Today is our last full day in Guatemala, and we're spending it hiking an active volcano. Yes, that's right, 19 GSB-ers are headed up the mountain to play with fiery hot lava. You'd never get to do this in the States.

Most of us made the trek up on foot, but we had a few people who opted to take ponies up to reduce leg strain. At each rest stop on the way up, other pony handlers would call out temptingly to us "taxi?" I'm sure they do great business that way!

When we got to the top of the volcano, we could see lava oozing out, and we just kept getting closer and closer, until it seemed like our skin would burn off from the sheer heat. We toasted our sandwiches for lunch and had roasted marshmallows for dessert, all from the heat of the lava. A few people's shoes got suspiciously hot, prompting a mass retreat before the rubber began to ooze down the hill along with the lava.

The hike down went quickly, and after a little bit of down time at the hotel, we gathered for our final debrief of the trip. Everyone shared their key insights, and it was remarkable how many people had come away with similar conclusions, although we had not all discussed them with each other. It was a really nice synthesis of the experiences we'd had over the past week, and what we'd like to take from those experiences as we continued to consider the supply chain and the issues faced by the social entrepreneurs we had met.

The next morning it would be time to depart to head back to the States, but we had one last group dinner at the Casa Santo Domingo hotel, one of the nicest in Antigua. We got a chance to say goodbye to our guides, give them some gifts in appreciation, and enjoy each others' company before we headed back to our regular lives. It's been an amazing trip, we've certainly learned a lot, and have lots of questions still to answer once we're back at home.

Today was day 2 of 2 with Starbucks and their colleagues from Cafcom. This morning we visited a dry mill that processes coffee from the parchment phase through to when it's ready to be roasted. The general process of milling coffee is as follows:

1. Coffee cherries are picked
2. The red cherries are passed through a wet mill, where the outer coating is removed and discarded
3. The inner bean and a thin covering of "parchment" or pergamino are fermented for 18-24 hours
4. When ready, the coffee is spread out to dry on a concrete patio
5. Once the coffee is dry (5-10 days depending on weather), it is taken to a dry mill where the parchment covering is removed, the beans are sorted, and bagged for shipment to roasters in the consuming countries

As part of our tour, we got a little more information on Starbucks' CAFE practices program. This program is Starbucks' way of trying to ensure stability and sustainability in the supply chain, and involves the provision of educational and healthcare programs, minimum payments per pound of coffee to producers, and other socially responsible actions. Although we greeted the efficacy of the program with a healthy skepticism, we came away with the general conclusion that given that Starbucks is a corporation, it's surprising that they are even doing this much, and that they certainly can't be expected to do more unless it's somehow in their interest (as much as we'd like to see otherwise, for farmer welfare, etc).

After the CAFE practices presentation, we got a tour of the mill, where we saw more bags of coffee than we could have imagined! They used forklifts to pile it high to the 75 meter ceiling, which made the amount of coffee they were dealing with totally mindboggling. Our tour culminated in another cupping ceremony, where we had a chance to sniff and taste coffees from a variety of different quality levels. At the end of the morning, as we left, we received another gift pound of coffee. I think the group average for pounds of coffee acquired while on this trip is hovering around 5 lbs per person at this point...

In the afternoon, over lunch, we met with Probigua's founder Rigoberto Zamora. Probigua is a dual purpose school: it teaches Spanish to tourists, and uses the proceeds to fund library construction and school fees for poorer Guatemalans. Rigoberto is the son of coffee farmers, but when he was young he got the opportunity to study for longer than the normal few years, and decided to start the school and library project to help others like himself.

Dinner tonight was on our own, so people split off into somewhat smaller groups, with some pursuing fine food, others live music, and others a quiet evening to themselves.

Day one with Starbucks

Today was our first day with Starbucks. Starbucks was nice enough to fly down two people from Costa Rica: an expert on CAFÉ practices and their chief agronomist. They also brought in representatives from Cafcom, Guatemala’s 3^rd largest coffee exporter. Over the course of the day, we were pretty impressed with their openness and willingness to answer questions. Obviously, CAFÉ practices are a work in progress. The CAFÉ model is much different from what we’ve seen on Santa Anita and La Voz.

We visited two fincas (plantations) just outside of Antigua, called Finca San Sebastian and Finca Candelaria. Finca San Sebastian is 2,500 hectares and employs alsmots 200 workers (only 200 of whom are permanent). Of the 2,500 hectares, over 1500 are set aside for conservation. We’re not exactly sure what this means. Big game hunting? Hiking and camping? No farming? The farm has been family owned for four generations. There are several farms, right niext door in fact. Owned by brothers and cousins. The owner of San Sebastian is the head of the family and was there all day to guide us around the farm.

