What Exactly Is Copra?

Barbara Palmer Feeds a Pink Dolphin

A few years ago back in the teens (the world's teens, not mine or yours) I was hanging  out in South America.  Actually I was in Peru.  

Remember when we were in grammar school?  We used to study geography. There were pink and blue maps and descriptions of countries and their products.  South America had lots of countries with many products. But we did not pay much attention to South America.  We were more into learning about Europe. South America mostly showed up in geography. I always wondered what copra was. I suppose I could have asked a teacher but I did not really care that much. Geography just seemed a bit boring.

So years later as a healthy, free, unburdened woman,  I went to Peru where they produce a lot of copra.  It turns out that copra is coconut.  You can't just buy some and stick it in your suitcase either.  It will be removed from your belongings because it can set the airplane on fire.  So, if you ever go to a country that produces copra just leave the copra there.  You should thank me for this warning.  

I did not go to Peru because of copra.  I really don't care about copra.  But it was a thing back in fourth grade at Ella Flagg Young School  in Chicago. 

Anyway, I 'd been everywhere else so I thought I would explore the continent just south of us.  There would be no jet lag because I'd be flying south.  I ended up in Peru.  I was going to take a boat down the Amazon River.  This was also straight out of my fourth grade geography book.  The Amazon River! That is a big deal!  I never thought all those years ago that I would actually some day float down the Amazon River which up until now was just some words  in my geography book! I really surprised my younger self because back in those days my world was confined to just a globe in school and whatever was going on in my neighborhood.    A year or so ago  I had floated down the Nile River and now  I was going to float down the Amazon.  Never in my wildest dreams did I ever expect to do this.

We were on a small boat.  There were about twenty folks on the boat along with a crew that did everything.  Those young men cooked our meals, entertained us with music while we ate, guided  us  into the jungle in  big motor boats, and cleaned our muddy shoes while we slept. They also acted like they enjoyed doing all that.

We would leave the boat we slept on and go into smaller boats with outboard motors.  The idea was to spot birds.  At first I just pretended to see the darned birds because they would not leave a spot until everyone saw the bird.  However, as the days went on I began to spot birds just like everyone else.   It was amazing!  It was also very helpful that the birds in Peru are very brightly colored.  

We did other things.  Once they sent us all separately to the Market.  We had to buy some food for our dinner.  I was so happy to finally match the letters that were written on my paper with the words above a vegetable in the market.  I happily ate whatever it was that evening at dinner.  Delicious.

On another jaunt I was sharing a boat with someone I did not know very well.  A man came and handed us each a dead fish.  I feared he was expressing his opinion of me in a very graphic way.  I also did not know what to do with the fish.  The man then pushed  the boat off into the water as I reluctantly sat there holding the nautical corpse.  Suddenly a bunch of pink dolphins appeared in front of us. Ah!  I put the dead thing right into the dolphin's mouth.  It looked really happy.  I felt relieved. I  was also thrilled.  I fed a pink dolphin!  It even appeared to be smiling at me.  

We stopped at a family's house.  We sat on the floor (I was a bit younger then) and a woman served us lunch.  She had several children afoot and a baby too.  Her husband was hovering around also.  When it was time for the baby to nurse, the lady of the house just nursed the baby and continued to maneuver around the kitchen. She was one of the most capable and matter-of-fact women I had ever observed.  I still think of her once in a while and how graceful and gracious she was.

I can't tell you about the government, history, or wealth of Peru.  I can only tell you my impressions of the people I met and what I saw. I know that they had terrible problems in the past but they are okay now.  The country is beautiful and the people I met were kind and appeared happy.  If you ever get the chance to go there just do it.   I still think of an alpaca coat that I was going to buy but our flight was changed because there was a problem with birds being sucked into the fuselage.  That meant I could not get back to that particular store.  If you do get to go to Peru, buy the coat the first time you see it and do not worry about what copra is.

13-Feb-2024