Gustavo Coronel waxes lyrical: Once more, it's Mango time...!
<a href=www.vheadline.com>Venezuela's Electronic News Posted: Wednesday, June 11, 2003 By: Gustavo Coronel
VHeadline.com commentarist Gustavo Coronel writes: In Sabana del Medio, where I have my home, some 20 kilometers west of Valencia, the time of mangoes has come again. The whole area abounds in ancestral mango trees.
Each year the process is repeated. In March the trees are in full bloom, in April the sporadic rains start, get to be more frequent in May, giving almost everybody a mild case of intestinal upset called "mayo."
By the end of May the fruit is well developed and slowly turning color. In June, it ripens and mangoes start falling down ... blanketing the countryside and the streets of the village without the villagers paying much attention.
Nobody would be seen picking a mango from the ground since this would entail losing face, admitting to being needy enough to eat ... a mango, of all things. And yet, the mango is one of the most delicious fruits we can eat ... the varieties are endless.
On my property, I planted about 15 mango trees and each one carries a different variety of fruit. The smaller ones, called "de bocado," are probably the best in flavor. Bocado means that one can eat such a mango almost in single bite due to its tiny size. They're usually very compact and resistant to the bite.
I also have some "manga" trees ... this variety was one of the earliest types of graft, bigger than the local varieties but keeping much of the original flavors and acidity. This "mangas" remind people of my generation of their childhood, because they were very popular in those days.
There are some modern graft varieties which are big ... say two pounders ... with a marvelous multicolor skin when growing ripe ... they're extremely juicy and sweet, and it is very difficult to bite into one without getting the juice cascading all over your arms and shirt ... what could justifiably be termed succulent.
And, then I also have a couple of trees which give enormous mangoes, easily four pounds or more, which are, however, rather insipid. They are called "burreros," possibly because of the size or, perhaps, because they are more adequate for donkeys.
Even within each variety there are complex nuances of taste ... like in dealing with wines one could distinguish citric, pear or apricot components when tasting. It might not get as sophisticated as a mango having to be defined as somewhat tart ... with reminiscences of apricot and vanilla and the long finish of a Corton Charlemagne (from the House of Louis Jadot, please...) ... but mango-tasting definitely calls for alert tastebuds.
I have often felt that mango time in our area could become as touristicaly famous, as the cherry blossoms of the Potomac Basin in Washington DC. During the first week of April the cherry trees around the Washington monuments are in bloom and attract hundreds of thousands of visitors to admire them ... and to eat and drink and stay at hotels and who knows what else ... this marvel of nature becomes a multimillion dollar industry.
As I go past the streets of the village, littered with mangoes, I cannot help thinking that, in Maryland, somebody must be paying $1.50 for a rather wrinkled mango at a Giant Food Market ... and I start to see dollar signs at every corner.
The village is called Barrera, next to Sabana del Medio. It's located about two miles from the site of the Battle of Carabobo ... as a sacred historical ground for us, as Gettysburg is for Americans.
I dream of the Barrera International Mango Fair ... it would combine gastronomical wonders based on mangoes, jelly, preserves, chutneys, fresh salads, with exhibitions of regional art and crafts and music festivals, including classical music (there is a good symphony orchestra in Valencia).
Increasingly the Barrera International Mango Fair would start giving the cherry blossom a run for its money.
In the World, many small cities or even villages, have become internationally renowned due to the excellence of some event ... Montreux is a small city of some 25,000 people but, during the Jazz Festival, swells to more than 100,000 ... or at least that is what my musical coordinator cousin Jose tells me.
Woodstock, a small town in Massachusetts, became internationally known for its hippie gatherings, the flower children ... so, I think Barrera has a good chance ... its proximity to the field of Carabobo would be an additional asset, as visitors could attend tasteful reconstructions of the battle, together with entire armies dressed in their multicolored uniforms. Perhaps our armed force would be induced to participate ... small shops could sell all kinds of patriotic souvenirs.
Several years ago, I started visiting some villagers to talk to them about this idea. Their reaction was often enthusiastic. They all felt inclined to participate "as soon as the government provided them with the required seed money and made the improvements in infrastructure that such a project would demand." The national government is still considering their reply to my initial inquiry ... the Mayor of the nearby town, Tocuyito, felt that Barrera was home to many political adversaries, but he would consider the possibility. The Symphony orchestra had gone into hibernation due to lack of funds ... so, I gradually cooled down and forgot about the whole thing.
It is only in June, as I drive through Barrera and see the wonderful mango trees giving us their fruit once more, that I remember ... but every year the memory is more like a dull ache in my heart and less like a song in my ear.
Gustavo Coronel is the founder and president of Agrupacion Pro Calidad de Vida (The Pro-Quality of Life Alliance), a Caracas-based organization devoted to fighting corruption and the promotion of civic education in Latin America, primarily Venezuela. A member of the first board of directors (1975-1979) of Petroleos de Venezuela (PDVSA), following nationalization of Venezuela's oil industry, Coronel has worked in the oil industry for 28 years in the United States, Holland, Indonesia, Algiers and in Venezuela. He is a Distinguished alumnus of the University of Tulsa (USA) where he was a Trustee from 1987 to 1999. Coronel led the Hydrocarbons Division of the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) in Washington DC for 5 years. The author of three books and many articles on Venezuela ("Curbing Corruption in Venezuela." Journal of Democracy, Vol. 7, No. 3, July, 1996, pp. 157-163), he is a fellow of Harvard University and a member of the Harvard faculty from 1981 to 1983. In 1998, he was presidential election campaign manager for Henrique Salas Romer and now lives in retirement on the Caribbean island of Margarita where he runs a leading Hotel-Resort. You may contact Gustavo Coronel at email gustavo@vheadline.com