Close Encounter with Green Monkey

So I had a really close encounter with a green monkey yesterday evening, and it was so exciting. I was sitting on my back deck enjoying the late afternoon/early evening with a drink, and noticed a family of monkeys playing at the foot of a huge tree behind my property.

There was a mother with a tiny new baby, a couple juveniles swinging from low hanging branches, and there was a male with an injured foot. At first I was just paying attention to this male to try and get an idea of the extent of his injury, and eventually figured out that it was literally his foot. There was no sign of blood or obvious distortion and his leg seemed fine, but there had been lots of bush fires recently, so I guess it’s possible that he stepped on a bit of hot debris.

Anyhow, I decided to get the binoculars to get a better look at the mother and baby, so I went inside as quietly as possible to fetch them. By the time I came back a minute later, one of the juveniles was on my deck railing just sitting and looking around with interest. One of our cats was sitting nearby and paying attention but did not seem to be remotely distressed.

I stood there at the door for a long while just watching. I didn’t want to frighten him/her away. The monkey went back and forth on the deck railing a bit, checking things out, and then jumped down onto the deck, went straight to the cat water bowl that was just a few feet away from me, and had a drink of fresh water. He/she seemed to know exactly where it was going, so I presume it’s done this before. He looked up at me, saw me and continued drinking - too comfortable around humans for his/her own safety I think.

Then it jumped up onto the side railing and climbed the nearby palm tree to eat some of the peanut-sized nuts. Once it had gone out of view up the tree, I quietly opened my screen door and went onto the deck and sat on my little bench where I had been earlier. The monkey heard me and peeped down to see what had made a noise and continued eating the little nuts. So I just sat and watched.

When the monkey was done eating, it scampered back to re-join the family that was still at the base of the tree. Meanwhile, the male with the bad foot had gone around the side of the building and was no longer in view.

With binoculars in hand I proceeded to examine the mother and baby plus the juveniles that were still playing in the lower branches. It was fascinating. With my binoculars trained on one of the juveniles, it started to come towards me. Back it came onto my deck and up into the palm tree to grab some more nuts, before scampering off into the tree. The sun had set by this time and all the remaining monkeys climbed up into the tree to settle for the night. And this morning, bright and early, my little juvenile friend was back on my deck drinking water.

If you’d like to read more about Barbados, please visit my other blog, Things Barbados.

Fruit Trees Are Flowering

Already mango and avocado trees around Barbados are covered in flowers. Last year, the avocados were few and far between, but I can see that this is going to be a bountiful year.

My mum’s mango trees look like they won’t be producing a lot of fruit this year, but oh my, last year was the best ever. And everyone’s trees bore well last year.

But it’s not only avocados and mangoes. Plum and golden apple trees are also flowering profusely, as are guava and sugar apple. Looks like conditions are right for lots of local fruit, and I can’t wait!

If you’d like to read more about Barbados, please visit my other blog, Things Barbados.

Pawpaw (Papaya) Trees

Pawpaw (papaya) trees will sprout up just about anywhere on Barbados. I have one growing wild behind my house next to a tree stump. I would guess that a bird (or could’ve been a monkey) that had eaten some pawpaw including at least one seed, perched on the stump and pooped out a seed. That seed that arrived on the ground complete with fertilizer, has now sprouted to become a young tree about four feet tall and growing.

I will have to keep a close eye on this tree as it gets bigger to ascertain whether it is a male or a female tree (yes, that’s right), and if it’s the latter, it won’t produce any fruit unless there is a male tree nearby ... which there isn’t. Unfortunately, this one may already be showing signs of disease.

The pawpaws in Barbados have been devastated by Bunchy Top Disease in recent years. Entire crops of trees have been wiped out, and the few trees that are still around are struggling to survive. It’s easy to tell if the tree is infected as the leaves at the bottom start to turn brown and shrivel (like the one in the photo), and then it gradually takes over the entire tree. One is supposed to cut down the tree immediately it becomes apparent that it is diseased, but most people wait and harvest the few fruits that are produced before the entire tree is overtaken by the disease. However, a few trees around the island have survived, but the vast majority of pawpaws available for purchase are now imported.

The pawpaw is a milk tree, and the sap is poisonous, stains clothing and will blister your skin if not washed off thoroughly. If you pick the green fruit, you must score the skin with a knife to let the milk drain out or the fruit will be bitter when it ripens. Green pawpaws are made into a delicious stew using brown sugar, molasses, a piece of cinnamon stick and some vanilla - yummy served warm with some ice cream.

The leaves are large and fingered, similar to those found on the breadfruit family of trees. The stalk of the tree is ridged with growth circles and the flowers are a non-descript pale yellow-green colour, flowers that become magnificent dark green and then orange fruit as they ripen. The size and shape of the fruit can vary quite a lot from small pear-shaped specimens to enormous 3 lb fruits with thick flesh. I have had delicious pawpaws that are just a few inches in length but are oh so sweet. A squeeze of lime on the fruit can enhance the flavour too. It’s hard to beat a good pawpaw!

If you’d like to read more about Barbados, please visit my other blog, Things Barbados.