One of my favorite things to do lately is go to the different farmers markets that can be found in almost every town. It doesn’t matter how big or small, there always seems to be one, usually in plain sight and some are better then others. The days that they are open can vary. Some are open almost every day of the week while others are only open Sunday but tend to be much more massive in size. The prices can vary on the exact same item so you really have to pay attention. The locals love to rip off anyone they can and most speak broken English at best, some are easier to dicker with than others. We found papaya is a good choice and there’s a few different varieties, they have a strawberry flavored papaya that’s easily found at most markets and sale for $.75-1.00 each. 

We picked up some dragon fruit and some starfruit the other day and I’ve included pictures of those two, the dragon fruit grows from a cactus and come in various colors, this one is obviously purple. They average about $6 a pound, I’m not sure if its really worth it. They look very exotic and I was halfway expecting to start hallucinating after I my first bight, no such luck.  The flavor is a mild sweetness at best, surprisingly plain for the price but still not bad by any means. We’re planning on picking up a few dragon fruit starter plants at a farmers market Sunday December 6th. I’m not 100% they will grow at our elevation but we’re still planning on trying.  

   
 The starfruit taste like a green apple and are much more affordable at $.50 each. They don’t have a ton of meat on them but are a very tasty fruit if you like the flavor of  green apples. 

The avocados here are abundant. You can find at least 5 different varieties at any market, usually $1-2 each and most are massive in size, softball size is typically the smallest though you can find the smaller varieties. Our neighbors gave us one this week that was huge and easily made 4 bowls of guacamole. 

Bananas can also be found everywhere in various species. We’ve been eating a lot of apple bananas. They are much sweeter and smaller then the ones found at the grocery store on the main land. Typically you find Wilson bananas at your local grocery store.  The more exotic ones here locally are the Cuban reds and ice cream bananas. Both are typically used for cooking. Cuban reds are red on the outside and the meat is your typical banana color. Ice cream bananas are pink and a little harder to find.  We haven’t actually tried them yet but we are told they don’t taste like ice cream, trust me, it took me a while to get over that too.