My neighborhood fruit seller has been back for a couple of weeks. He had returned to his hometown for most of the winter.

The truck is permanently parked just outside the gate to my apartment complex. When he went home, he sold down his stock, put the various crates and such into the truck, locked it up, and that was it.

Right now, he’s got a great assortment of fresh watermelons, strawberries, and oranges. Sugar cane is leaning against the truck. Remnants from where he hacked away the bark with a knife are on the ground next to the cane.

Here’s a shot of him yesterday as he prepared some cane for me:

This is the first time that I can remember having sugar cane (might’ve had it as a kid). Biting into it was sort of like biting into a very unripe pear as far as the texture goes, but then sugary water just exploded in my mouth. After chewing it, I was  left with something like wet wood pulp. (I think there’s probably a method for politely evacuating the pulp from the mouth, but I’ve yet to find it.)