03 November 2011

Boipeba: Conch Shell Fun And Fascination

DSC02475For Zenchai the highlight of our stay in Boipeba was him finding conch shells. He was so proud of himself and, after a visit to a bone museum in Boipeba town, Zenchai became fascinated by how you could hear the ocean when holding the shell to your ear.

He even invented a Conch shell-catcher (picture below with what looks like a long branch). He used it to scoop conch shells out of the water and reckoned it could even detect conch shells.

When Zenchai scooped out of the water his first conch shell, a large white one, the look on his face was like he had been handed the keys to a bright red Ferrari and been told it's his to keep. Although Zenchai reached down into the shallow water to retrieve it, in his mind he had dived deeply. He felt so proud.

Zenchai didn't stop talking about it the rest of the day.

DSC02494Zenchai said, "When I next get invited to a birthday party I'm going to strap all my conch shells to my shorts with cello tape so everyone can hear the sound of the ocean and wonder where it's coming from." That did make me laugh, even if Z was being serious.

DSC02509Always coming up with ideas, Zenchai said he would open a sand-dollar museum and put all his conch shells in there.

¨Conch shells are more valuable to me than gold,¨he said.

DSC02474Later that evening and holding a conch shell to each ear, Zenchai said he was ¨listening to his ipod.¨

Zenchai told me that when you listen to the conch shell it tells you the conversation you had on the beach.

The truth is that the shell doesn't actually hold the sound of the ocean, but telling Zenchai that would be like blowing the lid on the Santa Claus myth.

What it does is resonate the sounds you hear around you. Because of its shape, each shell produces different sounds. Also, these shells are made from a build-up of calcium carbonate (which also makes hard water), usually reaching its maximum size after about three years.

When we got to Itacare (on the way home), I noticed Zenchai's bag of shells moving on top of our wardrobe. We took them out of the room, placed all the shells on the table and waited until something happened. Sure enough, some legs poked out of one of the shells. Zenchai stepped back, feeling afraid.

We did the right thing, though, by returning it to the ocean, though a long way from its original home.

 

3 Nov 2011 09:36:00 | Beaches, Boipeba, Brazil, Children's Activities, Folktale, Itacare, Brazil, Museums, Outdoor Play Abroad, Sea Creatures, Tales from Abroad, Zenchai

10 Comments

Bill Moss

Zenchai might enjoy Wikipedia's adult-translated entry on "Conch."

Posted by: Bill Moss | 04 November 2011 at 03:01 AM

Claude

Thank you, Bill. We shall read it to Zenchai. I'm sure he will be fascinated, even if he is no longer in a beach/sea environmnent.

Posted by: Claude | 09 November 2011 at 11:12 AM

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