The bundle feels soft, as if the car were climbing over a felled banana tree.

NEWYORKER: Baptizing the Gun

The highlight is the Haka Pei, in which male islanders (wearing only small loin cloths) toboggan down the Maunga Pui volcano on banana tree trunks.

CNN: 5 reasons to visit Easter Island

Our sharp-eyed guide parted tree fronds to reveal a drowsy kingfisher, tugged an iguana away from its midnight snack and borrowed a red-eyed tree frog from a banana patch.

WSJ: Nicaragua's San Juan River by Boat

He picked up a rotting banana skin and hung it on the leaves of a neem tree that grew near the gate of the house, so that it would startle the owners when they came out.

NEWYORKER: The Elephant