It's mango time again

We're surrounded by mango orchards and lots of people working in them. Many tractors pulling trailers over to the packing houses in Jaluco. A few large trucks sitting around waiting to be filled before they take off for another part of Mexico. They pick them very green for transport so there are not a lot of ripe ones around yet. The mango below is on the tree next door and I could pick it but it's not ready. Our gancho (mango picker) broke and I was going to buy a new one but the trees next door don't have much fruit this year.

Next door from my roof

Mangoes going by from my roof

Not mango related but I picked it yesterday and it's very sweet

Pineapple

Pool and Free Mango time

It's that time of year that the neighbor kids want to cool off in the pool and people drop off mangoes because they have too many of them. Just had the one below with some unsweetened yogurt.  Yummm ... very good

Jania and Nahima -- got crowded later

Small but very sweet

Stealing mangoes

Well not really because the owner of the lot next door lives miles away and most of the fruit just falls. Two huge, very old mango trees fill the whole lot and almost overhang my second floor. I have to call CFE (power company) a coupe times a year to cut one tree away from my electric lines.

The first picture is an older one in an orchard but it's basically what I look at from my roof.  I noticed a few were almost ripe and got the "gancho" off the garage roof.  The gancho is just a long bamboo pole (also a hook) with a bag tied to the end for snagging fruit. I got one and Hugo noticed a few more.   Multiple large mangoes was too much for the old bamboo pole and right about mid-point it snapped.  No major damage to the fruit and Hugo says we might be able to get a new "fruit picker" at a hardware store.

Mangoes in nearby orchard

Gancho for mangoes or avocados 

Our score

I did a Google search for "stealing mangoes" and the instances are many and the consequences very serious. Even ran across a game called Steal The Mango which might end in death.  I didn't play it so you are on your own.

A CFE Bird Story

It took two visits to the CFE office and a month and a half for them to show up to cut the neighbors mango tree away from my power lines.  It usually gets done twice a year because they refuse to cut the tree way back. I'd be tempted to pay to have the whole thing cut down but it's huge, would not be cheap and not my responsibility.

I wondered why the CFE guy was taking his time at first but he had spotted a birds nest and was carefully cutting it out with his machete. I was on my roof taking the first picture and he motioned to me, did I want the nest and the one baby inside.  He was able to maneuver his crane over and handed me the nest. I had no idea what to do but I guess you have to try.   I remember trying to feed baby robins in a shoe box when we were kids and none of them ever made it.

My first clever idea was in the rebar which was above where my cat can reach.   Then I thought about sun and wind exposure so tied a palm frond over it.  Yesterday afternoon and again this morning the parents were buzzing around and making a real racket and I never saw them at the nest.  All I could figure was it was just too exposed or unnatural so I checked out my Neem tree for a spot.   It's good and well protected but if my cat really wanted he could get up there. When I moved the nest there was a lot of I'm hungry noises so he's healthy and maybe the parents will like this location better.   Last photo is a parent in a neighboring mango tree.

Ready to cut the Mango

Nest in rebar

A little more shade

New spot in the Neem tree

One of the very unhappy parents

Coastal Avocado

Off and on I've been trying to find info about what the nursery guy told me was a "coastal avocado". My little tree is not yet a meter high so I haven't been real excited about it but it seems to be doing better with the rains. I also didn't include a foto but probably posted one in the past.

My interest peaked again when a neighbor said someone has a tree full and we're invited to pick a bunch. In the foto below of the tree you can't see an Avo but it is really full. We used what locals call a gancho to pull the fruit down. It's a long bamboo pole with a basket on the end, same tool that is used to pick mangoes. So we got about 10 with 4 for me. I've been using a gancho to get fruit from my roof off the two large mango trees in the lot next door.

So with all my Internet searching I find there are three basic avocado families; Mexican, Guatemalan and Antillean (West Indian). Antillean, which probably originated along the Pacific coast in Central America, yields well in lowland tropical situations and warm subtropical areas such as southern Florida. The Antillean also has smooth skin and is more pear shaped than round. The Mexican-Guatemalan hybrids originated around Atlixco in Puebla State where avocados have been traced back 7-8000 years. The Atlixco avocado was the one introduced into California as a 'Fuerte'.   Sounds to me like it's highlands vs. lowlands avocados.

Avocado tree

Our avocados

Many types of avocados

Gancho for mangoes and avocados

Mango season at the White House

We finally cut down my bananas because they were splitting on the tree so then had about 10 small bunches. They are sweet and great with yogurt in the morning but too many for me before they spoil.

