A Pineapple Tour

WHERE ARE WE? La Penita RV Park, La Penita, Nayarit, Mexico
NEXT DESTINATION? We are here for a while

I signed up for a tour of a pina (pineapple) farm complete with pineapple based breakfast. We all gathered at he oficino at 8 am and jumped into a van taxi and headed out to the pineapple farm.

We arrived at the pineapple field and were welcomed by Andrea and Marie.  They told us all about planting and caring for pineapples.  

 Pineapples are not grown from seed but rather are transplanted from another plant.  They cut the tops off of some of them and turn them upside down to dry before transplanting.

Tops all chopped off and upside down

Close up

Irrigation pipe in the ground

Soaker hose irrigation.  Water comes out those 3 holes

Ready for planting

Planting going on

They also grow hibiscus for making tea here.  I didn't ask what the relationship was to growing pineapples but maybe it is a type of crop rotation.

Field of Red Hibiscus flowering.

Once the field tour was over we were treated to some pineapple and told about the different kinds and how to know a good one in the store.  I always thought it needs to be a certain colour of yellow on the bottom, but that doesn't matter.  It is more about how shiny the green part of the fruit is, that indicates the juiciness of the fruit.  The sweetness is not dictated by the colour.  We tasted a couple different kinds but they recommend the honey pineapple for eating.

I snuck away from the field tour and helped squeeze out some pineapple juice for us to drink later.  Of course we added tequila!!!  Nothing gets missed by the tequila bottle in Mexico, even before 9 am.

George got in on the act too.

As a part of the tour we received a 3 course breakfast which started out with cowboy coffee with honey for sweetening and toast and pineapple jam.  Mmmmm good.  Here was our table!

Then it was a fruit bowl followed by fish and rice with a cake of some sort for dessert.  The whole thing was delicious and professionally presented.  

And a group picture for the records.

From our table we could look out at all of the fields around us.  They are all part of this operation.

We found out that our hosts Tony and Andrea own a restaurant in La Penita b the name of Casa Rosetta on their facebook page.  Really nice couple.  And they have a great crew working with them. 

It was a great tour, however I was only disappointed by the fact that we did not see an actual pineapple growing on a plant.  I will have to head out in the country and explore till I find some somewhere I guess.

We got home about noon and spent a leisurely afternoon.  I forgot to post this picture of George flying his drone yesterday afternoon out in front of our place.  He has a Phantom much like mine. There are 4 or 5 of us in the park that have drones so we like to show off when we can.

At 4:30 I headed down to the Beer Can races.  If you remember I have been whining the last couple weeks about my inability to win.  Well today I had no reason to whine.

Well that all changed today because I won 4 out of 6 races.  I have a little strategy that I use and it seemed to work tonight.  I had to sneak away after it was over to avoid any more heckling.  Hope they all forget before next week.  I won a little over 150 pesos.  Oh well take them when you can.

Then I capped off the evening by listening to some very interesting musicians jamming over by the pool area.  We have some pretty unique musicians here in the park.  Music always is a nice way to end your day.  Hope your day ended in a great way too!!