An Unplanned Treat of a Day

We woke up and had breakfast on Tuesday morning and got a phone call shortly after 8 AM from President Norman asking if we would like to go to a macadamia nut farm neat Antigua.  Of course we said "yes".

It is very difficult to see in this picture but there is a rather bushy almost looking flower that is the start of the nuts then green nuts and then brown nuts on the tree at the same time.  The nuts fall to the ground when they are ready.  It takes about 7-9 months for a nut to ripen on the tree and then fall off.  They are harvested by being picked up off the ground several times a day.

They showed us all of the equipment that was very simple for sorting and cracking outer shells of the nuts.  (We have pictures of all of it for anyone who wants more detail.) Of course Mike was fascinated and even found out about the cracking machine which they didn't show us.  We toured the farm a little more and then were taken into a room where they told us about their projects of starting these farms in other places to provide carbon dioxide in the atmosphere and employment and nutrition to people.

 This bathroom is said to be the most photographed toilet in the country!

We were allowed to taste nuts and candy and rub on oil and salve and then of course we were invited to buy products.

We stopped at a town (we are looking for the name) and spent a little time in their market.  I learned that if the church had one saint on top twelve families could live on the ground behind it and if two saints were displayed there were 24 families that lived behind the church and other more common families fanned out from there.

There was a lady in the market doing this detailed weaving. 

After that we drove higher and higher and higher into the mountains to a parking lot where we got into a four wheel drive truck (me in the front with another Sister) and the rest in the back to be driven still further up the mountain to some hobbit houses, a hostel and a restaurant.  It was unbelievably steep. .Here is the first group loading into the truck.

The valley below.

Hobbit houses and hostel.

The Fishers invited us to go to the movies with them after we got home.  Mike and Tim saw "Star Wars" and Nancy and I saw "The Greatest Showman" .  We both enjoyed ourselves.  Can you believe Mike went to two movies in one week.  It took about 30 years to do the last two.