plantain hunting on common ground

When you are a Finn and you marry a Dominican (or the other way around), there are a lot of cultural differences to get use to. We are both human beings from planet earth so we obviously do have a lot of common ground...as children we both climbed trees and fell down from them, we both loved running in the rain and chasing thunder and lightning and we both played similar games with the neighborhood crowd ... but we have had a lot to adjust to as well and that comes with a lot of bending and flexing, commonly known as compromising. Then again every marriage does, I do believe. One more fun thing I have had to get use to has been exotic fruit. I didn't basically eat fruit before I met my husband. I have always liked vegetables but fruit was not my thing, except avocado. To find a man in Finland who eats avocado is extremely difficult. It's considered a female thing. In Caribbean countries, it's basically part of the daily intake and my husband is no exception. Another thing that is very much part of their food, is the mighty plantain.

In Costa Rica, where the picture was taken, you basically get your plantains right out of the tree where ever you are. And during our 2 week honey moon we ate them for breakfast, lunch and dinner more or less. In Mexico, we had to spend 3 months without any until I finally managed to hunt down some good green plantains... 

at an indoor market place about 6km from where we live called Mercado La Cruz.

Since I found my reliable plantain source, it has become part of my weekly routine to walk down to this market place. It's a really nice and colorful walk through a few different neighborhoods. I feel so good and so alive, when I walk these streets as they are so full of life in so many ways.

And finally ending up on Avenida Universidad, the street that just gets more and more beautiful for every time I pass.

We now have less than three weeks here in our beloved Queretaro and we are both feeling very sad to leave this city and country. I have had to stop listening to Alejandro Fernandez when walking the streets as I just end up crying. Instead I have made sure to download crazy, happy and chaotic music from Zumba class. So I'm pretty much up to date with the newest latino rhythms. Something that comes pretty handy, in case you want to go out clubbing on Saturday nights and still feel young and alive. When you know the music, you dance and party with the rest of the crowd. When you don't know the music... well that's when you start looking around and realize people around you are half your age.

A thing that is hard to find in Finland, is a man who likes to dance. Something latino men tend to be pretty good at and something fun I got quickly used to with my husband. So lately we have sparked up our Saturday nights at Pepe el Toro. It's a fun and relaxed night club with no entrance fee, Moët & Chandon champagne bottle to Canadian store price and while you dance the night away to great music you can look up at the moon and the stars as they open up a wall so it becomes like a roof terrace. The Dj is great and the people who go there are friendly party people. Honestly I can't think of it getting much better than this.

My Dominican and I might be from very different cultures but I really enjoy the Caribbean breeze my husband brought to my life when he first asked me out, one fine evening in June 4 years ago. In a few days we will celebrate our first wedding anniversary. Out of our 1 year marriage, we have spent 6 months in Mexico. 6 absolutely amazing months, filled with a lot of flexing and bending in all kinds of ways but with it a lot of great moments. We will leave this place with a great amount of sadness in our hearts but with lots of wonderful memories and a few great life lessons in our pockets. We will be going back home... home, home, home. Wherever that is.

I do believe home for us is in each others arms on whatever ground our feet might be standing. I can only hope that we will be coming back standing on Mexican ground again. It's really sunny, warm and friendly ground to stand on.