(Gumamela) Soap Bubbles

Have you ever been scolded by your neighbors when you were a kid? I have. It was because I was picking out the leaves and flowers of their gumamela plant. If you were a kid in the 80's and 90's you'd know instantly why I did this. It was to make soap bubbles.

Honestly, I can't remember who told us or how we found out that pounding the leaves and the flower would help make the soap bubbles "last longer". Yes, I know, we were destroying mother nature again. Pardon the ignorance brought about by being young and with high resources and energy levels.

So we would be pounding the leaves and flowers (if there were any left) until we see a slimy greenish sap. Then we add the crushed leaves and flowers to a big tub of water with some laundry soap in it. We mix it well and voila! Soap bubble mixture. We'd then get a piece of wooden sticks that we can bend to make a bubble wand. But sometimes if there's time and if we have someone to make it for us (like my dad or uncle), we'd get a thin wire and we'd make a loop then wrap the loop with a cloth. This is way better than the wooden wand because it doesn't break plus there are more bubbles. :)

Now, blowing bubbles isn't that funny anymore because they're readily available in stores. The fun part in this is the picking of the leaves and flowers: you get to be dirty, you experience getting chased by or barked at by your neighbor's or (like me) get stung by a bee or hornet in the process.