Zip lines are a big tourist draw here to supplement the farm and it is a nice thrill. We only went on three of the 11 available lines that this particular coffee farm offers, but it was completely worth the $9.
We drove a short distance to the next farm, which is one of the few cooperative (non-profit) coffee farms in the country, making it a very appealing place to work. Thirteen families live there permanently and work the fields by hand. The harvest season is from September through January, bringing in more workers. All of the farms offer this seasonal work to families (women and children too), but apparently many of them exploit the workers and do not pay as well as they should in order to maximize profit. Coffee used to be the main export for Guatemala, but with the big coffee boon of the 90s, Brazil jumped in and drove prices way down all around the world. So much of the land of Guatemala was converted to other crops that are less labor intensive, leaving many families without jobs. Coffee is still one of the main exports of the country, and the organic movement is creating new opportunities for farms here to prosper.
Here are some coffee beans before they’ve been processed. The red ones are the “gold” coffee. You can easily peel the skin and there’s a gooey substance surrounding the bean that tastes like honey. The green and yellow beans are the duds. The skins are tough to peel and there’s no sweet gooey goodness inside. Not to be wasted, they’re used to make your instant coffee. (By the way to my Boo and coffee-addicted friends, don’t expect me to bring gold coffee home as a gift. Since most Guatemalans can’t afford it, it’s easier to find it in the US than it is here.) At this particular farm, there are a few crude machines (built by entrepreneuring Germans in the 30s) used to separate the peels, but most of the steps here are done by hand before the beans are sold to roasting companies.
The terrain for the coffee trees is beautiful, with banana trees and another type of bean tree interspersed to provide shade for the coffee. But I can’t imagine walking through this jungle, picking beans by hand. Also, there are these little black blood-sucking bugs that will eat you alive. They’re actually not as bad as mosquitoes because they don’t make you itch, but you don’t even notice them until you see all the blood on your arms. Like this:
Those little red bites ended up covering both of my arms by the end of the day. I had a long sleeved-shirt, but it was hot out and the bites don’t really hurt, so I sucked it up. Or, let them suck it up.
After the finca, we drove a little farther and hiked close to the summit of Volcan Santiaguito, where there’s a lake for swimming. We crossed a mad river, and I wish I could’ve gotten a better picture showing our fear, but it was much scarier than the zip line. We had to build a human chain to make it across.
The lake water was tranquil and slightly cold, but we had to do it. A couple of times, we felt like we were getting nibbled on in the water, which was disconcerting, especially after that new piranha movie just came out. But we survived.
The ride home was another adventure. I’ve mentioned the crazy driving here, and I still have no idea how there aren’t more mega-accidents. With the exception of the road to Guatemala City, there are only two-lane highways here and people are willing to pass each other about anytime, regardless of a mountain curve ahead or not. Even the buses do it. I guess when everyone is crazy, no one is. Just another day in Guatemala.
No comments:
Post a Comment