La Vida Loca!

We noticed last week that a banana tree in the area in front of our house (garden makes it sound too civilized - it's pretty much been overtaken by jungle growth)was sporting a pretty decent crop of bananas. I'm sure that this huge clump of bananas hanging from the tree must have a name. Kevin assured me that the proper way to take down this clump of bananas was to cut down the entire tree. This sounded extremely wasteful to me, so I checked with our local authority of most things, Dona Marta, and she assured me this was true. So, Kevin and I, armed with a saw and and axe, attacked the banana tree, and were successful in felling it. Dona Marta pointed out tactfully that this is normally done with a machete. There is another tree ripe for the picking, and so I guess we'll try a machete on that one. The banana tree is very fleshy, with a white, porous interior. I can see why you can make paper out of banana fiber. I was almost inspired to try it myself.

After cutting down the branch of bananas, we had to find somewhere to hang it so the bananas will ripen. (If you leave the bananas on the tree to ripen all the animals in the neighborhood will eat them before you get a chance to.) We figured the pila (outside sink area) was the best place to do it, so we strung up a rope and - voila! Bananas ripening! I hope the kids like bananas bread.