Huehuetenango, and ruins rebuilt by the United Fruit Company

Since coming back to Guatemala in January, we haven't done a lot of traveling. This is in large part because taking the chicken bus in Guatemala can be a stressful experience (I think it's safe to say that Stacy finds it more stressful than I do), and since we're stretching a budget, paying for more expensive tourist transportation can add up pretty quickly. Also, Stacy and I aren't really on the same schedule. Sunday is really the only day off we have together, and one day isn't really enough to travel, at least not in a pleasant fashion.

But, I recently got the itch to see a bit more before we leave, and last week I decided that I had to see Huehuetenango, with or without Stacy. There are still a lot of things missing for the next time I come to Guatemala (Rio Dulce, el Quiche, Monterricco...), but Huehue seemed like a relatively easy trip. So last Friday morning I got up at 5:45, caught the 6:30 chicken bus to Cuatro Caminos, and spent the next 5 hours with my knees slammed against the back of a schoolbus seat.

Downtown Huehue.

I also had no real plan, besides the desire to see how coffee is different in Huehuetenango (my lack of planning may be a major reason for why Stacy doesn't like traveling in this country). Huehuetenango is well known in specialty coffee as one of the world's premier coffee growing regions, and is a much better-known region than Atitlan. I wanted to see a finca, but since I had no luck actually getting in touch with anyone before leaving San Pedro, I ended up just arriving in Huehue and walking into the regional office of the national coffee federation -Anacafe.

This didn't work out exactly like I wanted to, but still was a pretty cool experience. Huehuetenango isn't as much of a tourist mecca as Atitlan, so coffee growers aren't as accustomed to visitors. Also, it so happens that most of the main fincas are about 3 hours outside of the city, and since I arrived Friday, and left Saturday (kinda a blitzkrieg trip), that wasn't really an option.

Nonetheless, the Huehue staff at Anacafe were super helpful, and put me in touch with Jorge Villatoro Gomez, a partial owner of two premier fincas (Miravalle and Montecristo) and the owner of a and roasting company called Kaffa. Jorge took me out to his warehouse, we talked a bit about what separates the best coffee from the just pretty good coffee, and then we cupped two samples of new coffees at the Kaffa warehouse. I am an idiot, and only took two pictures of the whole experience, none with Jorge. Here's the cupping setup.

Moo.

Also, even though I didn't find the place until just before I left, I also stumbled into a great cafe called Cafe Museo. That's the Coffee Museum, which might be in my top 5 business names of all time.

Francisco and Margarita at the Museo.

Cafe Museo is not just a pretentious reference to decent coffee. The cafe also roasts its coffee in-house, and dedicates its wall space to info about the bean.

3 pound batches.

and posters

Besides coffee, I also saw some sites. One, the Mirador de los Cuchumatanes, was amazing. But that will have to wait for another entry, because this one is already getting too long.

The other site was, well, strange...Zacaleu is an old Mam Mayan fortress that lies outside of Huehue that fell to the Spanish conquistadores in 1524, I think. In 1949, the United Fruit Company decided to restore the ruins. I can only assume that this was a gesture meant to apologize for half a century of exploiting Guatemalan labor and destroying Mayan culture.

Problem is, United Fruit took upon their symbolic restoration with their typical respect for local customs and tradition. They rebuilt the pyramids with poured concrete.

United Fruit executive #1: "Maybe if we give something back to the Guatemalan people, the government will forget all of the terrible things we've done and won't expropriate our lands in the upcoming agrarian reform. I propose that we restore the Zacaleu ruins."

United Fruit exec. #2: "Excellent idea. Should I hire a team of archeologists to preserve the historical accuracy."

Exec. #1: "Good thought, but I think not. With modern construction techniques we can respect Mayan culture and bring Guatemala into the 21st century, all at the same time! Poured concrete, hooray!"

United Fruit also didn't really take the time to create accompanying info for the ruin site. So besides knowing that this pyramid is made of concrete, I have no idea what purpose it served.

Historically accurate steps.

United Fruit had nothing to do with these trees or the sky. And they were amazing.

Mayan ballcourt. Honestly, it was pretty cool to see this reconstructed.

Mayan ballgame, as depicted in the Zacaleu museum. Note the complete lack of captions/descriptive writing.

View from the top of the concrete pyramid. Don't quote me on this, but I can only assume that this bowl-shaped thing had something to do with human sacrifice.


Okay, also admittedly pretty cool.

One thing that United Fruit did do successfully was provide a great place for young Guatemalan couples to display their affection publicly, and for middle aged Guatemalan men to nap. I assume this has something to do with the cheap cost of entry for Guatemalan citizens (literally 1/10 of what I paid), but the ruins were literally teaming with teenagers making out and older men laying down. Not exactly what I was expecting, nor what I wanted to see, but pretty hilarious.

time for your closeup.