After seeing this plantation, it’s obvious that small scale producers are at a huge advantage. The coffee plants here look extremely healthy and are covered in coffee cherries. We had extensive talks with the agronomists about the difference in fertilizers, cycles, and irrigation systems. There were several experiments going on at any one time to get the highest yield out of the plants. Though not organic, all the coffee we saw today was shade grown (though some pplants had more shade on them then others, if you know what I mean). I can’t imagine that the 40 families at Santa Anita know this much about their coffee plants. This really causes me to question whether having the small producers go organic is the right thing to do. It’s more expensive and it puts them at a huge disadvantage to the large scale producers. On the other hand, it gives them access to a specialized market and premium prices.

We watched a video on San Sebastian. They obviously take environmental and social responsibility seriously, at least on the video. One interesting point from the video: no contracts with workers! We found out that the judicial system isn’t strong enough here to enforce contracts. Neither the buyers nor the producers like this. The video sort of spun it: everyone dislikes contracts because they’re just pieces of paper. Verbal contracts are, they say, stronger. Nice try. But, I guess you have to deal with the cards you’re given.

Tomorrow, more Starbucks!

Wednesday, January 2, 2008

After spending the whole New Year's holiday relaxing and traveling back from Lake Atitlan to Antigua, it was back to business on Wednesday with a day of physical labor.

After our meeting with Technoserve adjourned, we hopped in our vans and jostled over the cobblestone streets to the outskirts of Antigua and Ciudad Vieja (that's right, the "old city") for our visit with As Green as it Gets where we planned to really capitalize the "service" in our "Service Learning Trip."

As Green As It Gets is a non-profit organization dedicated to supporting a group of small, independent producers and artisans in Guatemala. It is largely run by a single person, Franklin Voorhes, out of his house in Ciudad Vieja. The organization provides access to credit (through microloans), marketing, roasting, exporting, and distribution to affiliated individual farmers in the Antigua region. The goal is to help them capture greater value from their coffee than what they might get if they sold it to coyotes or directly to larger farms for processing. The farmers receive the entire retail price of the coffee less the costs of production and distribution. This is on the order of double to triple the fair-trade price for green coffee.

Franklin gave us a brief overview of the organization when we arrived, but there was work to be done, so the group split up into teams to tackle our project - the extension of a concrete patio, which would be used to dry the local farmers' coffee (and as a soccer pitch for the local kids).

A handful of our group set to work on building a cinder block-and-mortar retaining wall for the cement patio. The rest of us began the task of hauling, mixing, dumping, and smoothing concrete onto an section of patio that was leveled out and ready for its concrete finish.

It was an entertaining morning that involved hauling 96-pound bags of dry cement mix, filling wheelbarrows full of rocks and sand, dumping it all in a pile in the correct proportions, pouring buckets of water on top, and mixing it all together with with hoes and shovels. By the end, we had a far greater appreciation for the work that a cement truck does. In Guatemala, though, as Franklin pointed out to us, labor is cheaper than gasoline.

After quite a bit of grunting, sweating, swearing, and cement-splattering, we poured and smoothed the first half of the section of patio, and we took a lunch break. (I would be remiss to point out that throughout the day we had considerable help from the As Green As It Gets farmers whose patio it would be. They instructed us at every step of the way.)

Over a delicious homemade lunch (which may have been our best in Guatemala), we chatted with Franklin about his operation and what else we had seen of the coffee industry in Guatemala.

After lunch, we split up into two groups. Each of the groups got a small tour of a couple of the producers' homes and some of the coffee operations, while the other worked on finishing the patio. On the tour we experienced a more basic way of preparing coffee--roasting it over an open flame and grinding it over a stone block with a stone rolling pin. Filiberto and his wife Thelma welcomed us into their home and we were served a tasty cup of coffee that had been prepared this way. Then we proceeded to see most aspects of the As Green As It Gets coffee operation -- the pulper (a stationary bike attached to a contraption that took the red husk off the coffee cherries, the dry mill (a small machine that whined like a snowblower and took the parchment off the coffee beans), and the small roasting operation.

In what was maybe the most interesting moment of the day, we got to see a great entrepreneurial business that had grown as a complement to the coffee operations (and with the help of As Green As It Gets microloans). Daniel Gonzalez's daughter Angelica had started a business selling stylish tote bags made from the burlap sacks used for transporting coffee beans, and after impressive sales of the bags in Antigua shops and online, she had established an impressive sewing operation on a patio in the backyard of her family's home.

After the finishing the tour and completing the patio, we said goodbye and headed back in our vans to Antigua. Unfortunately, before most of our group could shower and wash off the layer of grime and cement we had accumulated from our work, the power in Antigua went out. A freak winter storm had blown into the area and kicked up the winds, which apparently blew down power lines somewhere.

Even the power outage had its silver lining, though. We had a particularly cozy meeting tonight over candlelight and a glass of wine to talk about the day's highlights and our insights from the trip thus far.

