The Lago Atitlan area has a lot of coffee production. The plants even seem to grow like weeds on the roadsides and in ravines. I got a bit lost (remember "lost trail Lori?!") coming down from the San Marcos sacred hill a different way than I went up. Turned out alright, as usual, cuz I came across a little coffee plantation growing at the base of the hill on either side of a little creek.
The creek, unfortunately, had all sorts of plastic garbage within and along it. There's definitely been a disconnection of the ancient values of reverence for nature from the local people, despite the fact that they still hold to some traditions like dressing in traditional clothing and making GMO-free corn tortillas by hand over open fires. I suspect all the eco-friendly buildings and the recycling centre are new features for the town, put in by the foreigners who now call this place home.
Still, it was neat to see so many coffee plants close-up, and I saw a little nursery, too. I came across other places in San Pedro where the beans were laid out to dry on big tarps and places where the dried beans were piled up waiting to be bagged and trucked out.
There are different grades of coffee depending on how much of the outer husk is taken off. The Guatemalans get stuck with the cheapest grade, which means the outer husks are not removed when the beans are ground for coffee. This translates, apparently, into a more diluted taste than those beans that have had the extra processing of the husk removal. Even in the drying beds you could see the separated beans -- those for domestic use and those for export.
The father of my homestay family worked at harvesting coffee 6 days per week, and his sons have been joining him most days, since they're on school holidays right now. The boys have been helping harvest coffee every year since they were only about 7 years old.
