travel blog - the licuado ladies

while walking through the town of san pedro
in search of lunch
we met a guy mike
who was selling food from a basket
(he was once a canadian)
and promised to return to find us
with some chocolate cake that was to die for
(and it was)
we walked uptown
and vacated a local comedor
after finding that maybe the lady didn´t really have what we wanted
(edible food?)
and erin and i walked straight back to this taqueria we´d seen before
it was clean and empty
and upon ordering 2 sets of tacos at 3x10Q
i left the group
to go back to this juice stand
on the side of the street
that we´d passed on the way back
there i found
that with my limited spanish
i could actually communicate with the locals
on a very basic level
why did i go back to find this juice stand?
because they´d been calling out the price of 3Q for a drink
while the restaurant had a listed price of 6Q
hey,
frugal i may be
but these ladies were delightful
delores is 51 looks 40
and makes fresh pure orange juice
her daughter rosa is 31 and looks like one of my high school kids
and operates from a connected stand selling licuados made of fresh fruit
for the same price
i had a banana licuado that was the BEST licuado i´ve had on this trip
bar none!
and also the cheapest by half
after lunch,
i returned with the group
and had another licuado - banano-piña
which was even better
if only because i like that combo of flavours more
erin ordered an orange juice
which tasted so good, it wasn´t even funny
i was in heaven!
i also learned how to ask where a good place to swim was
which is where we went swimming later that afternoon

the next morning,
before leaving for a quick trip to santiago
i went up through some back streets
and found the licuado ladies already there
apparently they are there from 6am to 6pm every day
i had 2 glasses of orange juice
between which
a wealthy local arrived with his family
3 beautiful children
a teenager
and 2 ancient crone like ladies in traditional dress
they all had orange juice
the older ones with a raw egg in it
and though i didn´t speak much with them
with a bunch of facial gestures and smiles
i had a really neat interaction with the little boy and his sister
who were dressed sharply
and likely on their way to school
when they left,
the father said with a big smile, ¨adios amigo!¨
which felt pretty special to me
sometimes i think
a sincere heart-felt smile can break any language barrier
after they left,
i asked delores why they wanted raw eggs in the juice
to which she replied something that i totally couldn´t understand from her words
but from her body language and facial gestures
i could tell she thought it was disgusting and they were a bit crazy
i think she also said something to the tune of
that they did this every morning
i asked her if she would ever drink juice with a raw egg
to which she quickly replied never!!
and so,
for my second juice,
i took it straight up
the old fashioned way
it was really neat
seeing mother and daughter
making 6 cups of freshly squeezed juice
(the 2 very young kids shared a glass)
and i wish i had video´d it
delores would cut the oranges in half
while rosa would squeeze each half
which flowed through a strainer into a pitcher
they moved with such speed and smoothness
it was like watching a well-oiled machine
very very cool
...i returned for one last licuado with sarah and erin
on our way to santiago
and i wish i could have stayed longer in san pedro
if only to talk more with these locals
and drink more of these amazingly delicious drinks
i learned at that last sitting
that they grew all the fruits themselves
and that the mother had spent many years making licuados
and so passed on the technique to her daughter
one thing is for sure
not all licuados are made equal
and these were the best in every aspect of quality, quantity and price
that i´ve ever had.