Coconuts in Port Elizabeth, Bequia

Location: Port Elizabeth, Bequia

February 26, 2011

Author: Ashley Charles

As I made my way through the soft sand, I glanced up at the sky, gray and morose. It had been raining all day, but our group decided to stick it out. We have a saying back at my school, “there’s no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothing.” Silently cursing myself for not bringing a rain jacket, I did not doubt it was true. To escape the downpour, we took refuge under an awning. Before I ducked under, I grabbed two small coconuts from the ground.

I began to juggle them, partly because I was bored, and partly because the rain wasn’t letting up. Captain Flansburg ambled over to view my lone spectacle, and politely asked for the coconuts. To my amazement, he juggled them with one hand, and then found a small nut so he could throw three. When he began to tell me how to do it, I started to laugh. Look at me, I thought, juggling coconuts on an island I can’t properly pronounce!

He handed me the coconuts and said to throw them a million times. Well, only 999,987 tries to go.