Mango Season
Jennifer Temmer
July 21, 2010


Every day the communities of Iriona are becoming more dangerous. There are times when I am afraid to walk in the streets for fear of being hit. “Rustle, rustle, plop!” Every time I stop in the street I hear this sound. Mango season is upon us and Ciriboya is overflowing with these beautiful, delectable fruits. Heart mangos, shoe mangos, candy mangoes, papaya mangoes… the list goes on. One must be very careful where they walk these days or, a kamikaze mango falling from the heavens will attack them. Just yesterday a little boy was walking under the mango tree in front of my house and a mango hit him on the head!

Apart from this most obvious danger, it is well worth the risk to walk by the mango trees and pick some of the glorious fruit off the ground. Mango season here in Ciriboya runs from the beginning of May until the end of August. For about 3 weeks now we have been swimming in mangoes. On average I have been eating about 5 daily in order to keep up with the harvest. Every day I see school children passing my house walking and sucking on mangoes. There are pits thrown everywhere and more mangoes on the road and under the tree than anyone knows what to do with. Today I’ve decided to take a break from mangoes in order to give my stomach a rest. I need to pace myself if I am going to last until the end of August and be ready for avocado season!