I'm going to try to write another post on the Cuchumatanes before we leave Guatemala, but for now, just wanted to close with a few pics from a student demonstration in central Huehuetenango.

Just to make things more badass, the lead singer from the Insane Clown Posse decided to show up and smoke a cigarrette. Totally rad.

Cupping (more underqualified instruction at FEDEPMA)

A while ago, we taught a coffee preparation (barista, sort of) course at FEDEPMA. The goal was always to follow up the black coffee and espresso training with a cupping, which is basically a wine tasting, but for coffee. Last Thursday, we finally had the chance to lead FEDEPMA's first cupping.

Even though I'm writing this entry, Stacy deserves most of the credit for the cupping, and most photos that don't include her are hers too, save for the notably bad shots. Trust me, you'll see what I mean when you get to the second pic. Also, our friend Judith deserves a big thanks for sending cupping docs and suggestions from DC...

The cupping table at FEDEPMA.

For non-geeks, cupping is a great way to learn how to describe the flavors and other characteristics of coffee, and it's particularly helpful for someone preparing coffee in a coffeeshop or selling the beans to tourists. If you can say something more about a coffee besides that it tastes good, you can have greater confidence talking to customers. So one of the thoughts behind the cupping was that it will help FEDEPMA employees speak to tourists and future customers at their cafe (still not built).

More importantly, though, cupping can serve as a means of quality control. If a farmer or head of a processing facility cups frequently, he can notice changes in the quality of his beans, and if he or she finds a defect, he can search for the cause, and try to correct it. Hopefully, Pedro and the other coffee employees at FEDEPMA will keep cupping, and it will help them grow and process better, more consistent coffee.

Anyways, this is how we did it, photo essay style:

Figuring out the process

There's more than one way to cup a coffee. Professional cuppers score coffee on a scale of 1-100, and use a very detailed form to evaluate the coffee. The FEDEPMA employees are not professional cuppers, and neither are we. This weekend marks the first time that I needed more than one hand to count the number of times I've cupped coffee.

Stacy set about making our own, simplified cupping form, that would be a bit more useful for FEDEPMA. I helped a bit with the Spanish. As with the espresso and black coffee course, figuring out the best way to translate colloquial coffee talk was at times a bit challenging.

The FEDEPMA cupping form. Why didn't I just take a screenshot? Because that would have been the smart thing to do.

We were also a bit limited by our equipment, and went about a not-at-all rigorous trial and error effort to determine appropriate procedures and the correct ratio of coffee to water, considering FEDEPMA's limited supply of cups (we opted for cappuccino mugs).

The cabaña kitchen table is also the experimentation station.

Once we figured out the procedure, and wrote some great accompanying docs for the presentation, we led the cupping at FEDEPMA. What follows are a simplified version of the steps, leaving out the table setup part. Also, you're supposed to write something down every time you smell or taste, throughout the ordeal.

Los Pasos de la catacion

1. Measure out the coffee for each sample. Somewhere in the background, start heating water. The amount of coffee should be an exact weight. Since the scales at FEDEPMA are terrible, we used two very level tablespoons of whole beans, which I guess is around 12 grams. Important thing is that it's the same every time.

Two samples per person, check.

2. Grind those beans. Then smell them.

Ready for sniffing.

3. The water should be boiling by now. Take it off the stove, let it cool for 30 seconds, then slowly pour it into the cups, in the same order you ground the coffee. Then smell the coffee again.

Echando agua.

Wearing Ted King t-shirts makes you feel like a faster cyclist, fact. Even if that feeling is depressingly far from the truth...

Get in there.

Falling asleep in this position is not recommended.

4. A crust of wet coffee grounds will form on the top of the cup. After 3-4 min, break it with your spoon, pushing the grounds towards the bottom of the cup. Keep your nose close, smell the break.

Doña Loida has respecfully asked that you refer to her as Loida "THE CRUSTBREAKER" Margarita from this point forth.

5. Clean the excess grounds from the top of the cup. Two spoons work well for this.

Clean, I guess.

6. Taste the coffee. Don't take a sip from the cup - there are a lot of grounds at the bottom. Grab a spoonful, and slurp. Do this several times. Ponder the coffee's taste, aftertaste, brightness, and body.

La encargada del taller de catacion.

Juan tastes melon. Seriously, Juan couldn't stop talking about how the coffee tasted like melons.

Tasting, taking notes, keeping track of international coffee prices via text message. Pedro demonstrates proper multitasking technique.

The cup is for spitting.

7. Discuss. Compare your notes. You weren't supposed to be talking during the cupping, so now's your chance to share your observations. This is a great time to practice sounding like a pretentious coffee snob.

Comparing apuntes, and staring off into the distance. Lunch looms on the horizon.

