Coconut King

My mom knows a family that has been to Rarotonga, and they recommended as one of their "must do" activities a visit to Piri Puruto, the self-proclaimed Coconut King of Rarotonga.

He begins his show by weaving a rope out of coconut fibres, and then uses it to help him climb a very tall, very slippery coconut tree.

Yes, that helmet and skirt are made out of coconut.







He then takes one of the newly retrieved coconuts and shreds the husk to create kindling for the fire he's going to start. Somehow I was selected as the lucky audience member who got to hold the kindling.





Then he rubs some sticks together and ta-da!





And of course, no coconut experience is complete without some being eaten. Piri shredded it (in a weird/awesome machine), drizzled it with honey, and served it on a palm leaf. I could seriously eat this stuff all day.





I don't know if I would put this on my personal must do list, mostly because Piri turned out to be kind of a creepy old man, but given his plethora of uses for coconut, it's pretty hard to dispute his coconut king title.