Thoughts on Tropical Realities

Something that Rob said on a boonie stomp this past weekend brings to mind some of the realities of living in the tropics on a tiny island in the middle of the ocean.

Rob said there are 3 stages to acclimating to the tropics:

Stage One: You find a bug in your food. You throw the food away.
Stage Two: You find a bug in your food. You pick it out an toss it away and continue with your dinner.
Stage Three: You find a bug in your food. Unless it is a cockroach, you eat it along with your dinner.

I think I am in stage 2.

When I first came to Guam I kept uncooked rice in a sealed container. Soon the boll weavels hatched and started eating my rice. I picked bugs prior to cooking rice each time. I certainly didn't throw it out. Then Melody told me I should keep it in the Fridge. No more bugs.

Supposedly margerine/butter does not need to be refrigerated. However, here, if I left it out, all I would have is a puddle.

Most things that are not frozen in the grocery store (like bread and meat) was frozen when shipped. Bread has to be frozen to keep it from molding, so, it is refrozen (ohh yeah ... that's a rule violation). The same with all of that non-frozen meat in the store. It will be re-frozen when it gets home.

I read somewhere that bad things leech into bottled water in plastic at 60 F degree. Guess what, I don't think Guam has EVER gotten that cold. The only places that cold are refrigerators and freezers. That means every plastic bottle on the island is supposedly leaching chemicals in the water. One is also not supposed to re-use plastic bottles but in the tropics it is a good idea to have a bottle of water with you. We reuse. I can buy 3 gallons of filtered water for 1.80 and I carry it around with me in used plastic bottles (I would make a dangerous mess with glass .... drop / smash / splash -- plastic bounces).

The eggs in my refrigerator were packaged in Nov. 2009 and it is now the middle of January. Those eggs traveled a very long way. I was taught to break the egg into a bowl in case it's bad. Could save my whole dinner by doing that. I have not got any bad eggs but one of these days.......

Most things are a lot closer to their expiration date in the stores -- after all, it came a pretty long way. If it has expired, you can buy it for less. Milk comes in boxes and doesn't have to be refrigerated until opened and has an incredibly long shelf life. I don't notice a taste difference, but then, I don't drink milk all by itself.

If you see something you want or will need (food or anything else), buy it because it probably will be out of stock when you need it. If a product is too popular, stores will stop stocking it because it is too much trouble to keep it in stock.

It's a good thing the Lord has granted me the gift of being fairly laid back for an American.