Today we fully intend to have a day doing nothing, and we almost get what we wish for. The day starts off with torrential rain and we get a few cloud bursts throughout the day although it’s swelteringly hot in between.
Mike has one job today – to change the oil in the starboard engine. He’s got it down to a fine art but it still takes a couple of hours.
I take the opportunity of using my little green wonderbroom and get all sorts of muck up. I wish I knew where it all comes from, or do I?
I then set about dealing with the huge jaca that I bought yesterday. I cut it in half but it’s still unwieldy so I just chop a lump off and attempt to turn it inside out so that the kernels pop up from the strange stringy stuff that surrounds them. I can see sap oozing out over my fingers but don’t take too much notice until I feel my fingers starting to stick together. This sap, as it dries, seems to undergo some sort of molecular change … for the worse! What starts off looking innocuously like milk, soon turns into a disgusting mix of what seems like superglue, copydex and chewing gum and is next to impossible to get off. It deposits itself on everything you touch. I wash my hands six times, first with gentle soap (you must be joking), then washing up liquid, then washing up liquid and a scourer.
Nothing works.
Eventually I resort to a scourer and nail polish remover. I get the worst of it off but strings of it remain like fresh chewing gum on the bottom of your shoe. NOW I know why the man in the market used plastic bags to get the kernels out! Leaving one half untouched, I go and have a shower and wash my hair, and by the end of this and over half an hour later, most of the repulsive stuff has gone. But there’s still the other half. When I start up again I put on my rubber gloves which saves my hands but renders the gloves useless for anything else and they are binned when I have finished.
Photo: Demolition of the jaca in progress
Still, the jaca is delicious and there’s loads of it. I go on to the internet after this and discover that to deal with a jaca you should oil your hands, knife, gloves and probably the whole kitchen before you start doing anything with it. So now I know! For next time!!
Jobs done for the day, we have a sleep in the afternoon. We eat so much jaca (I don’t know how long it keeps and don’t want it to go off after all that work) that neither of us fancy an evening meal.
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