Hay un lugar que se llama La Florida...

It does hurt to try! It hurt alot the next day and the day after that too. But we can climb when I get back for sure, mom.

Coffee for everyone pretty much, and being that I was at a coffee finca for the past five days, Ive learned alot about it.

Well, you can go to Las Vegas, Honduras...that might count?

hahah, there are four of them...and they all kind of have similar features. I guess Im Gandalf then...older and wiser ;)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I dont have much time to write, and I have a feeling that the constant updates are going to slow down substantially now that Im on the move. Neither would I be able to afford the time here at the internet cafe it would take me to describe the past week.

Once and for all, the Quetzaltrekkers opportunity is closed. Its more like Quetzalnever! The guys who were planning to leave in mid-december have opted to stay for another 6 months which means that the next opening would not be until mid january. I need to be back in the states by march and the 3 month committment would not allow me to do that, not to mention the aversion I have built up to working with the group after such a disorganized 2 weeks.

Anyways, I finally left Xela on tuesday with the guys from Casa Argentina and headed to La Florida. Its a small coffee farming community some 2 hours north-west of Xela that has an eco-tourism project for volunteers. For 50Q/night (30Q for meals, 20Q towards the loan) you stay in the former owners house and help the community harvest/tend/process coffee, eat 3 meals a day with one of the families in the community, and have the liberty to start on any othert project you feel would help them out. They are a group of farmers that squatted on a 10 year old abandoned farm for 2 years before negotiations with the bank/government allowed them to take out a loan to buy the property. They are 2 years into a 5 year loan after which they will finally be able to own the land. A description of the journey there will put in perspective the remoteness of this community. We took a bus from Xela to Colomba, about an hour and half. There we were met by Esteban, one of the members of the community, and took a minivan another hour onto a cobblestone path winding throught the forest and into the middle of nowhere. At a fork in the road, we were dropped off where a sign read "La Florida Comunidad Agraria" (La Florida, Agrarian Community). From there it was a 45 minute trek along narrow trails through forest, across streams, and down a mountain-side to the finca.

The first full day I went with one of the women and her daughter to pick coffee from the trees. The natural beauty is wonderful, but the work in hard and by the end of the day I was mad tired. The community is without electricity because a month ago the generator broke and it costs too much to have it fixed, so they are waiting either for a volunteer who has some electrical knowledge or until they have enough money to have it fixed by a local. So I ate with my family sumptious meals, read in the candlelight, and played with the kids. Over the course of the week I dried coffee on the patio, picked cacao fruits and made chocolate, suffered over 100 insect bites (literally), picked black beans, learned to make tortillas, worked in an apiary (bees), and took two showers!

My family asked me to write a song...in spanish. The title is the first line of the song ;)

So Im back in Xela briefly en route to Lago Atitlan. Here are some pictures from the week.
Keep it fresh...like the honey from the bees

- Neil