Well as luck(?) would have it, due to 2020 COVID-19 lock-downs and border closings, I am in Playa Zancudo for mango season. Wow, is all I can say. In California, mangoes are a luxury fruit and are not cheap. Here they are all over the ground; dozens of them under trees all over town.
I don't know if it's the budget traveler in me, or if it's just me being me, but it seems so wasteful! Can't something be done with all of these mangoes?I was at a friend's house the other day and she had bags and bags of the darn things trying to get rid of them so she was not stuck with rotting fruit all over her property. Another friend had so many mangoes piling up under the tree by her rental, that she couldn't stand the smell anymore. Not only do they start to stink after piling up on the ground for a while, but they attract vermin, too. I walked by a couple of raccoons eating some fallen mangoes the other night. You don't have to go climbing to pick them, just pick through the ones on the ground to find the freshly fallen. Each tree might have a little bit different tasting fruit, and how fibrous they are varies from tree to tree, too. People here really are almost mango connoisseurs. I have literally eaten more mangoes in my time in Zancudo than in my entire life. It's such a pity that they are so difficult to peel and eat! Although I have gotten much better at it, I have yet to figure out the most efficient way to extract the fruit. I have ended up with complete mush at times which is pretty messy, but I just put it into an ice tray and end up with great mango cubes to use in my smoothies.