Our first day on bikes began with a two-hour van ride on remarkably nice highways. But the landscape from the van seemed uninspiring. So it was quite wonderful when we hopped on our bikes and were immediately on a 4-foot wide concrete “road” through coconut palms, with irrigation ditches going every which-way, and people shouting “hello” from their homes and workplaces.

Small boats were navigated on some of the waterways we crossed on bridges. We watched people husking coconuts by the riverside. People deliver their coconuts to these places where men and women stand over a sharp blade and in about four smashes of the coconut onto the blade, the husk comes off to leave the inner “nut” that we commonly think of as a coconut. Sweet potato plants lined the roadways, and morning glories grow in the ditches. In addition to traditional tall palms, many irrigation ditches were lined with “water coconuts,” that shoot their tall fronds straight out of the ground and grow small, clustered coconuts in a ball about a foot across. Homes we passed varied from quite humble to quite nice—the homes of landowners.

And most properties had tombs of peoples’ ancestors—all well maintained in this land where ancestor-worship is the cultural norm.

As we pedaled, there was always something new and interesting to look at. People passing on motorbikes laden down with all manner of objects, including large appliances like washing machines, as well as plates of glass! And when we arrived at the final ferry ride of the day, two motorbikes disembarked with about 30 ducks hanging from bags on all sides! The ducks looked perfectly happy hanging off the bike!

We also stopped at a shop where women were cracking cashews out of their shells. They used a little vise to clamp onto the shell and twist. They said they could shell about 10 kilos a day, for the equivalent of about 25 cents a kilo. That’s a pretty lousy paycheck.