Huerta La Jungla, delicious mango juice on Highway south of Llera de Canales...

If you're a lover of mangos, you probably know that they grow on trees, but have you ever seen a mango tree, or a mango orchard? Until our visit to Huerta la Jungla, I'd never seen a mango, much the less a mango orchard, but all things must pass, so I achieved another milestone in my life, during our visit to Huerta La Jungla, along Tamaulipas State Highway, south of the charming town of Llera de Canales, just south of the Rio Sabinas. Jerry, Rodolfo and I had been driving through the Sierra Madre de Oriental range for an hour or so, and had built up quite a thirst, and when we saw the sign that advertised mango juice, we just had to stop and check it out.

Photo: Huerta La Jungla features an attractive covered, outdoor dining area, where you can enjoy your mango drink or sandwich, and admire the lush, almost-tropical vegetation.

Huerta La Jungla is quite an operation, and besides selling delicious mango juice smoothies, they sell locally-produced jars of honey, sandwiches, in-house made mango pie and popcorn. During the time of our visit, the place was manned by Julio, a somewhat shy man of few words, who we had to coax to get what little information we could about the business. You can purchase a whole mango pie, or you can buy just a slice of the pie. I have to admit that I almost took the plunge for a piece of mango pie, but I really wasn't hungry, and a mango smoothie was hat Jerry, Rodolfo and I had on our minds. We ordered 3 large smoothies, for the small price of MEX $8.00 each.

Photo: Jerry and Rodolfo walk up to the counter and admire the mango pies, enclosed in the glass display case, in the center of the photo, and ask Julio about the fresh, mango drinks.

We were a little disappointed, as we thought that we'd get to watch Julio slice and dice mangos, put them in a blender, and whip up a mango smoothie before our very eyes. Instead, he reached into the refrigerator and pulled out a gallon jug of mango juice, and the juice into three plastic cups, with about 700 ml. in each cup. (Remember, measurements are metric in Mexico...) We sat at one of the picnic tables in front of the place, and amid lots of pleasant conversation about the beauty of semi-tropical mountains, we enjoyed the juice of the mango. No, we didn't enjoy mango "smoothies," but we did get to enjoy chilled, fresh, delicious mango juice, extracted from fruit grown in the orchard in back of the restaurant.

Photo: Julio pours our mango drinks, after removing the gallon bottle of mango juice from the refrigerator. He claimed the juice was locally grown from their trees, and I believed him, as the juice was delicious, sweet, and fresh.

After we'd drank our delicious mango juice, we asked Julio if we could take a walk in back of the place and see the mango orchard. Of course he said we could go, so we walked around the place and viewed, for the first time a real mango orchard. I'm not sure how to describe the trees, but they aren't like any trees that I've ever seen in California, or for that matter, in Kansas, Dorothy. Pictures are worth a thousand words, so I'll shut up and allow the photo to do the talking.

Photo: Rodolfo and Jerry enjoy mango drinks, in front of the sign that announces this business as Huerta de Mangos lc. Jungla, which mean something like "Jungle garden mango juice." Ok, I give up... as this business has conflicting signs...

By the way, my love of trivia compels me to translate the name of the business, Huerta la Jungla into English, for readers that are Spanish-challenged, as the name loosely translates to "Jungle Garden," which is an appropriate name for the place, as the business is located high in the semi-tropical mountain range, Sierra Madre Oriental, and the always-green vegetation can be somewhat jungle-like. Geez, it almost reminds me of my jungle days during my two tours in Viet Nam, back in the early 1970's! Geez!

Photo: The mango grove, where it all comes from. The trees are quite unremarkable, as illustrated in the photo.

Huerta la Jungla is a nice place to stop and enjoy a fresh cup of mango juice, take in the green mountain scenery, and just relax and stretch your legs.

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