Coffee Time

An early morning with early breakfast so that we could go with our tour leader on a morning hike on a trail around the property on which we are staying. We feared that the trail would be muddy after yesterday's shower, and it was in a couple of low spots, but generally we kept our feet dry.

We walked through forests of both endemic and Asian invasive bamboo, and learned about features of each. It was a beautiful morning for a walk. Only two other group members joined us.

After hiking, we gathered our gear and got on the bus for a drive to Montenegro. Not the country (we were there last spring), but to a town of that name. We had some time to walk around the town square on our own. Then our tour leader bought us coffee in a local coffeeshop.

The place was packed with locals -- all men. The coffee was pretty bad. Our leader explained that Colombia is the second or third largest coffee producer in the world, but coffee consumption per capita is quite low here. That's because the best coffee is exported, and only the poor quality coffee is local.

After that cultural experience, we walked across the square once again and boarded Willy's Jeeps, dating to the 1950s, which have been tricked out as transportation. Each Jeep was plenty full with four of us riding in each, but the locals typically pack 20 or more people -- standing room only -- onto a Jeep.

The Jeeps took us over some very rough roads to a small coffee plantation owned by Jesús Martín. This man is rather famous for trying to get Colombians to buy and drink high quality coffee. We went into his fields with him to learn more about the coffee process.

Coffee is so labor-intensive that he only has about 30 acres under cultivation, and at any given time at least 20% of that land is out of production due to a five year rotation schedule. Beans are picked entirely by hand. 

Traditionally, pickers were paid by the pound of beans they picked. But this caused many beans to be picked before they were properly ripe, or after they had become diseased. One of his innovations is paying a daily wage and stressing to pickers that he wants only beans that are the highest quality to be picked.

After learning about coffee in the field, we saw how beans are sorted, shelled, and dried. There are three different processes for this, depending on the type of roast that will ultimately be done. The dried beans are then bagged and sent to be roasted (we'll see that tomorrow).

The coffee farmers and their half-dozen full time employees (more are hired in picking season) then served us a traditional farm lunch. There was an excellent soup, choice of meats, rice, potatoes, plantains, and salad. Nothing fancy, but a very good meal. Following goodbyes, we were back on the Jeeps.

Back at our eco-lodge, we had about an hour to unwind. Then there were options. About half the group accompanied our tour leader on the same hike we had down in the morning. Mary opted to make the hike a second time.

Two of us in the group, however, opted to take advantage of the lodge's zip-line course. Two young men from the lodge staff took us across the seven lines. It was a nice course! And the cost was only about $8 U.S., which is quite a bargain (but we tipped the two young men generously, as well).

The only other adventurous person to be my zip-line partner was Randee, an Indiana native just a few years younger than I am, who now lives in Arizona with her husband. Neither of our spouses could be persuaded to join us.

After zipping in the hot sun, we retired to the patio outside our rooms for a cold drink. A couple of other group members, who had opted for neither hiking nor zipping, were already there. Soon the hikers returned and joined us, and in no time at all our entire group was gathered for lively conversation. We have a very good group of travelers this time.

The evening meal at the lodge was once again quite good. But after such a full day, we were all ready to retire early after dinner.