by Ugo

First we started off the day with a traditional Guatemalan breakfast, and beans had a lot to do with it. Beef Tamales, lots of fruits, cookies and coffee. The coffee was from our hosts’ farm. We also had fresh cream and goat cheese made at the farm. We also had chicharones, and tostadas, which everyone favored. Not to mention the juices we had were fresh and healthy.

After breakfast we all went to the Meneses family farm to look at how the coffee beans are grown. We even tried some of the uncooked sweet coffee beans. They explained how they grow their coffee. Their farm was so big I thought we were lost.

Later we went over to Santi’s little brother Esteban’s school for a Revolution Festival. I think we can all say we enjoyed ourselves.

Finally, at night we drove about 30 minutes to the coffee mill where they sorted their coffee beans, and the workers explained how the coffee arrived late at night and was made throughout the night and next morning. We were lucky we got to see how the coffee was made because not many people are allowed to go see the coffee without permission.

After that we drove back to the Meneses’s home and gathered around the bonfire, roasted sausages and marshmallows, and talked about the day.

If I had to highlight my favorite part of the day it would be going at night to see when the coffee came and how it was made. I now look at coffee in a different way. I appreciate it more. Instead of my first opinion on coffee being an everyday, easy-to-make hot drink, I realized just to make one cup of coffee requires a lot of effort.