Cocos Frios- A taste of the tropics

Hola! I just returned from one of the more fabulous trips I've taken in my life with a lot of new foodie experiences to chat about. I was in Mexico for a week, and I was determined not to eat tacos, burritos, quesadillas, chimichangas, or enchiladas. Instead, I ate octopus, conch filets, squid, and had ribs prepared ways I'd never seen them, but the one experience that stood out among the rest was the Cocos Frios.

I consider myself to be somewhat of a mixed drink connoisseur, which means that I've had my fair share of drinks out of coconuts. Miami vice, pina colada, strawberry daquiri, Bahama mama, and some sort of dirty monkey type thing, but none more interesting that the one I'm about to describe. I'd always thought that "coconut milk" came from the inside of coconuts, but the coconut milk we see here in stores is a mix of sugar and the meat of a coconut sieved through a cheese cloth. What comes from the inside of coconuts is actually a clear liquid called coconut water. It tastes a little bit like coconuts, a little bit like fruit, and a little bit like dirty water. It's best when served chilled, making the name Cocos Frios (cold coconuts).

We had rented a Jeep for the day to explore the other side of the island, and pulled up on a sign that said Coco Frios. One of my goals for that day was to drink out of either a coconut or a pineapple (both of which I accomplished, by the way!), so we pulled over to get our drink out of the coconut. The first thing I saw was a scary man with a machete! Ahhh.. but, he was just cutting the tops off of the coconuts so we could drink out of them :)

We pay the $3.00 for the two coconuts, and begin watching him cut into ours. He handed us ours, with a little hole on the top and a straw inserted into the opening, and we began to drink up! Right as we took our first sip, my husband looked at me and said, "I wonder if Tom Hanks on Castaway was serious about the coconut water.. he said they're a GREAT laxative." I was like oh, great.... this should be an interesting day if that's true! Here we are enjoying our first Cocos Frios foodie experience. Couldn't have picked a better background!

Anyway, the coconut water was pretty good, and very refreshing. After we finished, the "Machete Guy" cut our coconuts in half and let us eat the underdeveloped flesh inside. It was a little too slimy and gooey for me, so I didn't eat a lot, but I did try it. I've gotta say, I like the hard, sweetened coconut a lot better, but apparently that comes from very old coconuts.

To wrap up our drinking experience, after we tried the Cocos Frios we hit up Playa Bonita, where I drank a Bahama Mama from a Pineapple, and it was AWESOME.

The next stop was, funny enough, called Coconuts, where we ate lunch for the day. My husband had conch filets, and they were really interesting tasting, but I prefer to have my conch diced, chopped, and fried into Conch Fritters :) Here are the conch filets:

The squid and octopus weren't really worth writing about, but obviously everything above was. Great trip, great food, and great experiences! So, next time you guys are out, go out of your comfort zone and try something you normally wouldn't. It's fun!