Guatemalan adventures from Margee

Bicycle powered coffee depulping machine

Woman selling home made lotions

I thought I would just give a brief description of several of the experiences I have had while here, in order to give people an idea of the huge variety of learning opportunities available on the trip. I will headline them, so you can skim through and read the parts that interest you.

Reconstructing homes after tropical storm Agatha; starting home enterprises

While in Antigua early on, we hooked up with Franklin from As Green As It Gets in a small village a few miles out of the city. We were able to visit people in their homes who have received help from that organization, seeing the cement block construction of one family's home, the small home businesses several young people were getting started (hand creams and lotions made from shade tree products from the coffee fields, totes made out of burlap coffee bags, apprenticing to learn construction work, handmade aprons and herbal teas in paper boxes, and lip balm). It was really heartwarming to hear the young people present their products to us and see how empowered they seemed to feel. We asked lots of questions, and bought some of their products before we left. Being able to talk a little with their families and get an up-close look at their homes and lifestyle was really special.

Making tortillas with Rosa

Stove on the third floor - making tortillas to sell

This year's corn crop

Smiles with F2F youngest scholarship recipient

Land purchased by F2F for the cooperative - Matt translating

Visiting the weavers cooperative

Here in Santiago we visited Rosa and Francisco's home and 'tienda', with their son and son-in-law's mechanic shop next door. Up on the third floor/rooftop, Rosa was making tortillas. She explained the ingredients and process to us, told us about the ways she sells and uses them each day, and let us all give it a try (and a taste). The smokey stove was an issue for our eyes and lungs, even with all the fresh air around up there, so you can imagine what a problem it must be within smaller, more enclosed rooms. Later we all crammed into one of the pick-ups that serve as cheap taxis, along with what already looked like quite a lot of people to us. As Rosa said when she saw our surprise at riding for that long so squeezed together, "Haci la vida aqui"--this is life here). We rode out to a piece of land Farmer to Farmer purchased for the cooperative. We hiked quite a way up through other people's coffee farms, until we came to an extremely rocky slope with what was left of the corn stalks already harvested. There is still part of that land unplanted, because it takes so much time and labor to clear the rocks, and they have to pay members of the cooperative to do that strenuous work, labor which also keeps them away from their usual daily work. The acre or two of land is typical of what's available, and yet quite expensive. This year the crop was mostly ruined by extremely heavy rains. (Lake Atitlan is between two and three meters above normal, and you can see the mudslide areas in stripes down the mountainsides.) At the meeting during which we gave out scholarships the day before, they showed us the two bags of rather poor ears of corn they will share--the total harvest from that piece of land this year. Brenda (speaking in Spanish) and Paul did a nice job of presenting the scholarships at that meeting, with clerical help from Hannah! Matt and Zach have been excellent translators/interpretors, so both parties are able to catch a lot more of the subtle details of the conversations. The fondness these people have for Jody specifically, and for Farmer to Farmer in general, was obvious. Students who were able to be there ranged from a 5 yr. old little boy to a young woman in law school. They all seemed really pleased to receive the scholarship envelopes. After the meeting we went to the weavers workshop and store, and bought some of their work. Some of you reading this, may be the beneficiaries of these shopping sprees! (note to friends and family of Amy: she gets the prize! Amy finds something wonderful to buy everywhere we go, sometimes feels bad about trying to get a lower price, and is really happy to spend her money helping these people make a living.)

Learning about other projects

One day while here in Santiago, we went to ADISA, a workshop for physically and mentally disabled people. It is run by an association of parents and friends of people with disabilities. We were all impressed with what they were doing with such limited resources. The director of the program showed us around and we saw how each person was completing a step in making the products they sell. We were glad to purchase the bowls and other things they make from recycled newspapers. Amy asked the client who took us into their showroom, if any of the pieces available for sale were made by him. He replied, "we all make them all--everyone has a part to do." Hayley was especially interested, as she also works with disabled people--she returned the next day to get more!

