Guava Tree, Very Pretty...

Near the end of our stay in Masumbo, Dr. Arensen drew our attention to some trees growing near the edge of our campsite. These trees held mounds of the most delectable guavas and they were ready to eat.

For the last two weeks of our stay at the Houghton in Tanzania campus, those of us who enjoyed the sweet, tasty, pink flesh of the guava were able to eat our fill. Some afternoons I would eat as many as eight or ten. Enough to ruin my dinner, that's for sure.

Many of my classmates were less than fond of our diet while on the Dark Continent, but I quite enjoyed it. We had fresh eggs almost every day, freshly baked bread toasted and slathered in margarine made primarily with saturated fats, curry with fresh tomato and pineapple topping, chapatis with beans, and the ubiquitous rice with meat chunks. Sometimes we even got spaghetti, which was surprisingly delicious considering our cooks were Africans who rarely ate anything other than rice, vegetables, and chicken.

The only meal I did not enjoy was the hamburger and hot dog pizza. Not appetizing at all. Obviously, our African cooks had some pretty interesting ideas about what Americans enjoyed eating. Anyway, Africans don't eat a whole lot of cheese, so they are not very good at making it. It tasted genuinely awful.

Some foods I miss from Africa include Bounty chocolate bars and Fanta Passion. This is going to sound strange, but soda in third world countries is much better because they use real sugar. Real sugar beats high fructose corn syrup every time. Fanta Passion hasn't really been marketed in the U.S., and it's a shame.

I'm reminded of those guavas twice daily on my walk to and from the Metro as I walk past one particular house with a tree growing suspiciously guva-like fruits. One of these days I'm going to steal a ripe fruit from that family's tree and see if my suspicions are correct. I'll let you know if they are.