Abundio and Teri live across the street in an unfinished house and are basically the caretakers. He is always asking to work for money, just plain cigarette money or food money. She has asked me before but is more shy. She still calls me Gringo. Today I had to do something with the bananas so took them two bunches. Teri immediately handed me 3 mangoes in trade and asked if I had 5 pesos. I asked her: for cigaros? ... and she said NO, for vino. Vino is any hard liquor here and she is not shy about her preferences.

One of the mangoes smells really good so maybe tomorrow morning. The season is a little slow this year but when in full swing .... I'm in heaven (no religious connotations there)

My bananas and traded mangoes

The house has a real paint job this year - The White House

CFE trimming trees

CFE (Mexico electric company) is responsible for keeping their main lines free of invading trees but also their lines to your house. The neighboring vacant lot has an old Mango tree that needs to be trimmed every couple years to keep my lines free as well as the transformer on the pole my lines come from. A good wind could have taken out my power along with the neighborhood in this case. This tree is actually on the lot line so partially in the street. Not sure what their attitude would be if the tree was 5-10 feet inside the property.

Last time they were here was two years ago so I knew this was their job ... but the new girl at the desk in Cihuatlan told me it was not their responsibility. I told her they had done it twice before at my request so she checked with the back office and scheduled a crew for this week. This tree has been a shady spot for neighbors to congregate so I kinda hated to do it but preferred to have my power more than a bit of comfort for neighbors. Looks kinda ugly but will green up in a month. We put all the cuttings in a burn pile and salvaged a number of mangoes that fell.

Starting

Finished

Tree trimming

This was me today cleaning up a tree with my machete on an adjoining lot that both overhangs my house and is into my power lines as they come from the pole. Actually the tree is outside their fence which is public property but can have a sidewalk someday. The tree is a Primavera which are very brittle in a wind storm. We lost lots of them when Jova was here in October. I took about half the tree down but plan on cutting the whole thing down to fencepost level. They do have their barbed wire fence nailed to it.

Our neighborhood used to be a mango orchard and the other tree on the same lot is a very old mango also in front of their property. For that I have to call CFE (the power company) to come out and trim it once a year. I wouldn't mind taking that one down as well but it's a shady spot for the neighbors and kids have a swing hanging on it.

Mango season is here

I live in the middle of an old Mango orchard in Pinal Villa just outside of Melaque. Even though most of the trees have been cut down to make way for people and houses ... the lot next door has two very old trees.

Neigbors were able to get 5-6 Mangos that are showing a good amount of color yesterday. Usually with a long stick and a small net on the end but yesterday just a stick.

I hope this means the beach vendors will soon be selling Mangos on a stick for 5 pesos like they have in seasons past

My first Mango

Look what I found under the tree yesterday. Small but this type (Ataulfo) doesn't get very large. It got a little 'yellower' over night and I think it will be ready tomorrow with bananas and yougurt. All the rest on the tree are getting color as well.

Herding cats

That's what it must have felt like for Mom. I noticed from my kitchen window this large white thing flying around in the street with kids chasing after it. From somewhere the family next door got this huge advertising tarp and wanted it folded up. Getting 15 neighbor kids to help sounded like a good idea but they had to play with it first. Lots of laughter from the whole neighborhood and it was finally folded.

She likes small green Mangos

Mangos are coming along

My Mangoes are coming along but I don't know their season. I only know there were none here in October when I moved in. Also don't have a clue what type of Mango this is. The big ones are 3-4 inches long.

Like every other tree in this yard ... it's been pruned badly and many of the branches don't look strong enough to hold much weight. I've already tied a few branches to a trellis on a wall but may have to buy some poles to prop up others

Malagua (jellyfish) and the Barra lagoon

This Sunday we headed for the west end of Melaque beach and immediatly were told by people and even the restaurant the water was full of Malagua (mal agua or jellyfish). This term refers to any sized jellyfish but here they are small and you seldom see them, you just feel the stings. The kids were only in a few minutes and all had multiple small red sting marks.

Marcos showed up about the time we decided to go to the lagoon in Barra de Navidad. Evidently these little drifting creatures end up along the beach due to wind and wave action and don't make it into protected areas like the lagoon.

So we had to rent a table and pay for parking near the Barra swimming beach ... but it's great for the kids and even Mia (3 years) could flop around in the shallows. Bring your own beer and food ... and mangos on a stick are only 5 pesos.

Barra de Navidad lagoon swimming beach