Guatemala - Day 2

Hola amigos, the second day in Guatemala was much better. We weren't suffering from sleep deprivation so bad. Today was interesting.

We visited the Comite Campesino de Altiplano. This is a fair trade coffee cooperation near the Cerro de Oro (Gold Mountain). In order to reach this area, we had to take an hour and a half boat ride, and then a half hour truck ride (oh yeah, standing up in back holding on to a bar - just like the locals!)

At this Comite, Guatemalans are able to bring their coffee beans, and be paid a fairer price than they would be paid at other farms/fincas for their labor. We were shown how they clean, seperate good/bad beans, and how they are husked and laid out to try. Interestingly, they are able to practice water conservation and other measures - for example, they use only 10% of the water used in other similar methods.

As part of our service learning - we assisted in the seperation of bad beans that are laid out to dry. This part is very labor intensive. After seeing the entire process of how coffee beans reach the market, it is amazing how cheap the end product is.

In order to keep to our schedule, we had to leave in order to reach our next destination - Quixaya. Here we toured a village still devasted from Hurricane Stan two years ago. Most of these people are living in inhumane living conditions; as most people are in threshold countries. It just illustrates the unequal distribution of wealth globally.

I was happy to hear about some Canadian University students who have committed themselves to helping rebuild two hundred of these homes. In fact, this week, a group of Canadians are coming to rebuild a school for this village. We love if we could've heard about that sooner.

A little bit about the city we are staying in - Panajachel. I love this place, and could easily come back. To the locals, it is called "Gringotenango" - tenango means 'the place of' - so, it is the place of gringos. However, after some close observations - I would name this place Hippietenango. Very laid back, very beautiful - lots of hippies. :)