The crustbreaker ponders. I think Pedro's making fun of her or me, but since he's speaking Tzutujil, I really have no clue.

Otto may be Guatemalan, but he gesticulates like an Italian.

somebody made a funny.

lots of adjectives.

Anyways, that's cupping at FEDEPMA. This week we're teaching the coffee prep course again. Today, while trying to figure out a way to heat up the water (kitchen space was occupied), we had two small gas leaks before finally settling on this:

Seriously, if that doesn't qualify as the most bushleague setup you've ever seen, please do share.

cositas y gracias

Rise and shine, it’s cherry-pickin’ time! School here has been out of session for a little over a month now. But for many Pedrano families, this three-month vacation falls in line with the coffee harvest. Years ago, all the children were sent to the family campo to pick coffee cherries. I’ve spoken to locals (in reality, most parents here are more or less my age) about their childhood days in the coffee fields. Picking the plump red fruit from the tree was a job for the whole family. With a plastic basket or bag strapped around their waist, the workers scan each tree for the brightest red, the ripest berry and pluck it into the basket. (Hopefully Kevin and I will get to visit a campo and pick some coffee berries soon.)

Today, there are less children doing this work, but many families in San Pedro still have small plots of coffee trees to tend to this season. There is an old, abandoned coffee finca at the end of our road, hence the road is called Calle Finca. Kevin and I walked out there yesterday and passed through some small huts still occupied by a few families. The finca facilities seem to be in good shape, but are not in use anymore. At the very end of the road, there is a footpath that leads down to the lake- Playa Finca. There were a few families enjoying a Sunday picnic (as well as bathing and washing their clothes- the lake is so useful, ha), so we decided not to swim here. But there was a newly constructed dock and a little visible sand/dirt; which is hard to come by in town because the lake has risen so much and is continuing to wash away the earth.

We went to the oldest town on the lake last Saturday, Santiago Atitlan. It was a very interesting place, very traditional and quite spread out. We forgot to bring a guide book (or even look one over before we left, so we probably missed something) but the trip was fairly productive. Kevin got his hair cut for Q10 ($1.25!!!!) and I got to talk to a yoga instructor about a teacher certification program and his experience living on a sustainable farm at the base of the volcano.

Last week, I had some terrible allergies (first time in months!) and today I’m feeling much better. The wind has finally died down, and the weather is beautiful! The sun is strong and warm, but under the shade of a tree the air is refreshing and cool. What disparity from the autumn chill at home, eh?

Kevin and I have been thinking a lot about Thanksgiving this week. We are really going to miss our holiday family time, and we’ve enjoyed sharing our Thanksgiving traditions with each other. Unfortunately, it is unlikely that we’ll be creating any of our own here, as we have no access to the typical Thanksgiving staples. In fact, we don’t really have anything planned for Thursday, although Kevin is determined to make mashed potatoes (yessss!). We’ll have to get pretty creative :) and we’ll try to document the experience, of course.

Then on Friday, we’re heading off to Copan, Honduras. I must renew my passport before November 30, and rather than go to the city and pay for another stamp, we’re going to take a short vacation so I can be outside the country for 24 hours. We’re looking forward to seeing the Mayan ruins of Copan, but not too excited for the actual trip. Getting here and there in this country is never easy. It will likely be a ten-hour drive, and we have to stop in Antigua and switch shuttle companies. Then once we get to the border, we will probably have to pay exit and entrance fees (although there is a Central American Four agreement, which implies that tourists pass FREELY between Guatemala, Honduras, Belize and El Salvador) because all the government officers are corrupt and bored. Thus is life here.

Please enjoy some turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie and vino for us on Thursday! Finally, some things I’m thankful for:

-health! The fresh food I’m eating and daily yoga and meditation I’m doing here have given me a new perspective on feeling healthy.

-friends and family! Always you are in my thoughts and I’m sending health and happiness to you this week

-Guatemalan generosity! For the wonderful people and the abundant land and nature here, I am thankful to be a part of it.

-opportunity! I have been so fortunate this year; being in the right place at the right time and meeting the right people. I am so grateful for the opportunities that have been presented to me and hope that I can keep the positive karma flowing.

-Kevin: I am thankful and so lucky to be here with you- te amo.

ps: feliz cumpleaños nana! wishing you a wonderful day! besos y abrazos!

Coffee Fest and Guate the city

Reggaeton performance at CoffeeFest. Too much of it everywhere.

So, Guatemala City. Not exactly my cup of tea. But I was there for CoffeeFest. Get it?

I’m tired, so the only jokes that come might be really terrible.

