Laka Beach

The weekend before last Chad and Robin took us and the kids to experience the beaches for the first time.  Despite not having hot water, shoddy electricity, limited water supplies and food variety, we are very blessed to have beaches as beautiful as here in Sierra Leone.

When we first got there we ordered some food.  We got to look at our food before preparation...

It took over an hour to prepare the food (as is often the case in Sierra Leone and I dare say most of Africa) but while doing so we went swimming with the kids.  The water was deliciously warm... nothing like the cold California water that I am used to.  And this is the 'colder' time of year now so I bet during the dry season it will be bath water! For those of you who know me well know that I love being warm!

We gave Owen who is four years old his first swimming lesson and he did great!  He's got an adventuresome and daring spirit so he took to swimming quite well.  I loved it too!  I used to teach swimming lessons for 7 years so it was so fun to try my hand at it again.  Afterwards he went up to his parents and said "Hey, I did an AWESOME job" because that is what we had been telling him during the lesson.

I wish I would have taken more pictures of the beach because it is a beautiful place.

While we didn't get these coconuts at the beach, I did buy some (the young coconuts for 50 cents each) and the older coconuts were from the trip we took with Pastor Ben.  He gave them to us for free!

These are young coconuts. 

More of the inside is liquid and less is flesh.  The part that is flesh is very gel-like, not hard like older coconuts.  The liquid is very good for your health.  It is full of potassium and minerals.  It is a natural, God-made gatorade without all of the sugar.  If you are into physical fitness, coconut water is great to drink following a workout or competition.  One cup has more potassium and minerals than gatorade and it has more potassium than a banana.  You can also make the flesh into a chocolate pudding.  I would blend the flesh from 3-5 young coconuts with cacao powder and sweetener of choice (I would use a couple of TBS of agave or a few drops of stevia).  I may try that here once I get my blender shipped on the next container or with the next team. 

Here is a more mature coconut.  More of its water has turned into a hardened flesh.  This is what coconut flakes would be made out of.  Both types of coconut water and flesh are very nutritious and contain healthy fats.