Rachel had been tilling ground for a vegetable garden. She said that in the village right now she mostly has bananas, litchees (seasonal), native greens [ana-mafana*] and rice , so the garden will hopefully provide some variety. She has been out harvesting rice again with neighbors and needs to bring the rice she has been given to be threshed. She mentioned that she has not had any meat in a long time and looks forward to having a bit when she goes to her banking town. She asked us to send some powdered cheese (the kind that comes in the boxes with macaroni); Teresa sent two envelopes today (June 1) along with a crush ball that Rachel can use with her kid-friends. She mentioned that she has plenty of books but would love to receive more National Geographic magazines or other pictures that she can share with those kids and even grown-ups.

She is still planning at some point to go to a vanilla plantation to see how vanilla is cared for and harvested. [It is the seed pod of an orchid that is grown on trees.] She mentioned earlier that vanilla beans look almost like bunches of green bananas when they are still on the orchids. They only look like the vanilla ‘beans’ we are familiar with after they are harvested and dried.

Rachel said she hopes to see boa constrictors (hopes?!), though she has not seen any yet. She mentioned that in prehistory, Madagascar was attached to what is now South America and that is why there are boas there but not on the African continent.