12 Sept
Yesterday, when we were with Manuel Pinto, I mentioned that we prefer to see the countryside more than the city and especially enjoy seeing where things grow. Manuel has a friend who owns a finca that grows oranges, mandarin oranges, two different types of limes, guanabana, yucca, plantains, and avocados. So today we drove out to see the finca. The avocados trees generally produce fruit twice a year. Citrus grow all year round, as do guanabana. Yucca stalks get planted in January and between 8 months and a year the roots mature for cutting. Plantains produce semi-annually, but you can space the plants out to the point of having fruit all year. It was really interesting seeing all the trees or plants up close.
The owner was particularly proud of their guanabana trees. The trees were planted 4 years ago and have been producing fruit for the last two years. The tree flowers all year round, so it's almost as good of a crop as citrus with a little better market price. Once the guanabana tree flowers, the flower is hand-pollenated, to ensure a symmetrical fruit. Symmetry doesn't make the fruit taste any different, but looks better for selling. Once the flower forms the seed pod after pollination, a small fruit grows. This fruit is put in a special bag with holes to protect it from insects and birds. It takes about 3 to 4 months for the fruit to mature.
SInce I had never seen an avocado tree before, I liked seeing these trees as well. Once again the trees were very young, but producing like gangbusters. The avocados were huge, compared to what we can get in the USA. Of course I was thinking that my Mom would love to just sit down with a knife and spoon and have a snack.
Yucca plants are the result of putting stalk into the ground. The stalk will sprout roots and about 8 months later it will be time to harvest. On the finca two different colors of yucca grow, white and yellow. The root color depends on the acidity of the ground. People prefer to buy yellow yucca, but there's no difference in taste between the two colors. It is just a matter of what the buyer is accustomed to.
After seeing all this produce, we ended our "tour" with some very sweet, ripe, fresh pineapple that we had bought from a roadside stand on the way out. It was the best pineapple I have ever eaten. Roger really enjoyed it as well and ate 3 large slices. Produce straight from the field tastes so much better than produce that has been picked green and then gets shipped to market.
We returned to Bucarramanga where we had a lunch of typical Colombian food, with Martha, Pilar, Juliana (one of Pilar's three daughters), her husband and their 3 year old daughter Julianetta, along with some neighbor lady friends that were invited. The water in Buccarramanga was out, so lunch was brought in from a local restaurant. The cabra (goat) was the best meat when compared to the beef and chicken. There was also relleno rice, fried yucca, and some sort of pickled onions. It was all very good, just way too much food was put on our plates for us to "provecho todos." We both tried very had to explain that we don't like to waste food, and finally an extra plate was brought out to put what we weren't going to eat on it. Once this occurred the neighbor lady friends also divvied up their food to much more manageable portions. It was interesting to be involved in the social dynamics of being a good guest, not hurting feelings, or being required to eat more than what we wanted too. Colombians love to eat good food. Everything was very different and tasty.
After lunch we went to an Artesian Feria. The next two weeks there are all sorts of cultural ferias happening around Bucarramanga. I thought the Artesian Feria might be interesting, but it was more like going to the mall and seeing all the kiosks with handmade items. Pictures were not allowed, and there wasn't anything that I felt obligated to buy. However I did feel obligated to buy a swimsuit, since I was at the mall and hadn't packed one. The hotel has a nice swimming pool with lap lanes and I wanted to do some swimming. Unfortunately by the time we got back to the hotel it was raining and thundering, so no swimming for me. In fact the hotel lost power twice when the worst of the thunderstorm and rain passed over. It's little wonder that things grow so well here, because the climate is temperate, they get rain regularly and the sunlight hours don't change much during the year because of the proximity to the equator.
Plans have been made for tomorrow, which will make for another interesting day in Bucarramanga.
Yesterday, when we were with Manuel Pinto, I mentioned that we prefer to see the countryside more than the city and especially enjoy seeing where things grow. Manuel has a friend who owns a finca that grows oranges, mandarin oranges, two different types of limes, guanabana, yucca, plantains, and avocados. So today we drove out to see the finca. The avocados trees generally produce fruit twice a year. Citrus grow all year round, as do guanabana. Yucca stalks get planted in January and between 8 months and a year the roots mature for cutting. Plantains produce semi-annually, but you can space the plants out to the point of having fruit all year. It was really interesting seeing all the trees or plants up close.
The owner was particularly proud of their guanabana trees. The trees were planted 4 years ago and have been producing fruit for the last two years. The tree flowers all year round, so it's almost as good of a crop as citrus with a little better market price. Once the guanabana tree flowers, the flower is hand-pollenated, to ensure a symmetrical fruit. Symmetry doesn't make the fruit taste any different, but looks better for selling. Once the flower forms the seed pod after pollination, a small fruit grows. This fruit is put in a special bag with holes to protect it from insects and birds. It takes about 3 to 4 months for the fruit to mature.
SInce I had never seen an avocado tree before, I liked seeing these trees as well. Once again the trees were very young, but producing like gangbusters. The avocados were huge, compared to what we can get in the USA. Of course I was thinking that my Mom would love to just sit down with a knife and spoon and have a snack.
Yucca plants are the result of putting stalk into the ground. The stalk will sprout roots and about 8 months later it will be time to harvest. On the finca two different colors of yucca grow, white and yellow. The root color depends on the acidity of the ground. People prefer to buy yellow yucca, but there's no difference in taste between the two colors. It is just a matter of what the buyer is accustomed to.
After seeing all this produce, we ended our "tour" with some very sweet, ripe, fresh pineapple that we had bought from a roadside stand on the way out. It was the best pineapple I have ever eaten. Roger really enjoyed it as well and ate 3 large slices. Produce straight from the field tastes so much better than produce that has been picked green and then gets shipped to market.
We returned to Bucarramanga where we had a lunch of typical Colombian food, with Martha, Pilar, Juliana (one of Pilar's three daughters), her husband and their 3 year old daughter Julianetta, along with some neighbor lady friends that were invited. The water in Buccarramanga was out, so lunch was brought in from a local restaurant. The cabra (goat) was the best meat when compared to the beef and chicken. There was also relleno rice, fried yucca, and some sort of pickled onions. It was all very good, just way too much food was put on our plates for us to "provecho todos." We both tried very had to explain that we don't like to waste food, and finally an extra plate was brought out to put what we weren't going to eat on it. Once this occurred the neighbor lady friends also divvied up their food to much more manageable portions. It was interesting to be involved in the social dynamics of being a good guest, not hurting feelings, or being required to eat more than what we wanted too. Colombians love to eat good food. Everything was very different and tasty.
After lunch we went to an Artesian Feria. The next two weeks there are all sorts of cultural ferias happening around Bucarramanga. I thought the Artesian Feria might be interesting, but it was more like going to the mall and seeing all the kiosks with handmade items. Pictures were not allowed, and there wasn't anything that I felt obligated to buy. However I did feel obligated to buy a swimsuit, since I was at the mall and hadn't packed one. The hotel has a nice swimming pool with lap lanes and I wanted to do some swimming. Unfortunately by the time we got back to the hotel it was raining and thundering, so no swimming for me. In fact the hotel lost power twice when the worst of the thunderstorm and rain passed over. It's little wonder that things grow so well here, because the climate is temperate, they get rain regularly and the sunlight hours don't change much during the year because of the proximity to the equator.
Plans have been made for tomorrow, which will make for another interesting day in Bucarramanga.
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