Lychees!

Since I arrived in Honduras, I have been on the prowl for one specific thing - lychees.

I first tasted the greatness of this amazing fruit in Jamaica.  I can still remember driving down the mountain and the brother from the Missionaries of the Poor pulled over and summoned the other brother up to talk to him.  It is a vivid image of the second brother removing his cassock and jumping off the side of the mountain into the trees.  I was both shocked and amazed as he scaled the tree with ease.  I noticed he was collecting these red, spiky things.  I was curious, what could this be that made a man jump off the side of a mountain? Well shortly after he collected a plethora of these little spiky balls, I found out.  He came back, handed me one and said that this was a lychee.  He thing showed us how to twist them open to reveal a white flesh membrane. He sucked it into his mouth and motioned for us to do the same.  He warned us that there was a pit in the middle but to eat off as much of the white part as we could. It was like something I had ever tasted before! Tart, but sweet and absolutely delicious!

Well you can imagine my shock in November, years after my only encounter with this amazing fruit, that they have lychees in Honduras!  It was when I was visiting Eric and the Missioners of Christ for a small mission over Thanksgiving.  Eric was showing us around Comayagua and there was a person selling them.  I literally looked at Eric and said "LYCHEES! THEY HAVE LYCHEES!" He looked at me, smiled, and asked the woman how much they were.  I bought a big bag and took them to the mission house to share with everyone.  They were just as I remembered, and I was super excited.

So, since arriving to Honduras 6 weeks ago, I have been looking. Sometimes I would see people eating them, but no one selling them.  Not in the grocery store or being sold by street vendors.  I was disappointed, but I have been on the look out. Well today is the day that I finally found them! We were at a farmers market in the barrio next to ours when a man looked at all of us "gringas" and pointed to his produce and said "Tengo lychees!"  I looked over and saw what I have been looking for!  I approached his wife and purchased a large bag for 20 Lempiras, which is approximately $1.  Best dollar ever spent!

After my great buy, I couldn't wait to get home and dive into this amazing treat that I have been blessed with!  As you can imagine, I am nom-ing down on these as I write this post.  Luckily, the bag is quite large and it doesn't even look like a made a dent in it so I'll have this wonderful treat for the next few days! Hopefully...