Mangoes and Pineapples – May 28th, 2006

As promised… I’m all rested up (well, sort of…) and ready to write properly! The rest of the drive was uneventful. I made the journey from Tampico to Veracruz in just under eight hours (eight hours non-stop to go only 300 miles!!!). It is an awful stretch of highway! It was bad last year. This year, the hard working road crews have improved probably a grand total of 300 feet of it. The rest was just a year’s worth of wear and tear worse! They don’t seem to grade the roads in Veracruz so much as pat them down. Add in the heavy traffic of double tractor trailers, and, well, I think even my truck bottomed out on a few of those pot holes.

It is a truly horrible drive, but waiting at the end of it was an evening of people watching in the Zocalo of Veracruz. THAT part of the day was lovely! I was going to take a picture, but I suspect the image doesn’t translate without the rest of the sensory experience. I couldn’t figure out a way to pack in the heat, humidity, smells, flavors, and sounds of a Friday night in Veracruz. I’m afraid those of you who haven’t been are just going to have to take my word for it. (Or better yet, try it for yourself!!!)

The drive up from Veracruz to Tonancintla was easy (except for that ascent of 7000 feet in under two hours bit…). The road between the two cities is a two lane (in each direction) “super highway”, and you pay through the nose in tolls ($30+ for the four hour drive!) for its maintenance. That said, it makes for pleasant, smooth driving, something I was grateful for by yesterday afternoon.

The only stop I made, other than for gas and tolls, was to buy mangoes. It is harvest season for those wonderful, small, yellow, extra flavorful mangoes, and the breakdown lane was packed with people hawking crates of them for 50 pesos/crate. For those of you who don’t speak peso, that is just under $5 US. I figured I could peel, slice, and freeze them for months of smoothies to come. It seemed like such a good idea at the time…

So, uhm, anybody who has tasty recipes involving mangoes, please send them!!! I’m desperate!!!

I arrived in Tonancintla at about four in the afternoon. Zee did an amazing job getting the house ready. She got the family who works for her in, and they cleaned from top to bottom, painted furniture, brought in new furniture, hung pictures, and filled the house with plants and flowers for me to gradually kill over the course of the next few months. It looks great! And it was nice to arrive and be greeted by something that actually looked like a home (rather than a place to camp out while doing fieldwork…).

Since then, I’ve been settling in, unpacking, etc. Today I went to the grocery store to buy all the start up necessities along with regular groceries. I was wandering through the aisles aimlessly, cart full to the brim, trying to think of what I couldn’t live without, when a middle-aged woman dressed for her day at the market (and I mean DRESSED - coordinating outfit, perfect coiffure and makeup, big rocks on fingers, neck, and ears, spiked heels) comes up to me, and launches into this long saga:

“Excuse me, Senora, but I hope you can help me. You see, usually my maid comes shopping with me, but she didn’t show up today [imagine the gall, on a Sunday no less!!!]. Usually she is here to help with things, but she isn’t here, and I must have a pineapple for tonight. Without her, I have no idea how to tell if it is ripe. I noticed you have one in your cart, and I was wondering if you could look at mine and tell me if it is ready?”

There was a long pause, as I, with furrowed brow, wondered what was getting lost in translation, because surely this grown woman didn’t need me to look at her pineapple…

Tired of waiting for me to respon, she grabbed my arm and dragged me down the aisle to her cart where she presented me with a decidedly unripe pineapple. I gave the top a wiggle and said, “Well, if you leave this out, it’ll probably be ready by Tuesday night, but it won’t be good to eat tonight.”

She looked desperate, apparently, I was dressed enough like her maid to inspire confidence, “But how do you know?!?!?!”

“Oh dear,” thought I, “my Spanish is not up to this task!”

Somehow, though, with lots of sign language, two pineapples, and what were probably appalling constructions on my part, I communicated just how to tell if your pineapple will be ready tonight or not. She beamed at me gratefully and went dashing off to the fruit and vegetable section, clutching her “unready” pineapple, to wiggle the top of every spiny thing in sight.

And as I watched her go, I thought, “I’m definitely not in New Haven any more!” (and when I paid for my pineapple, which cost me about 65 cents, US, I knew it for sure!)

That’s it for tonight! So send me your mango recipes, along with your news!

Hugs to all,
Elizabeth

PS And to those master gardeners out there… If anybody has any suggestions for raising basil in the tropics, send them along too!

PPS For those of you following this story closely, the new water heater totally rocks! I have HOT water! Not lukewarm water, not tepid water, but actually will-burn-you-unless-moderated-by-cold-water hot water! I’m so happy!!!