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Man, the buses here look so much cooler than back home!
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Well, I've been busy. I've been trying to learn as much as I can from the folks at this beneficio. This entire experience has been nearly magical. It's not every day that you get to pick the brain of a guy that has 26 years experience tasting coffee! Today I went back to the beneficio and after shaking hands with the guy with the huge shotgun at the front gate and chatting a bit, headed to the catador's (taster's) area. Marco had quite a few lots to taste today and so we chatted while he counted out the defects and sample roasted the coffees. He explained each defect and its origin and we cupped a few of them so I would know what they were like. You can usually tell immediately just by smelling the green beans, but he went out of his way to roast some for me so I could discern the defect in taste, too. Joel then gave me a tour of the green coffee processing process as the ripe coffee cherries passed through each station. When I get back home, I'll do a proper tutorial with pictures of the process. I've got lots of cool videos, too. After taking the guys out to lunch and chatting a bit more, we headed back to the beneficio where Joel called a famous farm here in Antigua to see if it would be alright if I looked around tomorrow. After making sure that I spoke Spanish, they said it would be no problem and so I will be there bright and early tomorrow morning for my private tour. Great!
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Ripe coffee fruit ready for picking.
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So what's Antigua like? It's surrounded by volcanoes and jungle, which makes it really green and picturesque. I mentioned the colors before - they are incredible. Everything, even the buses are brightly painted with at least 30 colors. The buildings are nearly blindingly bright. The cobbled roads are clean (people come by and pick up the trash), there are motor-taxis putzing around everywhere (it's like being in a clean India!), and the people always smile and give a hearty "hola!" as you walk by. There are really old sections of the city that have been preserved - fenced off churches and buildings from hundreds of years ago still stand in a half decaying but incredibly cool state. There are nice little restaurants everywhere, with quaint little courtyards to admire while you eat. There are parks and cathedrals every few blocks with nice little benches to sit and take a break on. There are lots of white people walking around here in Antigua, too. This is THE destination in Guatemala and tons of people come here to study Spanish. I usually just zip through the town on my way to meet people so I don't notice it much.
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Volcanoes, Volcanoes, & More Volcanoes everywhere you look - Antigua is surrounded by them.
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One of the coolest aspects of developing countries is the little kids. They are just so happy and free. In developed countries, all the little kids are at home watching TV or their parents don't let them just run around like they do in countries like Guatemala (I know, I know - safety issues aside). Here you see little kids running around everywhere and loving life: kicking balls, playing tag, rolling around in the grass - all with great big smiles stretched across their faces. I love it.
So just a note: All this stuff I'm talking about with the coffee processing probably makes no sense to you. I will go into much more detail when I get back home. It will certainly make sense then. Below is the latest set of pictures. Enjoy!
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