One of the things that we enjoy the most here in Manabi province, Ecuador is the abundant supply of fresh fruits and vegetables. We go almost every week to Charapoto to the mercado and come home on the bus loaded down with bags full of inexpensive fruits and vegetables.
We especially like the bananas. There are several different types of bananas, but we like the small to medium-sized extra sweet bananas. Mary makes banana bread, banana cake, and a dessert similar to banana foster with caramelized bananas served with ice cream.
We have several banana trees in our complex and Giovanni occasionally picks a stalk that is weighing down a tree and props it up on the wall near our front door for the bananas to ripen. One can get spoiled having a supply of fresh bananas like that and when the stalks are not there, we miss them. Without a handy stalk we are forced to make trips to town and purchase bananas for about five cents each. I say five cents each, but generally if we buy fifty cents worth of bananas the vendor will count out ten and then throw in one or two extra.
Yesterday Mary was wishing aloud that she had a stalk of bananas available as she wanted to make some banana bread. So, I hopped on my bicycle and came back with this:
It was pretty tricky driving up to the house with this load on my bicycle, but I am an Ecuadoriano now and somehow made it!
We now have a stalk of bananas ripening on the side of the house about six feet from our front door again!
Mary had me pick ten or so this morning and they are especially sweet. I am thinking about a warm slice of banana bread right now!
Oh, and the price for these bananas was $4.50, so we can afford to share with Giovanni and Maria, and Pepe and his family.
Life is good (and affordable) in Ecuador!
Written by John
You look like a proud little boy who just won first prize! Everyone will surely benefit from Mary’s culinary talents!
The banana stems often leave behind a difficult stain. I’ll be curious to know if they left new abstract patterns on your shirt!
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Not to worry if it does stain – the shirt is kind of tie-died anyway and any stains would still be worth having fresh bananas.
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si, and they’ll forever be a memory of a wonderful moment! z
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Almost back to back in my inbox were two posts about bananas!
http://davidrwetzelphotography.wordpress.com/2012/11/26/going-green-for-bananas/
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Awesome story!!!
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The fresh fruits and veggies are SO good and I agree about bananas. You always have to have some around. I’m a regular at the produce stands here in Panama too.
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At these prices, why not? Love them fresh off the stalk.
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Oh how lucky you are.. I love bananas!!
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You would especially like these smaller sweet bananas. We are lucky indeed!
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The bananas in Ohio were $.55lb over the holiday! I am jealous!
They look so yummy!
JoAnn
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I do not know how much those bananas weighed, but I am sure it was more than nine pounds!
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Wow, that’s a lot of bananas. I’d never dare to leave them outside my house in Durban South Africa, The monkeys would have them in no time. 🙂
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I tried to count them and got to about 200! That makes about 2.5 cents a banana! We do not have to worry about monkeys – just the low bananas are possibly subject to mibbling from iguanas and the occasional day worker might refresh himself with a banana or two, but at two and a half cents, I feel generous! A bit different than in the States!
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Oh yes. I’m in Florida at the moment, and bananas are quite expensive.
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Good! ;D “It was pretty tricky driving up to the house with this load on my bicycle, but I am an Ecuadoriano now and somehow made it!”
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One learns to get by!
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[…] John and Mary McDonald in San Clemente, Ecuador showered me with an ‘all you can eat’ bananafest (as well as an amazing Sunday feast!) Read how they happened upon a surplus of bananas HERE: Yes, We Have Bananas! […]
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Hey amigos! Better clear your desktop and make room for more awards!
Surely you have room for the Super Sweet Blogger Award!
I might not ever get around to passing awards if I dedicate special posts to each award in queue. Your notification is presented here: http://playamart.wordpress.com/2012/12/18/bananas-bananas-and-more-bananas/
where you can retrieve the bright-pink award and place it on your blog!
Here are the rules
1. The nominees have to thank the person that nominated them.
2.Nominate a bakers dozen of other Super Sweet Bloggers and let them know.
3. Answer these easy questions:
Cookies or cake: Cake
Chocolate or Vanilla: Chocolate
What is your favourite sweet treat? Brownies
When do you crave sweet things the most? When I see brownies!
If you had a sweet nickname what would it be? People call me Sweetie, so I suppose that’s it!
Thanks, and have fun passing this along!
Lisa/Z
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Wow, only $4.50 for all those bananas. A lot of banana bread 🙂
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I thought I was following your blog, but I wasn’t. 😦 Now, I am a happy camper following your adventures in Ecuador. 🙂 I’m chuckling at carrying the stalk of bananas on your bicycle. Wish I had a picture of that! You are an official Ecuadorian, now.
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thank you…next time, I’m going to follow John and make sure I get a picture…he’s definitely fitting right in…lol
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