I’m back after a beautiful, sun-filled week in Manzanillo, Mexico! I’m lucky enough to have family with a beautiful home down there and am able to visit whenever I want! I prepared well by packing some of my own food. You never can be sure what items will be available in another country and I didn’t want to be stuck without my favorites; oatmeal, almonds, herbal tea, dried cranberries, peanut butter, and rice cakes. I packed all these in my suitcase along with my bathing suit and shorts.
I was greeted by the sight of this pineapple top that I had planted the last time I was there. It had grown tremendously and now had it’s own baby pineapple!
The first morning there we went to the weekly open air market and I was overwhelmed by the displays of fresh, local produce! It was a shopping frenzy for me as I stocked up for the week on vegetables and tropical fruit that I would never get at home.
These fresh fruit cups were less than a dollar each
I kept saying “At Whole Foods, this would be $7.99!” “At Whole foods that would be $9.99” It made me sadly realize how long and far produce has to travel -only to be marked up to an exorbitant price- before it ever hits our mouths.
The busiest stand was the freshly picked blueberries and strawberries, and for good reason- they were incredibly sweet and juicy!
Pick and bag as much as you want
I wanted to a huge hefty bag full of these beauties!!
There was more tropical fruit around the corner- mangoes, pineapples, papaya, watermelon…..
The local mexican pineapples are a bit smaller and MUCH sweeter than the ones shipped in unripened from hawaii to the grocery.
I got some tomatoes, garlic, cilantro, onion and plenty of avocados to prepare guacamole later. I also found white sweet potatoes which are difficult to find where I live. They are sweeter than yams and used a lot in island cooking. No fresh corn tortillas at this market but we scored some the next day and more a few days later. I could LIVE off of the freshly made tortillas from Lulu’s……
The last time I was in mexico I picked up some type of bacteria that my system couldn’t tolerate so I was really careful what I ate this time. I didn’t eat any animal products except a little bit of yogurt once or twice. I stayed away from meat and eggs entirely which wasn’t hard since I’m not eating meat lately. I also took digestive enzymes the first few meals to give my system some help with breaking down all the different foods. I felt amazing the whole time and enjoyed the produce and much more healthy eating all week long!
