The cocunut hunter

I started this post almost a month weeks ago. In a way it's a shame on the other hand it is just me and I dobn't want to feel gulity...still: somehow I feel responsible to update this page regularly after so many people have been informed about it, and also because I consider it the best way to reach everyone I can't keep in touch in e-mail...

Let me share a fresh impr ession: it certainly is a very special feeling to go out to empty the rubish bin and meet with a cow just in front of the gate, who will by the way consume most of the content of the bin. In the background a wonderful sunset with palm trees on the edge of Your horizont. Then walking back, passing the altar of Ganesh. In the kitchen Raquel is preparing dinner, and somewhere from the back You can hear a nice old song flying out from Your laptop: "Minden hajnal övé marad, Látja szállni a madarakat, Hosszú hosszú ideje már, Nem számolja a napokat már, de amíg él el nem felejti, hogy a múltat ki nem tépheti szívéből..." I find it very difficult to explain this sensation. I developped a very different perspective to view the World and myself. I can see that I can live everywhere, that people are - all in all - quite the same wherever I go (what a surprise! :-)) and that I am just one of the 6,5 billion. And at the same time: being European, being Hungarian, being Peter... these all have become more meaningful, much more part of my own identfication.

As Raquel is a very popular teacher all her students invites her into their villages, and I usually part of the Europen package. Don't ask me the name of the village, I can't remember any more,

actually, I doubt I have ever known it. I only know that that day was extreme hot and we had to walk a lot in a dry lake to get to this coconut plantation. It is usually like that, the villages look quite the same, the houses are small (in this case it was a palace - three rooms and toilet!) and then sugarcane, rice and coconut. But this time I decided to open my own coconut, and after fierce battles I declared myself winner. Originally I wanted to climb the tree to get my own nut, but that did not seem realistic. So, how to consume a coconut: first You cut a small hole, so that You can drink the milk. I don't know why it's called milk as it is rather like flavoured water, with a very nice pleasant and refreshing taste. It is not easy to drink it, I think it is not really possible without getting wet all over, it happens with the Indians as well, so I guess it's part of the ritual. So, after this, You cut the nut in half so You can eat the inside, that is huh, well how to explain, something soft and looks disgusting but tastes good. It is on the wall of the shell and if You are good enough with knife You can cut a "spoon" to scrape it. That's all I know about it. Now it is shared.