Earlier this week, a friend picked me up and told me that we were going to go to buy tomatoes (she knows that I like to dry them and therefore need a lot...a kilo produces only a small zip lock bagful). We drove out of El Valle, up a mountain road (but a good road!), and saw tomatoes growing up the sides of the mountains. We stopped at a local farm, and the farmer took us up to the tomato-growing area. We had to walk on narrow little paths, which went up and down, around, and over streams; it was perhaps a 15 minute hike to reach the tomato plants. Oh, and were they healthy and lush! I was grateful to be living in macho land, because after the tomatoes were picked (50 kilos or so), the MEN carried the buckets down to our car and all I had to do was concentrate on not falling. I remember when we were driving through Guatemala, seeing corn planted up the mountainsides and realizing that, in North America, corn is only planted in flat areas because of the mechanized state of agriculture. And I guess the same could be said of tomatoes; I was so impressed to see that all the mountainsides were green with tomatoes.
We also have a local organic farmer here in El Valle. His lettuces are beautiful, as are the few other vegetables he has. We have all started buying our special seeds for him, so that we can expand his produce line. Yesterday I gave him spinach seeds because I have the hardest time finding spinach here. Funny, the things one misses.
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