I GAPET

So how do you climb the pugua' tree when you have no ladder?

You make a gapet!

Betel nut trees (pugua') have thin trunks that grow straight up and are slippery. Many times lumut (moss) also grows on the trunks to make them even more slippery.

But the gapet is made with fibrous material, like the bark of a pågo tree or rope. Putting your feet inside the gapet while you straddle the trunk as you climb up keeps you from sliding down the trunk.

Here's one man showing how. His name is Miguel (Mike) San Nicolas, father of the Guam senator of the same name. Even modern, factory-made material can be used as a gapet, as this video shows.

Courtesy of Senator Michael San Nicolas

The gapet was used to climb coconut trees, too, as when collecting coconuts or checking on/taking down the tuba containers that hung there.

This gapet is made from the bark of the pågo tree that usually grows by the shore or river banks

Just make sure that the gapet has a secure, tight knot so that it doesn't come loose while climbing and down you go!



Thanks to Lorenzo Reyes