This boy had just finished jumping and diving into the lagoon from the pier. To his right you can see a portion of a black rubber hose; this hose supplies water to the entire island through a large water tank on the end of the pier. About five times a day, the U.S. government pumps in excess of a thousand gallons of fresh drinking water into this tank. The water makes its way through a large, white PVC pipe to a large white 18 wheeler type liquid storage trailer. This large trailer tank is fixed with about fifteen different spigots. Families line up at the end of each spigot and fill their buckets with water for their homes. What you see here is this boy signaling to another boy to turn on the main valve of the main water storage tank. Once the valve is turned on water comes rushing out. This boy here was trying to wash the salt water off of his body. They have to be a bit sneaky because at this time of day the area is foot patrolled by local national police officers. If caught stealing water this way the kids risk a quick, hard smack on the bottom by the police officer. Most of the time though, the kids simply run away in a panic as the police officer acts like he is going to hit the kid but doesn’t.

Bordered pits like those shown here are common in most Gymnosperms. They probably have a "safety valve" type function, allowing water to flow from one conducting cell to another. If the pressure difference become too great, the thickened central pad blocks off the flow and avoids potentially disastrous situations which could damage all of the water conducting system. [thanks to the staff and technicians of the Botany Department. UNICAMP who did the hard job of preparing the material and cutting this beautiful section, while I just made the image]