Day 9 – 10, January 7 and 8 - Guatemala

Guatemala means "the land of forever spring" because it is always so beautiful here. The Guatemalan currency is the Quetzal. The current exchange rate is about eight to the dollar.

We spent the day on a tour to Antigua, about 90 minutes from the dock. Along the way we passed several volcanoes, none of which were spouting today, although they often do. It was an interesting drive through the countryside. We saw people carrying bundles of wood on their backs, or heads, and one woman carrying her baby in one hand with the other holding the wood on her head. A boy walked along leading four goats on a rope. In several spots we saw horses tied to edge of road to eat the grass along roadway. The houses were little more than shacks made of concrete blocks and sheets of tin. Most were like a compound with gates and razor wire strung all over because of the rampant theft that takes place here.

Nearby we visited the Filadelphia Coffee Plantation where they cultivate about 250 acres of coffee. They plant seedlings which start producing beans after one year. After about eight years the bushes are about eight feet tall and they are cut down leaving a sprout that grows for about eight more years after which the process is repeated. So after about 24 years they dig up the plant and start over.

There are two varieties that they grow on this plantation -- one that grows at 900-1,500 meters elevation and one that grows on the mountains up to about 2,000 meters.

Virtually all work is manual labor. They have a few small trucks and tractors for hauling people and coffee beans around but almost all work was with hand tools such as shovels, scoops, wheelbarrows, etc. The plants are planted and cultivated by hand. The beans are picked one by one by hand only in the morning. Pickers are to only pick the ripe red beans. At the bean processing facility these "cherry" beans are dumped into tanks of water. The less mature and unripe beans float and are separated from the ripe beans which sink. These cull beans are not discarded but processed for lower quality coffee.

The cherry beans go through a machine which breaks up the outer fleshy layer. This layer is washed off and the damp beans are left to ferment for a day or so until the mucilous layer will wash off. The remnants of the cherry layer are composted and used for fertilizer.

After that washing, the beans are spread out in a thin layer on a tile floor to dry in the sun. They are stirred every two hours until the papyrus layer cracks open and is easily removed. The beans then go through another simple machine that cracks the papyrus layer so it can be blown off. The remnants of this layer look much like sawdust and are used for animal bedding.

The beans then go through another machine that removes the "silver" layer. This very thin layer is silver in color and resembles the red husk on freshly shelled peanuts. The remaining "green" beans are sorted by size and then either roasted or bagged green in 150 pound bags for shipment. We were told that the medium sized beans were the most desirable as they roasted more uniformly.

The vast majority of the bags from this plantation are shipped green. Much of their product goes to Japan, and the rest goes to Starbucks! The plantation only roasted coffee for the local market. We were told the current price for premium green beans was about $210 per 150 pound bag.

All handling of the beans was by hand, shovel, and wheelbarrow or, in the case of the bags, on the back of someone weighing considerably less than 150 pounds.

When we were in the coffee groves it was lunch time for the workers and a girl with a basket on her head walked by on her way to deliver lunch to the workers who had built a small fire on which to heat the tortillas, etc. Mayan women carry their things on their heads or on their backs, either in small tubs or much larger baskets or bundles. They make small fabric pieces (like bandanas) that they then wind around into a circle to create a level, stable place to rest whatever they’re carrying. Then they put what they’re carrying on top of the fabric band. We also saw women doing this when we were in Colombia later in the trip.

Workers there can make $250 month in the five month season from November to end of March. Lots of families work together, and although no one under 16 is supposed to work, some of the younger children who stay in the fields with their parents may pick some beans on the “sly”. The plantation provided shelter and basic needs to the workers. Starbucks comes to inspect the plantation every 2 years. They do not allow anyone under 16 to work. If everything meets their specifications, they give the plantation a certificate good for 2 years.

There were children around because they are still on their vacation. Vacation from school follows the coffee harvest here which is from October until the end of March. The children do not have school from mid-November until mid- January. Although the plantation we were on did not have child workers, other plantations may allow them to work, so that is why the school vacation is so long. The literacy rate here is improving, and children are supposedly taught to read, write, and do math by the age of 6!

The plantation is in a beautiful spot with two volcanoes visible from the manicured grounds. Besides the coffee business there is a hotel and spa with bikes to rent, and horse and mule rides available there. This would be a place that the upper class Guatemalan citizens might come for a vacation in the mountains.

We had a nice lunch on the patio and were entertained by a Marimba band and giant dancing dolls that are supposed to represent the merger of the Indian and Latino cultures.

We spent some time wandering around the village square in the old city of Antigua which was a few miles from the plantation. The city was nice with lots of big beautiful trees and other flowering plants, but it was obviously very poor. The old buildings on the cobblestone square were quite beautiful. Everywhere we went we were inundated with street vendors attempting to sell us jewelry, wooden flutes, beautiful strips of cloth and various other crafts. They sometimes got pushy but wherever we went a few “torismo policia” (i.e. tourism police) also accompanied us to keep the “have nots” away from the “haves”. It was very sad to see.

Guatemala is a country with a very tiny middle class. The vast majority of the country is poor. And then there are a few wealthy families that own just about everything

The most beautiful things there were the many colorful woven fabrics, bags, and dresses that the Indian women and girls were selling. When we first stepped off the bus that was the first thing I noticed. I saw a teenage girl carrying a beautiful sling, and I thought it was how she carried her baby. As I looked around, I saw that most of the older girls and women had similar colorful slings and then realized the slings were stuffed with the brilliant colored cloths they were hawking to the tourists.

Hand-woven fabric is made on a loom tied to a post. The colors are remarkably bright. Guatemalan women are known for weaving the most colorful fabric in Latin America (and possibly in the world). Frequently, they embroider or weave in designs that represent their culture – the sun and moon, quetzals, pyramids, volcanoes, jaguars and people.

As we drove around the city we saw lots of “Chicken Buses.” These are brightly colored former U.S. or Canadian school buses. They are called Chicken buses because the Maya people ride them to market (and everywhere else), piling all their wares (including meats and live animals – like chickens) on top.

Guatemala is a place of lots of color. Surprising to us, even the vaults at the cemetery are brightly colored!

The ship’s entertainment tonight was a hypnotist, and Bob took part. He was not completely under the “spell”, but he did follow the hypnotist’s commands! I wonder if he’ll do whatever I say!

Click on the slides in order to see larger pictures.

Day 10 - January 8 - This was another Sea Day. Of course we spent a lot of time in “The Office”, but we also saw an informative movie about the Panama Canal.