Down the road from our Pasada is a children's library, and (started just this week!) a preschool for local children, started and overseen by Amanda Flayer, with Mayan women employed as the head librarian, traveling librarian to area schools, and teacher. Amanda and I (Margee) are planning to meet, in hopes that I can offer some tips and share ideas from my many years of preschool and child care work. She is really trying to 'do preschool' in a creative, less structured way than what people here would more typically think of as schooling. Since preschool is not very common anyway, it is all a new idea to parents, but Amanda says they seem to be reacting positively. The library is important as a support to the education of the Mayan children, since they do not have books at home or opportunities to read outsideof school. There are resources for 'investigation' (research), as well as the school text books available for the kids. Another set of shelves has story books, concept books, and children's literature. They have 'baby and mom' activity times scheduled weekly, and the space is available for community use too. Donations of Spanish books and books with both Spanish and English would be really useful to them, as would any arts and crafts materials. I'm thinking it might be a great opportunity for individual school classes, child care centers, or local libraries to take on as a service learning project!

We briefly visited the hospital here, and received an email update from their volunteer fundraiser, letting us know how much they still need additional help. For example, they have 40 cleft palate reconstruction surgeries scheduled for May, and need to get the in-patient area, where those surguries will occur, completed by then. To find out more, their website is http://www.hospitalitoatitlan.org/. Several people we talked with shared their excitement over the opening of the Hospitalito at the end of November. Farmer to Farmer has been donating to them in the past, but currently does not have the capacity to continue that support. Please consider donating individually with a note specifying that cause, if you are intersted.



We may still fit in a visit to an elder care program. It's a day program where elders can come during the day to receive a good meal, some company, and a little extra care. Many older people without families live alone, and others must be left alone, while their families are off working--a problem we have in the United States as well, of course, but the living circumstances are more severe for these people.



San Lucas Toliman

Paul already told you about the tour of the various projects at San Lucas. I was especially impressed with the way the man in charge of the reforestation project spoke. He was a natural poet--his deep love for his work and for the earth just poured from his entire being! Casey was at San Lucas as a volunteer for a few months a couple of years ago, and it was nice to get more detailed explanations from him as we toured. Father Greg has been there for over 40 years, and his efforts have clearly had quite an impact. He saved many lives during the 'time of terror', and somehow survived that period himself! He is very intent on making sure all of these projects are led by Mayans and that the mission serves the people through Mayan decisions. Only three 'gringos' were currently on staff, although groups come to visit and learn regularly. One thing Paul did not mention in his earlier blog, is that young adolescents, who otherwise are on the street trying to get money anyway they can, have been allowed to come work at the mission to help feed their families. Using hand tools, they learn some basic skills, and often keep coming for years and years. The building that stores the coffee there, was actually built by this group of youths, and had already been expanded from the time Casey was there (sometimes working alongside them). San Lucas also has beehives and produces honey, but that building was already closed for the day by the time we got there.



Thank you, Jody!

Just want to say that it is really generous of Jody to give so much time and energy to these trips. We have experiences one would not get as a simple tourist, and she works really hard to help individuals see the things that interest them. She has more energy than I do, that's for sure! The ongoing relationships that she maintains with such sincere joy and compassion probably do as much good as our Farmer to Farmer funds from afar. She is a great ambassador for us!

Foods of Honduras

Celebratory tilapia after making it safely home from our backpacking trip.

Ana and Pete savoring the chicken picnic.

Hernan after making baleadas for two hours straight.

By Andy

Every time I return from Central America, I go through a week or two after I come home where I eat rice and beans and tortillas as often as I can. I crave avocados and long for a real banana. It is as if my body wants to stay in the tropics for just a little longer. In honor of my lingering cravings and as the Wisconsin cold keeps me inside the house remembering my trip, I offer a report on the food of Honduras.

