First, Amusement.

Papaya.  On my very first trip to Central America, I traveled with a group of friends to Honduras.  Remembering that first trip makes me smile.  I could make sense of nothing more than Hola!   And I’m really not kidding here.  As you can imagine, the word was WAY OVER USED that particular week.  Nonetheless, we were warmly welcomed and invited into a culture and language I have continued to explore over the last 9 years.

On that trip to a small village in Honduras, Pastor Ed taught us a song that I can only recall a few lines from, but they are the significant lines pertinent to this very post.  I like bananas, I think that mangos are great, I like papaya-PAPAYA??!!??-Oh yeah, but nothing can beat that sweet, sweet love of God.  (OH WOW!  Looky there, I just remembered the whole song!)

 

Papaya.  You either love it or you don’t.  And I’ve been told that very thing by more than a handful of folks over these years.  In Costa Rica, Virginia and Mercedes really taught me how to enjoy papaya, add salt and lime.  It’s really tasty, actually!  Well, I went to the market a few days ago and bought a papaya.  First, I don’t buy papayas in the states.  I don’t know why, I just prefer other fruits and my minimalist outlook on grocery shopping…you also have to buy a lime.  I know, I know it’s just a lime, but really it’s probably more so because of… Second, it’s a tedious process to eat papaya.  It’s not like a banana, or an apple you can grab and eat, or a handful of grapes.  It’s a process and quite frankly, I think the reward for the work is not quite the same as that of a delicious watermelon or cantaloupe!  So, I bought a papaya (I know, you're thinking get to the point!). 

Papaya.  It had been looking at me every time I opened the fridge so I pulled it out last night and began the task of stripping the poor thing to get to the meat.  In the middle of my conquest, two of the older gals came over for help with their English homework.  After a while, I offered my half completed papaya and they gave me a funny look.  No les gusta? (You don’t like?)  Oh sure, they like it ok, but apparently I was not cutting the papaya correctly.  Yes, there is a right way to do it. (Ok, really?!)  So, they laughed at me as I sat at the table and finished skinning the poor thing. 

Papaya.  Note to self, first strip it of its coat, then slice in half, then scoop the seeds.  So I left the skin on!  I wasn’t going to eat it.

I like papaya.