my feet.  At one point I think I had picked up a few extra but maybe lost the originals along the way because in the end back by the water I still ended up with four.

Donny in the meanwhile had been on the beach preparing a fire to cook up the zucchini we had bought at the market.  When there is no kitchen, you make your own!  The Coconuts turned out perfect and meaty and when perched ourselves up on our picnic rock and Donny cracked them open we feasted on its sweet deliciousness while the waves splashed up around us.  Our teeth and jaws are tired from the workout of the hard flesh, but it was so worth it! We still may not have all the survival skills of Laos, but we’re getting there.