Bananas and Plantains. We ate bananas or plantains with just about every meal and often in between. Ripe plantains can be sliced thin and deep fried to make a crispy chip called a “tajada de plantano.” These are shelf-stable and can be sold in plastic bags to bus travelers or flavored and sold in foil packs like Doritos. Really ripe plantains, “maduros,” can be fried, baked or boiled and served soft and slightly mushy for breakfast with a little crème fraische. Somewhere in the middle in terms of ripeness, a plantain can be sliced round and then flattened to form a round a crisp quarter inch thick “toston,” which literally means 50-cent piece. Green bananas can also be fried as “tajadas.” These we ate like French fries with fried chicken or fish. Of course we also ate bananas the normal way. Is it me or do they taste better when they haven’t travelled 1000s of miles? One of the yummy treats in the fresh banana world is the “datil,” or finger banana, which is slightly larger than a man’s thumb and very flavorful.

Juice. Every day our hotel served a fresh juice, water and sugar mix called a “refresco natural.” This is ubiquitous in Honduran restaurants and shops, the only question is what kind of refresco natural they will have. We were offered “mora” (like a blackberry), hibiscus flower, passion fruit, pineapple, papaya, orange, cantaloupe, watermelon, lime, naranjia (a weed in the tomato family but tastes like an orange – sort of), horchata, mango (from frozen mangos because sadly they were not in season), and something called a “nance,” which is like a mushy yellow cherry-like fruit. People in Comayagua are under no delusions that their tap water is drinkable, so all restaurants use bottled water to prepare beverages and ice. This makes me happy because I could drink the refrescos naturales all day with confidence. One variation on the fruit juices was the homemade wine made by our host in Rio Negro, Avilio. He makes a big batch from sugar and whatever fruit is available and buries it for a few weeks in a clay vessel to ferment, followed by bottling in used rum bottles. One night we put away six bottles around Avilio’s big homemade table. Smooth.

Beans and Tortillas. If a Honduran eats a meal that does not include red beans and tortillas, it is as if he or she has not really eaten. Every meal includes a small stack of corn tortillas. We found the best tortillas in the mountain communities where they raise and grind their own corn. These tortillas are a little thicker and are just better tasting than the city tortillas, which are often pressed thin by machines in the tortillerias or made from MASECA commercial mix. An El Salvadoran variation on the tortilla that has become street food all over Honduras is the “pupusa,” which is corn tortilla dough surrounding a melty white cheese and then fried in front of you on a very hot griddle. On the road home from the airport, we stopped and drank some sweetened corn gruel with cinnamon called “atol,” which for Deb was the food high point of the trip – it did hit the spot. Beans come in many variations, but are necessary on every plate for breakfast, lunch and dinner. You can find them boiled, fried whole, mixed with rice and spices, liquefied, liquefied and then fried, and I’m sure I missed some variation. Our friend Jauna invited Zac and I to her house for some traditional Honduran food and served us “catrachas,” fried tortillas smeared with thick bean paste and topped with a crumbly white cheese. We could have eaten those all night. Probably the most uniquely Honduran street food is something called a “baleada.” A baleada is a fresh hot flour tortilla smeared with liquefied beans, topped with thick crème fraische and folded in half. From there you can get variations that include fresh avocado slices, fried eggs, crumbly cheese, and different types of meat. Our friend Hernan made awesome baleadas for us for the good-bye party. I ate 5. When we were waiting for Deb and Pete in the airport, we saw a Honduran arriving from Miami and his family handed him a baleada as if to say “you are home.” 

