Quetzales, Coffee, and Carpentry!

Today was the first full day on Los Andes. After breakfast and a short introduction to the reserve and the plantation, we took a hike around the northern part of the reserve on the slopes of the volcano. Our tour guide, Jesus, took us on a search for a Quetzal, the national bird of Guatemala. The bird is an endangered species of the area and also is the name of Guatemalan currency. We had several close encounters and even heard its call but unfortunately it remained hidden. According to Jesus, the best time to spot the Quetzal is during March and April when the babies are being hatched. Although it was pleasantly warm outside, we were shaded by the tall trees that inhabited the forest around us. When we finished our hike/tour of the reserve, we took a dangerously bumpy ride on the bed of a truck back to the central part of the reserve. Most of us immediately jumped into the icily refreshing pool to cool off. Many of us did leisurely activities, like badminton, hammock laying, and reading before lunch. Olga and her father then showed us how coffee is processed before export. We saw the fermenting, drying, and packaging processes. Some of us even got to take part in those processes. For instance, Brookes got to dump a wheel barrel full of dried coffee down a chute for further drying and packaging. About six others in the group got the chance to rake the drying beds. In order to keep an uniform consistency, the beans were raked every few hours. We were next introduced to the five carpenters in the community we were going to be working with on the project. Many of the carpenters have graduated their primary school and are ready to further their education. They have been working hard for the past two weeks to prepare the materials and plans for the project we are going to assisting them with. Our project is building a play ground which will be used for about 30 small children of families on the reserve. This will provide activities and a place where the kids will be watched while their families are working on the plantation during the day. We will be constructing a fence, reinforcing a roof and adding a slide and swing set. We were divided into 5 groups with one of the carpenters as the leader. We then spent some time getting to know our respective carpenters before we made our way back to the house. Before dinner we spent time playing badminton, ping pong and refreshing our Spanish! We realized that communicating with our carpenters would certainly present a challenge. After a filling dinner, we spent quite a while reflecting on our thoughts about what the coming week would bring. We look forward to working with and getting to know the carpenters and community of Los Andes on a more intimate level.
From-
Brookes and Emily