Seriously though, I’ve lived in Lima, and I expected all of the noise, dirtiness, and chaos that I actually sort-of came to like in Peru. Guate has that, for sure, plus Lima’s love for reggaeton, which I could not and cannot come to appreciate, and then bastardizes it with some strange perversion of the American dream centered around two of my least favorite aspects of Amuhrica: malls and chain fast-food restaurants with supersized parking lots. With reggaeton. From walking through Zona 10 (the Zona Viva in Guate), I gathered it’s the collective Guatemala city dream to own a store in a mall, take your girlfriend on a date in a different mall that’s 4 blocks away, then dance to reggaeton on Calle 15, Zona 10. If David Byrne ever decided to make a sequel to True Stories, and felt like replacing all the awesome Talking Heads songs with Daddy Yankee, this must be the place.

Obviously I’m going to complain a lot in this entry (I couldn’t even avoid being gringo-ripped off for cab fares in Guate, which pissed me off to no end, since I take a bit of pride in bargaining skillz), so I’ll say that all in all, going to Guate for FEDEPMA was an overall positive and at times interesting, if often frustrating, experience.

After getting into the city on the chicken bus and making my way to a hostel near the airport (it’s pretty tough to find dirt cheap and safe options in Guate – many thanks to Stacy for helping me find the first night’s room over the phone since her guide book is way better than mine), I made it to CoffeeFest, albeit a bit later than I had hoped.

CoffeeFests are held in the US, and presumably in other parts of the world, and in Guate, it was held at the office of AnaCafé, the national coffee association. The fest, in addition to a strange exhibition area that really had very little to do with coffee, consisted of the national barista competition, a cooking competition utilizing coffee as an Iron Chef-like central ingredient, and the national cupping competition.

Cupping is a formalized way of tasting and comparing different coffees, and this competition was essentially a way for coffee geeks to battle it out to see who had the most refined palate and most highfalutin vocabulary for describing the variety of berry their coffee most closely resembles. I love coffee, and I do appreciate that cupping is important in the world of gourmet coffee, but I really don’t get the point of competing for the title of ultimate cupper. If you’re going to overcompensate, I figure there are way more interesting and more masculine ways than wearing a medal around your neck that essentially says “I have great taste buds, I´m so awesome.”

Anyways, I had the chance to not pay attention to the cupping and instead watch some baristas, including our friends Gersón and Nery from Fat Cat Coffee in Antigua, compete for the chance to go to Colombia for World Barista Championships. Also somewhat geeky, but whatever. The baristas had to prepare 4 espressos, 4 cappuccinos, and a signature drink in 15 minutes…don’t feel like explaining this anymore. Nery and Gersón unfortunately didn’t do as well as they would have hoped, so they didn’t make it to the finals.

Gersón pouring for the judges.

It was a good chance to hand out some samples of our coffee and talk with some of Guatemala’s best baristas and the judges, who will hopefully provide a bit of feedback on the beans, even if they’re not interested in buying any. The Belgian judge was as unwelcoming as a hard cobblestone on a low-spoke count wheel, but other than that they were good people who seemed genuinely interested in FEDEPMA, or at least acted like it. Gersón and Nery and their friend Frosty (he’s pretty pale by Guatemalan standards, and apparently used to be chubby) were great as always, and it was awesome to talk to Percy Ramírez and Charles Babinski from Intelligentsia. Doubtful our product quite reaches Intelli standards, and they already have direct trade agreements with at least 2 fincas in the country, but good contacts nonetheless.

And really, Guatemala City isn’t all that bad. Saturday happened to be the lighting of a huge fake Christmas tree sponsored by Gallo, the national cerveza. It was basically a giant street fair, and it probably was a good thing I wasn’t with Stacy, since I took full advantage of the opportunity to indulge in some highly questionable street food. Plus, before the Christmas tunes and Guatemalan Rockettes started (cue me leaving), there was a live performance by Malacates, the first semi-decent Guatemalan pop group I’ve heard since getting here. Emphasis on the semi, but definitely listenable, so a small victory I guess. For that night I switched to a hotel in Zona 1, which although a bit more dangerous than Zona 13, is also in the heart of the city rather than right near the airport, so I felt a bit less imprisoned by isolation, and had a good starting point for early market breakfast and shopping for a few necessities on Sunday morning.

And Frosty gave me a few pointers for places to check out. For one, he works at Bajo Fondo Funk, a great bar in the Zona Viva with a vibe somewhere between Black Cat Red Room and the Red Derby, owned by a musician in a funk band called Entre Todos. And Café Injerto, the café of Finca Injerto, an organic coffee farm in Huehuetenango that has won both Guatemalan and world Cup of Excellence awards. If you’re a coffee geek, their café in the city has 5 different ways of doing black coffee, including siphon. Pretty awesome.

Anyways, made it back to San Pedro on Sunday. There wasn’t a direct chicken bus, so I had to take a chicken bus part way, then two different microbuses (think minivans crammed with about 15 people, or if you’ve been to Lima, the combi. Not the least stressful trip home, but here it never is…hasta luego.