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Published: January 27th 2010
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We visited our friend Greg’s place on Port Isabel, just off of San Padre Island one afternoon, and were fortunate enough to get a boat tour around that island, and also to the far tip of Texas…where the tip touches the water! Greg has seen dolphins in that area, but not the day we were there. It’s a major shrimping area (we went out for shrimp that evening!) We tried to catch up with the shrimpers, but they were going away from us, and once we got into the Gulf water, Greg said we didn't have a big enough boat to go further. We had a wonderful day weather-wise, but once we got on the water the wind was significantly stronger, so we stuck closer to the shore.
We went to Mexico, on our tour, and I’m surprised each time by the things they offer: one vendor offered me Botox or a tummy tuck (the idea that he called it a tummy told me that he didn’t get a good look at me~~I haven’t had a
tummy since I was in the fifth grade!) I chose neither! Also didn’t get a tattoo, or permanent makeup, manicure or pedicure, a
The bridge that connects
San Padre Island to Texas. And a nice picture! bracelet with my name on it, or a puppy! What I did get was a pop with lunch, rather than water!
A funny story that we’ve heard several times, but which I can’t verify; two couples went into Mexico and they separated so the men could do their shopping and the women could do theirs (shopping with a husband is like hunting with a game warden, I’ve found!) They were supposed to meet at a certain corner, and when the men got there, the women were no where in sight. After a while they asked a nearby vendor and he said the women had been arrested~~turns out the police thought they were prostitutes hanging around on the corner. The men went to the police station and were told there’s a $120 fine for prostitution; or they could buy a license for prostitution for $35~~easy choice for the men!!
We are in a heavy citrus area, and I’ve learned a few lessons about citrus fruit~~if you're not used to having a lot of it, you have to work it into your system gradually….that would be less than three a day on the first few days. I’m fine now, thank
you! In Florida we expected the fruit to be plentiful, and it was, but it was expensive; here you can buy ten pounds of oranges for $3.00. And the limes are soooo good. They’re small like key limes. Actually, they’re the same lime, as they are known as key limes or Mexican limes. And they’re yellow. Seriously. Yellow. People from here say that’s what color limes are. Well then what about lime green? I was reading on this (because even the Tahitian limes, the larger ones we’re more familiar with, are yellowish...certainly more yellow than green) and I learned that they can be eaten when they’re green, but they’re not fully mature until they’re yellow. WHO KNEW??? Everyone’s (well, not everyone, but lots of people!) giving them away, so I’m busy freezing the lime juice…it’s so good on nearly everything. Nearly…Bob has found a few things that he doesn’t want to taste like lime; we made a deal on that!! And the grapefruit that are ripe are a darker pink inside than I’m used to, and not bitter; no sugar needed!
I think I’ve already said that this is a farming area; they grow broccoli, cabbage, avocados (5 for
The shrimp vessels travel
with their nets lowered because they have better balance that way. There are boards that scrape along the bottom, and then the nets scoop them up. Shrimp are plentiful and affordable in this area. $1.00), watermelon, and Texas radishes, which are about the size of a parsnip, and are sweet, rather than hot. I don’t know what you’d do with it, except to use it in lettuce salad, and as good as it tasted, we just don’t eat that many salads. The farmers are tilling and planting now, so on days when the wind isn’t blowing (which are rare days) the dust is heavy over the valley. They’ve been harvesting oranges, and the roads remind me of beet season at home~~tractors pulling trailers piled high.
We’re having our tour on Thursday this week, rather than Friday, and we’re going to help out at a food bank, with sorting and packing food. (We only work half days on Thursday, to rest up from the hard week we’ve had!) I’ll let you know how that goes.
One more thing~~have I mentioned “Texas time”? Nothing starts on time here. Nobody is in a hurry, and it will start when the people get here! Drives us crazy! People will still be showing up in church 25 minutes after it was supposed to begin, and I don’t see people rushing out after it’s over. I don’t see
people rushing at all! One woman described it to us like this: “If something is supposed to start at 2:00, then you will start getting ready about 2. If you don’t have a lot to do to get ready, and you don’t have far to go, you’ll make it pretty close to 2:00, but if you have a long way to drive, or a lot to do to get ready, then you’re just not going to be able to be there at 2:00, are you?” !! It’s back to that idea that most of the months, it’s just too hot to hurry. Schools really have a problem getting the kids there on time, and it’s not the kids’ fault. Crazy!
Our project ends next Tuesday, and we'll move on to Mission, just 20 miles from here. We'll begin work at the new project, Shining Light, on Monday, with the same team we have here. There's a team at Shining Light now, and they'll be coming over here for February. There's a third team in near here, but they're staying at the same place for both months.
Ok, now I'm done!
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Danielson
Bob and Vicki
Hi, Patti!
I'll email some pictures of the Burke place. I understood the women to mean that the limes aren't mature until they're yellow, although the Tahitian ones don't turn a full yellow. They have a lot more juice at the mature stage, that's for sure!