It is hard to tell how much meat normal Hondurans eat, because our special circumstances as visitors means that we are constantly being offered meat to eat. We are also eating in restaurants quite often, which are meat heavy. I didn’t mind. On New Year’s Eve, Priscila made a baked chicken that had been baked in something called “naranja agria,” a special type of orange which people use only for cooking. Then on New Year’s we had a chance to eat “nacatamales,” which are spiced pork tucked inside of a corn dough and cooked in a banana leaf. Special treat. On the day we made bocashi fertilizer at Hector’s farm, Adalid’s family made something called “carne asada,” chunky grilled beef strips. The meat was tender and pleasantly charred over a charcoal fire. We had salted strips of beef up on the mountain in El Sute – they lack refrigeration, but the reconstituted beef can be intensely flavorful, like thick beef jerky. Tilapia can be found everywhere, the result of ever-increasing fish farming in the Comayagua valley. On the day we returned from the hiking trip on the mountain, we all headed to a place right next to a fish pond for fried tilapia and green banana tajadas. Likewise chicken is affordable and available in innumerable variations. The most memorable for me was the rotisserie chickens we brought with us for a picnic on the way up to Rio Negro. A close second was the chicken at “Pollolandia” in La Entrada on the way to Copan.

A special mention must be made of Betilia, who made all of our meals in Rio Negro. She cooks incredible food over a wood-fired stove. There is a large variety of vegetables (including our beloved pataste/chayote), with flavored rice, beans, special roasted meats, and always the best tortillas and refrescos naturales. We were WELL taken care of! Betilia’s coffee wins the award for the best I had in Honduras, but really since we were hanging out with coffee farmers the whole time, we were never far from a good cup of coffee. In fact the comment from one of our travelers was that if we sat down anywhere for long enough, someone would inevitably hand us a cup of coffee. Just watch out if you don’t like pre-sweetened coffee.

A second special mention must be made of the food on our backpacking trip. On the fifth day we lunched on all the best of the leftover lunch items. We had flour tortillas, with bean paste, avocados, crumbly white cheese, Spam, and peanut butter, in various mouth watering combinations.  Yes Spam!

Thanks for reading and now it is time for lunch.

Santiago Atitlan, Guatemala

Photo Paul canoeing on Lake Atitlan
By Paul Helgeson

Yesterday we arrived at beautiful Lake Atitlan after a six hour trip from Huehue that featured spectacular mountain scenery. We are staying at the Posada de Santiago. This morning the early risers took to the Pasadas canoes to joined the local fishermen in thier dugout canoes on the lake.

This afternoon we piled into the back of one of the Toyota pickups that are a favorite form of mass transit here in Guatemala. Our first stop was the new Hospitalito in Santiago - a beautiful new building that replaces the hospital destroyed some five year ago by mud slides. After another 40 minutes ride on mountain roads we arrived at the San Lucas Mission. We toured several San Lucas projects.
The first was a project where new housing is being built for people that lost their homes as a result of heavy rains (Agatha) in June of last year. Nearby is a building that will eventually house a womens center . Then we walked through San Lucas medical clinic. The tree nursery was impressive with several varieties of trees grown for refosrestatin of the mountainsides and shade for the coffee. The final project we saw was the coffee project. At five oclock, each day, the

delivering the coffee


growers start bringing the days harvest for processing.




The heavy bags of green coffee beans are carried up the mountainside to the new processing on the mens backs. The coffee is weighed, moved by water to a huller, then to fermenation vats. After a couple days the beans are laid out on drying floors. The whole process is extremely labor-intensive, but the San Lucas produces high-quality coffee. It was a great visit!

A Visit to APUFRAM in Honduras

A student at APUFRAM showing off his artwork depicting the coffee harvest.

By Andy

During my recent trip to Honduras, we had the chance to visit a boarding school called APUFRAM. As we arrived at APUFRAM, darkness was falling and our group was hungry and eager to get home to Comayagua. I was also anxious because our driver needed to be back home, and our friend Hernan was waiting for us and he had prepared food for the whole group. We had decided to stop at APUFRAM because Zac remembered that there was an art studio full of incredible student paintings and Deb and Pete were looking for a painting to become the label for the coffee they were going to sell. Also, Adalid’s three kids had all been students there in the past year and we had grown close to them and wanted to see where they went to school. I wanted to be in and out in ten minutes, but this was not to be the case.

