Cool Guava Boys

One of the unfortunate results of having three guava trees in our yard are the creatures they attract. No, not the boys pictured here, Solomon and Peter, but fruit bats. After the mice with wings make their nightly rounds of feasting on the overly ripe guava, they make a spit stop. Some say it's a pit stop instead. Regardless, the bats discharge their salivated or digested guava on the outside walls of our house. Did I mention that our house is painted pale yellow? These discharges harden into an almost unremoveable blotch and make for an unsightly exterior.

This is where Solomon and Peter enter the picture. Two of my favorite boys here in Makeni, Solomon and Peter, have been coming to the house each day to harvest the rotting guava both in the trees and on the ground. They very nimbly climb the trees and balance on top of the clothesline pole. After shaking the trees vigorously to get rid of the bad fruit they pick the edible guava to take home. After loading up our wheelbarrow with the spoiled fruit, they truck it down to the piggery where the swine go crazy over the "spoils" of the boys' labors.

What makes this picture so special is that the boys are wearing sunglasses. When asked if they were purchased with their "guava money", they happily answered, "Yes!"