Palm Wine

That first day I met Modou he was very keen to show me as much as possible. After returning from the Crocodile pools he took me to get a taste of a (local underground) type of drink called palm wine. I asked around about it and many people have not had it for fear of going blind. However, Mo assure me that it will cure any ailment the body has. The process is entirely done by the Guinea-Bissau natives that come here for this trade. My first thought was “AFRICAN MOONSHINE!!” They live in grass huts at the base of the trees, shimmy up huge palm trees with no more than a wooden hoop, once at the top they tap the tree and affix a water bottle to harvest the milky fluid just like we would maple syrup. This is highly organic and after 8 hours it already begins fermentation. If a person were to wait for 3 days it might just knock you flat out, maybe even blind..They are very secretive about how they prepare it once they harvest it and I have no intention of asking. It was rather foul tasting, like seltzer water mixed with yeast and milk. I didnt go blind nor do I have any intention of drinking it again.