But seriously...I only take vacations to rare fruit producing countries or states and only when the fruit are in season. I have folks in Thailand and when my wife and I visit, the time spent there is geared towards fruit and food. As soon as we get off the plane and into the car, bags of longkong and mangosteen await us. We will travel all over visiting fruit farms and festivals...eating all kinds of wonderful fruit and other dishes. Last trip, Warren(fruitguy), accompanied us and we had a wonderful time. The folks are very accommodating and always want to make me happy so they plan these trips. Their daughter is home and they are together, so it is a win-win for all. The heat and humidity is like a blast furnace, but once your are walking under 150-300 year old mangosteen trees and eating the fruit, it is soon forgotten...well...most of it anyway. Afterall...trying to forget a blowtorch pointed at you is kind of difficult. No matter how hot it is, visiting the various markets are just amazing. They seem to lack for nothing...besides AC! But...sitting in an air conditioned SUV with your mother-in-law peeling longkong, mangosteen, and lychees and handing them to Warren and I...is just hard to beat. I could get used to that...but my wife caught on to that real quick and simply said "forget it". Oh...and just don't forget about the durian that got kicked beneath the seat!
Several of us have been going to Puerto Rico every year visiting wonderful fruit farms down there. The people we visit are top notch. Besides the traffic, there is nothing not to like about the country or people. There is a rare fruit paradise nestled in the hills and tight, windy roads on the west side of the island. Going to and from the farms can be just as much fun as being on the farms. With all of the high pitched screams (usually Sheehan), when going around hairpin turns and meeting up with trucks on a road not much wider than a single vehicle, makes for a lot of laughs and even the occassional stop for someone to puke(won't mention any names but he is from California). Or when the keys to one rental car are lost and seven guys pile in the one remaining rental car at the top of a mountain to head back to the hotel as quickly as possible...I can only say that you must have a New Yorker with a British accent in the car with you. When searching for a farm 50+ miles away from where you are supposed to be and passing the same group of old men playing cards and drinking beer by the side of the road for about the fifth time...how can one not laugh?! Sharing durian and pulasan with locals who have never heard of or seen these fruit before. When sitting on Felipe's veranda overlooking acres and acres of jungle during a thunderstorm, how can one not be awed and inspired? It's times like these that you need to sit back and say..."shit...life is too short NOT to be doing exactly what we are doing right there and then"!! It's not just the fruit, the trees, the exotic food or countryside that make these trips what they are, it's doing it with a bunch of close friends. Priceless.
