Food

Something that keeps coming to mind for me as we eat the food here is how fresh all the produce is. Passing a small market today we saw a basket of papayas as big as a baby, enough to each a fairly big family. In the U.S. the food is not as fresh. I remember an artist we ran into our first or second day in Estelíand as we were passing through the market with him, we saw some dragon fruit. I told him how much that fruit costs in the states, around $6-8, and he told me the fruit and produce in the states is not good. Because it is imported it is not as fresh. Almost all the food in the U.S. is processed in some way. Usually I am afraid to eat a lot of things in the U.S. because of all the articles you read and the documentaries you see talking about how much sugar or preservatives and other chemicals into food that keep it fresh longer or taste richer just so you will consume their product, and when it comes to the meats, injecting it with hormones & shit. I’m pretty aware of these things; my taste buds tend to be my strongest sense. But here, it feels safe to eat almost anything. Even eating the meat here is somewhat more tolerable (but not something I can keep up for long). The U.S. is also very wasteful in comparison to this country, which is concerned with maintaining their environment. There were many people I met who were interested in going to school to be a veterinarian or a natural scientists, pursuing some degree that involved maintaining the environment. There were mosaics glorifying the environment. Here it seems people have a relationship with their country that is healthy in comparison to the U. S.’s relationship with its land. A place that was once rich with resources gradually cluttered with stuff til the atmosphere changed. A profound disconnect created. For the sake of profit, natural green replaced with the synthetic version, in a different form. Marijuana: the only green that allows some gringos feel somewhat connected to themselves. I am an advocate of marijuana use, I just find it interesting that its usage has increased in certain areas where there is not as much nature present.