Technoserve

Well, it’s nice to back in Antigua. So, I woke up early this morning to look over some information on Technoserve. A nice man tapped me on the shoulder as I was sitting on the couch and asked, “Are you interested in Technoserve? I work for Technoserve!” Such was my introduction to Dr. Lionel Lopez, the country director for Technoserve Guatemala.

For anyone who doesn’t know, Technoserve is one of the world’s most admired NGO’s. They’re consistently recognized for developing innovative and effective solutions to poverty. I had visited their offices in Kenya and was excited to hear how their operations differed in Guatemala. So, after removing a few pictures from the wall, scavenging for chairs, and a couple cups of coffee (of course!), we were ready to go.

Dr.Lopez worked for McKinsey for over 20 years, so the language and method of describing Technoserve’s operations sounded like something we might hear in strategy class. They are focusing on two main areas: business plan competitions and developing bio-fuel production. This was surprising, since Technoserve had a lot of experience in the coffee industry in Tanzania (and Kenya, I think). Why weren’t they doing anything with coffee in Guatemala? It seems like a good choice, given the general unattractiveness of the coffee industry.

The biofuel project seems extremely interesting. Theya re helping producers to grow and cultivate jatropha plants, which can be used to make biofuel. My understanding is that there is no demand for biofuel from jatropha plants in Guatemala at the present, nor does there exist the capability to process the plants into biofuel, but Technoserve is hoping it can develop the industry. Very ambitious!

Dr. Lopez’ story is interesting. He has spent his entire career outside of Guatemala – mostly in Europe. He could be off making the big bucks, but instead he’s contributing his talents to building his country. I’m really impressed that he would give up so much to contribute. It’s this type of big-hairy goal and vision that is going to get Guatemala’s going. Very exciting!

Today was a lazy day, after the celebration of last night. Everyone slowly rolled out of bed and either into a hammock or onto the boat dock for some sunbathing. Around 12:30 we packed up, bit the Ecohotel goodbye, and headed back to Panajachel and then to Antigua, where we would stay for the rest of the trip.

It was mostly a travel day, with a lovely dinner at Las Antorchas. We were joined by a GSB alum who is working and living in Guatemala with her husband, which was a nice surprise. After we headed back to the hotel (which we are glad to be staying in for more than one night!), someone discovered that American football was playing on TV, so some people watched the games that were on, while others fed their internet addiction with the free internet access. I think we're all happy to be surrounded by more of the comforts of home, although being completely without internet did have some advantages (no need to get stressed out about that to-do list!).

The morning started off at Santa Anita with a minor emergency: one of our group had sustained a leg injury while playing soccer with the men and boys of the community, and needed to head into Antigua to get checked out. Our guide, Hugo, and Amanda headed off with him, and the rest of us piled into our minivans to head to Panajachel. Because it was New Years Eve, we were heading towards a day and a half of more vacation and less exertion. We bid farewell to our hosts from Santa Anita and set off.

As we drew closer to Panajachel, we had a chance to stop at an amazing vista overlooking Lago Atitlan (Lake Atitlan), which is where we were holding our New Years fiesta. The lake was stunning, with crystal clear water, and ringed by majestic volcanoes. After we arrived in Panajachel, we had about an hour to wander around, eat or avoid street food, shop in the market, and generally acclimate ourselves to a more touristy area. After being in Santa Anita it seemed a little strange to see people selling CDs of American music!

After grabbing food and a few souvenirs, we piled ourselves and what turned out to be quite a bit of luggage onto a boat to head to San Juan de la Laguna, the site of the Ecohotel Uxlabil. We had the ecohotel all to ourselves, and were excited to discover a hot tub and Mayan sauna (more on that later...). After settling into the hotel, we headed off to the La Voz Coffee Cooperative, where we had a chance to tour their grounds and sample, you guessed it, coffee. Everyone had different views, but a few people said that the coffee at La Voz was the best they'd had so far. We also got a chance to look through their guest book, where we saw the names of the GSB Guatemala trip participants from last year. Overall La Voz seemed to buy in to the marketing tactics promoted by ANACAFE, with lots of signage and some of their tour seeming geared towards a standard pitch. However, the cooperative seems to have been fairly successful, so perhaps that was the right decision for them.

By the time we headed back to the hotel, it had gotten dark, so we chose to ride back in the back of a pick-up, with 15 of us standing up Guatemalan style and hanging on to avoid flying out of the truck bed as we flew up and down the hills of the town. Showers and dinner awaited us, and soon after dinner the New Years festivities began. We had discovered an amazing 9-hour CD, courtesy of one of our drivers, Oliver, which had 30-45 seconds of many of the most popular songs of the last decade. Needless to say, there was a lot of dancing and merriment :) The evening was complete with legal (and scary) fireworks, and a visit down to the hot tub and sauna after midnight.