as the title would suggest...

IN HONOR of the inception of the daily mango, and at the behest of my appetite and curiosity, i went out into the backyard today carrying a plastic bucket and a 10-foot pole with a net attached to one end. i strolled around and surveyed the trees, and then proceeded to harvest 8 or 9 healthy-looking mangos, all at different stages of maturation, but none that were still stuck solely in that early green/lavender stage. right now they are all sitting covered in the bucket. tomorrow i'll select a few to have out for imminent eating pleasure, while the rest will go into the fridge. during my little harvest, i noticed a bunch of other creatures that dig a mango. fruit flies are an obvious notable mention. there were also these big black/orange beetles with sizeable antennae and little black pincers for chomping. there were also some sort of larvae or baby worms traveling in packs, squirmin along. butterflies are surprisingly fond of the mango as well. but only certain kinds. medium sized butterflies with swirling treebark-like patterns were all up in there, proboscis unfurled, mellow groovin for certain. the other main group of butterflies, the lemon-chiffon, pastel yellow type, are a little smaller, and they tend to stick with the pink obelisko (sp) flowers. i had these confused with hibiscus flowers for a while. did you know you can make tea out of hibiscus, otherwise known as flor de jamaica (ha-mike-ah)? mhm. it's true. and delicious. tastes kind of like cranberry juice. some folks add sugar. down here in méxico, if you find it at somebody's restaurant, they usually load it with sugar to offset the tart, not to mention to please the insatiable sweet tooth. oh man, twisted metal!? ahem, anyway... i usually just use honey instead of sugar or aspartame, and add some fresh lemon juice, maybe a few mint leaves. perhaps i'll sun-brew up some after sun-up mañana. then after that, perhaps i'll explain a little bit more about what i'm doing down here in méxico in the first place. buenas noches.