Friday, April 13, 2007

guavas

Growing up in Miami, we had a guava tree in our back yard. Rather, it was right in the region where the side yard became the back yard. It was a slim tree, and not all that big. Not one which was all that interesting to climb, given the banyan trees in the neighborhood.

I didn't much like that tree. Maggots would quickly infest the fallen fruit, and the smell of rotting guava was rather strong. Worse yet was it was often my job to mow the law. With both the guava and mango trees it was best to go beforehand and pick up the rotted fruit as otherwise when the blade hits it -- splat! Bug/juice.

The mango tree wasn't as bad. Its fruit were bigger, fewer, and easier to spot. They had a nice gradation of colors, with green, red, and yellow skin, getting spotted as they got riper. The maggots were rarely as bad as with the plentiful little guavas.

This came back to me here at the Lehvaslaiho's in Hout Bay, near Cape Town, South Africa. I went through their gate and wondered what it was that I smelled. Apricot? No. Hmm. After some thought "guava?" Heikki didn't know. It was dark. The next day I looked. The fruit was a different shape, and didn't have bugs in it. The tree was also a different, broader, more lush form. But the bark had that thin papery bark I remember so well.

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