We started out with a tour of a coffee production plant. Though the coffee wasn't in season, we were able to walk the process that a coffee bean takes from the time it is a red "grape" through its various phases of shedding pulp and parchment, through drying and roasting. It is a very complex procedure and very labor intensive. I was most taken by the long rows of women at tables full of beans, sorting through for imperfections. Every so often, the conveyor belt which carried the beans around the tables would move and the women would start with a new pile of beans. It was very loud!
After the factory tour, we were able to go to a coffee plantation that has been in a family for four generations. The current generation is very savvy about the ups and downs of farming, and diversify some with cacao production, but mostly with tourism, agro-tourism and adventure tourism. While we were there, some of our group rode horses, and some hiked the plantation. We learned the life cycle of a coffee bush/tree. It should produce for about thirty years, though some producing plants on their land are as old as 80-100 years. By the time a plant is nearing 30 years, it should have a young plant growing next to it, to benefit from the shade of the older plant and to take over when the old plant is worn out. (I think there's a sermon there somewhere, but I'll let it go for now.) The plantation was at just about a mile high, 5400ish feet.
In the afternoon, our host, Gabriella, took those who wished for a hike through a pouring rain storm to see some most amazing waterfalls. They weren't easy to get to, and it was all uphill to get back to the group, but it was certainly worth it.
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