I am off to meet my salad at the bus station. The bus from Rivas gets in at 3.00 and I want to time my arrival so that I am not waiting for ten minutes in the hot sun, nor too late and my salad walks off with someone else. I hop into a communal taxi which means that I am the third party to get in and we are driving to a different part of the barrio first, before we head to the bus terminal. As we get closer to the location, I suddenly am very aware of the third world part of the equation (and how much I enjoy the teaming street activity that is part of this).
We are behind Granada’s large food market, towards the outskirts of the city, where the streets are narrower and the houses feel closer. There are people selling fruit and vegetables and those with drinks in small plastic bags with straws sticking out of them. Lots of stray dogs and kids and general pedestrian traffic.
I get out the taxi and ask the taxi driver to wait for me as I see a few buses which are in the dusty parking lot, which constitutes the terminal. One has just arrived. Mostly locals get out of the bus and a few dishevelled backpackers arriving in Granada for the first time. One of the bus drivers is yelling names of towns to which buses are headed. But I’m not going anywhere, just meeting my box of greens.
Ok, how come I happen to be meeting my salad, which is arriving from Rivas, an hour away, on a bus, in the front with the driver? A while back I met Steve Ensalada (not his literal last name, but everyone calls him, Steve the salad guy) through Gabriel Cousens. He is originally from Santa Cruz, California and grows the most spectacular variety of baby salad greens which he packs into a box, with their roots on, all six or seven varieties . Only issue is he lives in Rivas. His solution was to put the box on the bus with the bus driver and for me to meet the bus. Sure enough I look into the Rivas bus and there on the front seat is a large box with my name on it. Mission success and we have our diet staple for the next few days. Live greens, roots and all.
Best and freshest lettuce I have ever had, anywhere in the world, and its going home with me.
And now by request by an active follower…. Here is my traveling salad:
Next, post a picture of the salad! What were all those yellow things the people had under the umbrella? Melons? Lemons?
Picture of salad greens coming soon. Those yellow things are oranges.
Spectacular greens, worth all the trouble!!
I think it’s time you guys started a veggie patch 🙂