This past week Willi was subjected to my desire to try every new form of produce that crosses my path. There are tons of fruits and vegetables here that look like nothing I have ever seen before. Some are delicious. Some are...well...less delicious?
Willi and I went hiking in the jungle to see some of the Mayan temples. We took an 8 hour sleeper bus (complete with reclining chairs and footrests that made it into a bed, I have never seen one before in the US but now I am convinced they are the only way to travel). The bus went from the center of the city here to the jungle overnight, so we ate some suspicious looking sandwiches along the way and sleep all the way through. We had picked up a bag of mystery fruits (one slightly smaller than a plum and reddish, one the size of a cranberry and yellow, and one cashew apple) to munch while hiking. The plum-type fruits were great and we finished a whole bag of them. The yellow cranberry-fruits were... not to my liking as they tasted quite foul. The cashew apple made us both wheeze and gasp for air as it burned our esophagus and throat. Both of us managed to inhale quite a bit down the wrong pipe (me worse than willi) and were choking in the middle of the forest.
Note to self: there may be a reason some fruits were never popular enough to export. Apparently cashews have some caustic substance in the coating of the shell. Also apparently if they are ripe a portion of that substance seems to migrate into the fruit below the nut.
Over the course of the day we managed to consume approximately a gallon of water each and still turned plum colored and wobbly. Much to my annoyance, no one else looked the least bit uncomfortable and half of them were not even sweating (as I poured gallons of sweat through my multiple layers of tank tops...) Gringos are not meant to hike in rain forests and climb monuments. Following six hours of hiking we collapsed for a one hour bus ride to the nearest town, where we caught the next tuk-tuk (think riding lawnmower with passengers and you're pretty much there) to the only place in town with air conditioning. We spent two hours waiting for our body temperatures to return to normal values before venturing back to the (also unairconditioned) bus station. I was quite red in the face until almost the next morning, and yet had no sunburn. We have found where the expression "hot as hell" originated.
You may, or may not, be able to see pictures here: http://williingguatemala.shutterfly.com/
Willi and I went hiking in the jungle to see some of the Mayan temples. We took an 8 hour sleeper bus (complete with reclining chairs and footrests that made it into a bed, I have never seen one before in the US but now I am convinced they are the only way to travel). The bus went from the center of the city here to the jungle overnight, so we ate some suspicious looking sandwiches along the way and sleep all the way through. We had picked up a bag of mystery fruits (one slightly smaller than a plum and reddish, one the size of a cranberry and yellow, and one cashew apple) to munch while hiking. The plum-type fruits were great and we finished a whole bag of them. The yellow cranberry-fruits were... not to my liking as they tasted quite foul. The cashew apple made us both wheeze and gasp for air as it burned our esophagus and throat. Both of us managed to inhale quite a bit down the wrong pipe (me worse than willi) and were choking in the middle of the forest.
Note to self: there may be a reason some fruits were never popular enough to export. Apparently cashews have some caustic substance in the coating of the shell. Also apparently if they are ripe a portion of that substance seems to migrate into the fruit below the nut.
Over the course of the day we managed to consume approximately a gallon of water each and still turned plum colored and wobbly. Much to my annoyance, no one else looked the least bit uncomfortable and half of them were not even sweating (as I poured gallons of sweat through my multiple layers of tank tops...) Gringos are not meant to hike in rain forests and climb monuments. Following six hours of hiking we collapsed for a one hour bus ride to the nearest town, where we caught the next tuk-tuk (think riding lawnmower with passengers and you're pretty much there) to the only place in town with air conditioning. We spent two hours waiting for our body temperatures to return to normal values before venturing back to the (also unairconditioned) bus station. I was quite red in the face until almost the next morning, and yet had no sunburn. We have found where the expression "hot as hell" originated.
You may, or may not, be able to see pictures here: http://williingguatemala.shutterfly.com/
2 comments:
should I be sad I didn't make it on this trip? Sounds like quite the adventure.
Yes! You should be sad. It was fantastic. :-)
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