From Papayas To Peanuts

As I was climbing one of the hills from El Estrecho to Chachaguf in Colombia, I was waved down by a gentleman at his road side house. It wasn't a typical American wave with the palm up and a big sweeping arm motion, but a Latin American wave with the palm down and only a flick of the wrist. I stopped, as it was hot and I was tired, and learned that he had something for me. He ran inside to bring it out. It could have been anything, a glass of cold water or a juice was my guess. Instead, it was half a papaya all sliced and ready for me to devour. Oscar insisted I eat it. While he cracked open some peanut shells, I ate the delicious slice of papaya.

Oscar used the hillside behind his house for growing peanuts that he would then put in bags and sell for 100 thousand pesos each. They were big bags filled with peanuts, maybe 20 bags or so in the main room of his house. He also had a few papaya trees for occasionally selling their fruit to passing cars (and cyclists).

Before I knew it, the whole family, along with a passing gentleman searching of some shade and a place to sit, had come to join me. There were five of us under a shaded stand in the front yard - Oscar's wife, his youngest child John Steven, his daughter Fernanda, the passing gentleman, and Oscar himself. Oscar mentioned that just yesterday, three cyclists were going in the same direction as me, while one wearing a sombrero hat was going in the other direction. I suspected the latter to be Matis, whom I met earlier that day when he flagged me down. Matis is a nice Argentinean cyclist who is biking through Brazil, Venezuela (which he found to be safe and friendly), Colombia, and Ecuador. He is now on his return via Colombia. I snapped a picture of Matis' bike because it was a pretty awesome rig.

Oscar also said that about seven years ago, some cyclists slept in his yard, took showers at his house, and  used their own stove to cook dinner. They were professors.

I had a nice English lesson with his daughter, who had learned some colors and numbers in school. I was even able to spot one slight error in her notebook when a picture of a backpack, which was labeled as a "satchel". Maybe "book-bag" or "pack" might have worked, but this I had to fix. I took out my pen and wrote "backpack" next to the picture. I also added a picture of a peanut and added the words "peanut" and "Mani" next to it.

Oscar had this one plant that I unfortunately forgot the English word for, but it did have an odd smell to it. He mentioned something about how popular it is in America.

Oscar also demonstrated to me how he used a tool to plant the peanuts and toss in the seeds. It was a simple tool with just a small wedge to make a slice in the dirt.

I was really touched by Oscars hospitality. Here was a gentleman nice enough to give me half a papaya simply for biking past his house. I also found it inspiring that Oscar essentially had his whole life savings bundled up right there in his living room. Granted, it was in the form of peanuts, but when the time comes, each of those bags would be sold to provide for the family. I also like how his income is dependent entirely on his land and the weather. There is a required amount of time and work to produce those peanuts, with there being only so much one can do in a given day. I got a real sense of Oscar knowing all this, and in the meantime, enjoying life with the family or sharing a papaya with an American riding a bike by his house.

Oh, and I left with my hands full of peanuts!

-Matt

P.S. More pictures of the awesome food coming soon, but for now, I will leave you with this tasty treat!