Archive for January, 2005

A little bit of history…

This is going to be really spiffy. Green Mountain Coffee Roasters’ Foundation is now a major contributor to the effort to rehab and refit the train station that I see out my office window. When completed, it will house a new …

Finca Dos Marias

Dos Marias, a family estate founded in 1870, is a two hour journey up a twisty, treacherous track, above the San Marcos village of Coatepeque.On the shoulders of a volcanic mountain range …

A Brief Interlude

I’m still sorting through photos from the next leg of my Guatemalan adventure… a visit to the cloudforest coffee growing region of San Marcos. Meanwhile, here’s a couple snapshots I really like…

A Fair Trade Success Story

La Voz, on the shore of lake Atitlan, feels a world apart from the colonial-style finca of Pastores near Antigua. La Voz is a Fair Trade cooperative. It’s owned by its members, and their pride is very much evident.The people of La Voz had a hard time …

Little charmers…

Moments after seeing my camera, these little girls ran up with empty baskets and charmed the men working the wash-station to filling them with coffee cherries so they could pose. Too cute!

Solid State Depulper

How’s this for a depulper? Throw a stream of water and coffee cherries at a wall of evil-looking rocks and let them tumble round till the pulp and skins separate. Fiendishly clever, cheap, and nothing to …