The people on these islands are incredibly friendly. It is quite common after just a few words of conversation for them to offer bananas, pamplemousse, papaya, limes or whatever. All this fruit grows abundantly here, so there is plenty for all, and once they get it into their head to give you fruit, you WILL toddle off with a pretty large sack full, no matter how much you protest.
I don’t care that much for most tropical fruit, although shredded green papaya salad isn’t bad, and ripe papaya is OK if doused in lime juice. Mangos, you can keep. But I love bananas, especially the ones here, and I just adore pamplemousse. Pamplemousse is just the French word for grapefruit, but to lump this variety in with all others is unjust. As far as I know, the variety here exists no where else. It is larger than those sold in America, about the size of a cantaloupe, and much sweeter. It has one flaw, though. The segments in polynesian pamplemousse are highly irregular, which makes eating them a rather messy experience. You can’t just slice it in half and then use a grapefruit spoon. You have to get much more personal, wading in with hip boots and gauntlets, and slurping your way through.
It’s a good thing we like them so much. Several people have each given us a huge sack full in the past few days, enough to last weeks.
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