Pitaya Picking

Today we went to pick pitayas in the mountains. First we rode our bicycles out to el rancho, my father-in-law's farm.

I would like you to picture a nine month pregnant me on her pink mountain bike, riding through a light rain in San Juan Cosalá. I would like you to picture this because it sure felt ridiculous, and I can only hope the image is equally comical. If it makes it any funnier, I can share that because of my big belly, I had to pedal with my legs angled out to the sides, the way, one could say, a clown might ride a miniature tricycle.

At his farm, my father-in-law grows chayotes (squash) and calabazas (more squash). He was plowing the field when we got there - with a team of mules! Yep, just like the pictures in middle school history books, with equipment that is now dated enough in the US to be displayed in museums. It really looked like hard work.

Hernan's teenage brother, cousin, some other dude, and 8 year-old nephew were already at the ranch. Hernan and I joined them there. They fashioned a fruit picker out of some wire and long bamboo-like poles that grow nearby. Pretty resourceful. I've started to consider Hernan the Mexican MacGyver. You give the man some wire, a small piece of wood and a machete and he'll fashion you a wine cooler. Or maybe a lawn chair.

Properly equipped, we walked up into the mountains to find the huge pitaya cacti that grow there.

The pitaya cacti are huge tree-like plants, which become covered in spikey pitaya fruits this time of year. We encountered red and yellow pitayas, although apparently pink, purple and white also used to be very common in the mountains.

Some unknown puppy joined us. It felt like we were a band of boys and their dog, just like in some wholesome children's movie, up in the mountains on some innocent childhood adventure, until suddenly we are confronted with the bank robbers camped out in a cave, or else we discover what real friendship means, or maybe we just weather a bad storm and eventually return home. Something cheesy like that. Except I'm a big pregnant woman, and mostly we just picked pitayas.

Still, it was a delicious summertime adventure, and I really enjoyed my reunion with my bicycle.