This past weekend I went with the school to a fair-trade
coffee farm. It is called Nueva
Alianza and is outside of Retalhuleu, a town southwest of Xela. I’ve tried to pinpoint on the map as
close as I can. It was an
incredible weekend away from Xela, but surprisingly, I was ready to come home
to Xela by Sunday night. It amazed
me how quickly I called this home.
We left Saturday morning at 7:00 am. It was COLD!!! When my alarm went off to get up and
shower, I let out a sigh because I didn’t want to get out of bed. And that is when I saw my breath
– in my room! I tell you, it is
cold. Luckily, we were headed to
warmer climates. We drove about an
hour in a van to the area before Reta where we would head up to the coffee farm
(la finca). We had to switch to a
pick up because the van couldn’t handle the roads. So, 12 of us squeezed into the back of a small pick up! It was quite a sight. The local police in Reta will give you
a police escort to the farm and we took advantage of this free service coming
and going. They say there has been
no trouble, but then why offer free police escort?
The ride up there was unbelievably gorgeous and bumpy! But just as we were arriving, we could
see two of the main volcanoes outside of Xela—Santa Maria, which is inactive,
and Santiago, which is active.
Santiago constantly is erupting with smoke—I never saw lava. But right at 9:00 am as we were
arriving, it erupted a large plume of smoke.
We got there and settled into our rooms at the lodge and
then went for a hike. Our guide
was only 16, but had been guiding for 3 years. He is part of the community. We were treated to some gorgeous countryside as we hiked
through the mountainside, almost jungle like. We saw many interesting plants and trees, including the macadamia
tree and some coffee plants. The
hike took us back out by a road in the community and we followed it back to the
lodge. There are 362 persons in
the community and 50% are children.
There are about 50 houses in the community. I took a picture of a few of the houses. They have a general or public washing
area for clothes, pots and pans and as you’ll see from one of the pictures,
even kids.
We had lunch on the patio overlooking the valley and it was
so relaxing. After lunch we had
some down time and then we toured the coffee “plant” and they showed us how
they sort the beans, dry them, roast them, etc. It was all very interesting and they have just re-done the
plant to use some new ways to process the beans and be ecologically sound.
After the coffee tour, we had some time to relax and watch
the sunset before dinner. It was a
magnificent sunset! Then it was
dinner and we had a chance to buy some of the coffee and macadamia nuts that
they sell from the community. And
then we were given the background of Nueva Alianza by one of our tour
guides. It started as a farm owned
by a wealthy man. He, however,
never paid his employees. He owed
them over a year’s worth of wages so everyone finally left and looked for work
elsewhere. With no workers, the
farm could not operate and the man declared bankruptcy. The families got together and with the
help of a NGO, they obtained a loan to buy the land. They were able to pay it back for 4 years without interest
and then they’d have to start paying interest. This is the first year they will pay interest.
Now the community has several projects: coffee, macadamia nuts, compost that
they turn into fertilizer, bio diesel, bamboo furniture, water purification,
and an organic garden. It was such
an interesting place. There is a
small church in the community and a catholic priest comes once a month to hold
services. We toured all of the
other projects Sunday morning after breakfast. Then we took another walk through the mountainside jungles
to a waterfall. The weather was
warm and it was sunny and just a wonderful break after a week of hard
studying. I actually took one of
my Spanish textbooks with me and tried to study a little in our down time. We also got to practice our Spanish
since the tours were all in Spanish.
We had one person on the trip that was with the tour company our school
used and she did translate some.
But it still allowed you to listen and try to comprehend and then get
reinforced if what she said was what you thought you heard. And it always helps to hear as many different
speakers as you can.
After lunch on Sunday, we headed back to Xela. To my surprise when we returned, it
wasn’t as cold as it had been.
I’ve asked my mother here in Guatemala for 2 extra blankets and have
finally gotten it where I can sleep very comfortably. I just adjust how many clothes I wear to bed for how cold it
is outside. March and April are
the warmest dry months so soon I’ll be talking about how hot it is! This weekend get away was a wonderful
break and very interesting. And it
was very humbling. . . Here is a
community of people that have nothing, yet they work from sun up to sun down to
provide for their families and to try and make enough money to pay off the loan
for the farm. They worked for a
year with no pay. And still today,
they exist on a very meager lifestyle.
A generator provided the electricity at the lodge. They did have some solar panels. But it is a very poor area of what is
already a third world poor country.
It makes you stop and think about how extravagant we are in the United
States. You cannot visit somewhere
like this and not spend at least some time reflecting on your own lifestyle and
how blessed we are for even the smallest of things—creature comforts like hot
water, electricity, and food to eat.
I know I am blessed beyond anything I should ever even think or desire,
but this weekend just reaffirmed how awesome our God is to me, to us, and when
we deserve the total opposite.
Take time to count your many blessings and thank the Lord for them all!
