Our main instructor in the field of fruits, nuts, and other vegetation was Mr. Jose. Mr. Jose is a Matelot native who lives on the back road of the community. Matelot is basically situated on two hills – the main road runs up and down these hills and the two additional roads circle around the outside, one on the coast and the other up on a ridge in the back. Mr. Jose lived on the ridge.

 

Mr. Jose is an older man, and exactly what you may expect of a Trinidadian living in the remote jungle. When we met him, he wore a government issued military-green jumpsuit with wading boots and a sheath on his belt for a machete.

 

His estate however was situated about two miles into the jungle. He owns 10 acres on which he has built a small structure with benches, a cooking area, and a sleeping area with a roof over the whole thing. He and his sons utilize the estate at least once every other day, and hope it can become a tourist destination in the future.

 

It is no mystery why this area attracted us and will certainly attract more in the future. The plot surrounding the structure is dense with king orange trees, portugals (a sort of different kind of orange), cocoa trees, coffee trees, nutmeg trees, coconut trees, and many more. In our short afternoon visit, Mr. Jose showed us each of the trees as well as other vegetation and described how it grows, what Trinidadian’s do with certain food items, and fielded the many, many questions we had. In the same afternoon, I drank from a coconut, sucked on cocoa beans, ate coconut jelly, ate an orange that had been peeled by a machete, and tasted the freshest coffee that anyone in the world can taste.

 

Each of us left the estate that day in awe – partially at the beautiful foliage and delicious fruits, partially at Mr. Jose and his hospitality, and most definitely at the resourcefulness of the wonderful residents of Matelot.