THE COCONUT CEMETERY

I have always loved the idea of an elephant cemetery. That all of these elephants go to the same place to die; to the place where their ancestors died and where their calves will die. They go quietly and on their own and wait to die there.

Last week I went exploring around the island to discover a place several people had mentioned but that I had been unable to find, Kitie Wharf. A big part of the attraction of this island has always been its deserted beaches; the fact that unlike in most shores I have visited if you see three or four groups of people the beach is full rather than empty. So that the idea of a secret beach, known only to locals and hidden from tourists was exciting to me. I like discovering places, staying at a place long enough to see its hideaways, the beauty that is not immediately perceptible but that reveals itself slowly as people begin to trust you and share more of themselves and their island with you.

Thus I found Kitie Wharf. Well not so easily, even after some people we've become closer to in the island told me where to find it I had to ask about 5 people on the way and drive back and forth on the main road until I found it. Discovery, it seems, demands obstinate patience. This actually seems an appropriate description for anything you want to achieve in this island, where people are helpful and really nice, but on their own time and terms. I entered through the rock fence off the side of the road, hidden in the shadows of huge trees and stepped through to a real tropical forest.



The ground was wet from all the rain (September and November are the rainy months, the “winter,” and here it is true that when it rains it pours), and as usual when it rains the sky seemed to have been bleached by the water, it was bright and white as if the blue had run with the drops onto the sea. The colors of everything seemed still intese in their wetness but in the aftermath of the rain everything seemed cool rather than intoxicatingly hot as one might imagine a tropical island.

As I walked down the path beautiful things revealed themselves to me, huge root systems, perhaps from a tree brought down by a storm



and trees with thorns so big that they appeared as remnants of a pre-historic age. (These trees we learnt the first week here up in the shack in the mountain when we were looking for Pola, are covered in fire ants waiting to jump on you. Not very fun.)



And then the coconuts started to appear.






Little by little becoming more noticeable



Lining the side of path



Until they appeared so numerous



cracked open as if wounded


showing me their meaty, red fibers, so intense in color, so surprisingly beautiful.


Maybe this is where the coconuts come to die.

I kept going through the path and found a freshwater stream rolling amidst rocks




I stepped through it and the wharf was revealed to me in all its grandiose seclusion,




The water off the edge of the huge rock I had just stepped onto so blue and clear,



and the water fall bringing freshwater, punctuated by a coconut not ready to die just yet.



The freshwater kept running through the rock and cascading into the blue ocean, filling the quiet morning with movement and sound.






And around me on the rock in puddles left by the rain I saw crab carcasses, dismembered pieces, and for the first time I noticed the nice coloring on the crab shells. Maybe crabs come here to die too.



Off to my right side there was a beach with 2 huge rocks framing it,




and on my left a rope hanging from a tree, making it obvious that children come here to play.




Finally there was another beach separated from me by water with a waterfall that while seems unimpressive in the picture actually feels amazing, like a huge shower in the middle of the ocean, hitting a sand so soft that makes a tiny shore between the rock and the huge ocean. Standing under the waterfall I could not help but laugh, and as I swam back to the rock seeing tons of fish and starfish on the way, I thought this is the most beautiful place in this island.




And it made sense to me that coconuts would want this as their cemetery.