A very special memory

 When I lived in India for a year I use to occasionally liked to participate in a very native practice. I mean, I don't know of anyplace in America you can stop at a roadside stand and have someone with a machete crack you open a coconut to drink the water. I know people get super chilled coconut at restaurants. I assure you it is not the same as a sun soaked, hot coconut. I have to be honest with you. I don't like them. Not at all. I tried and tried and tried again and I have never really enjoyed them Somedays if it wasn't boiling inside the coconut it was refreshing, other days it was just gross. I guess I thought it was just a very native thing to do and it was a cheap drink so I did it. And in Grand Turk I wanted to share the experience with my kids.

 They didn't like it either. This picture was totally for show.  I did have the seller crack the coconut open to see if there was any jelly in there. I like the jelly more than the milk but there was only a very small little ring of jelly and I ate it all. I suppose I just liked the whole routine of it all. It brought back a lot of memories of India. Actually memories I don't think about so often so it was nice to revisit them.

I have many memories of trying new things abroad. The first time I had mango was on a bus trip leaving the Valley of the Kings and Queens where King Tut is buried to travel back home to Assuit where we were staying. Those mangoes were cheap and I got a whole bag full of this fruit I had never had before. It was a risky gamble that paid off big time. I didn't even know how to eat them. someone did and gave us instructions. Best mango I have ever had, I had juice running down my face and all over my hands. I have never stopped my pursuit of the perfect mango after that......

So we had the opportunity in Grand Turk to try something new.  Guinep. I hear they are also called Spanish limes in some places in the Caribbean. The green was a shell that you bite off and pop out a large seed from inside. You then suck on the seed that has a pinky/orangy flesh covering it. It was yummy. Ella wasn't so keen on it. Ezra loved them until he decided to attempt to eat the seed. Yuck. It was bitter and had me worrying if it was poisonous. I was glad we found this yummy goodness on our first  island because we were in search of them the rest of our travels.