We pulled in to the school store and Hector informed us that we would be met by none other than Padre Emilio. To meet Padre Emilio and hear his story is to witness the results of a simple plan executed over the course of more than 35 years. When he came to Honduras he realized that the opportunities for rural youth to attend school beyond the elementary level were few and far between. All of the junior high schools and high schools were located in big cities, and rural people who wanted to send their children would not only give up a valuable farm hand but also be burdened with the costs of housing and feeding their child far from home. In fact, according to APUFRAM more than 90% of Honduran adolescents do not go to school beyond sixth grade. Padre Emilio saw this and realized that these people did not need a hand-out, but rather they needed an opportunity, a hand-up. He founded a “boys and girls town” near Flores Comayagua. APUFRAM is essentially a boarding school for poor rural young people. The families must pay something, but the cost is based on what they can afford to pay. The students help keep costs down by balancing their studies with work.

As Padre Emilio switched to English, he told us that the work component was not just to help make the program more affordable. He repeated several times that the entire program was designed to help the young people to help themselves. The work is deliberately diverse and this contributes to the students feelings of competence. The students farm to raise and prepare their own food, they have a carpentry shop to sell goods and learn a trade, they have a retail shop and a repair shop. The students work for 4 hours and study for 4 hours every day. He told us about how in his estimation by making advanced education available to rural young people, that at least fifteen people would be positively affected in a chain reaction. He spoke of how many of the students go on to University and how most of the current staff are actually alumni of the school. Padre Emilio took a break from telling us about the school to ask us about who we were and where we are from. When I mentioned that we were from rural Wisconsin, he spoke of his own rural root in Salina, Kansas. How he easily adapted to the simple life of rural Honduras when he arrived 40 years ago because he was raised in the country. He went on to praise the work ethic of the young people who come to the school in Flores. He talked about how people love the work and are grateful for the opportunity. He spoke about how there are almost never any fights, and he ascribed this to the rural upbringing of the young people. As we looked around we saw cheerful young people and the buzz of intentional activity.   

As a Montessorian, I quickly recognized that Padre Emilio had inadvertently set up the ideal Montessori environment for adolescents. In having a rural boarding school with a focus on productive work, he has exactly matched the developmental needs of the age. Adolescents need to be brought into society through experiences of making a positive contribution to a community. The boys and girls of APUFRAM make a daily contribution to the community and to their own education. When a person is in an environment that meets his or her developmental needs, it tends to have a “normalizing effect” on the behavior of the person – meaning that the person will exhibit positive social traits and work productively. My guess is that Padre Emilio’s observation that there are no fights and that the students love their work has as much to do with the fact that the school has a normalizing effect on the student body as it does with the rural upbringing of the kids.

Have you ever avoided something because you knew that to see it would challenge you to change something about yourself? For years I have avoided seeing Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, because I don’t want to stop driving and move to a solar-heated straw bale house. Looking back, there is a part of me that would like to have missed the visit, because to visit APUFRAM is to be confronted with a picture of what is possible when vision, compassion, intelligence and resources come together. Once a person sees what is possible, the question becomes “what is stopping you from realizing an equally big vision?”

GUATEMALA - UPC Coffee Cooperative

By Casey


Today we visited the headquarters of the UPC cooperative in La Democracia, outside of Huehuetenango. Our group received a wonderful tour of some of the farms of families participating in the cooperative. We traveled far up into the hills to see and learn about the beautiful farms these hard working families have cultivated. The farmers were doing great at using by-products and recycling waste in sustainable ways. The one waste product that was not able to be reused was what is called “honey water” (aguas mieles). It is a watery sugar by-product created from fermenting and husking the coffee fruit. A farm we visited was running the liquid into a trench in the ground which solves the problem of honey water running into the river, causing environmental harm. However, Zac and I were wondering if there is any other use out there for this by-product. If anyone has any ideas or knows of ways coffee farmers are already using this by-product, please leave a comment on this webpage. Here is a video made last year of the UPC...

GUATEMALA - Antigua and Common Hope

On our first day in Antigua, Jody, Margee, Brenda and I visited an organization called Common Hope. Started by a couple from Minnesota, Common Hope works with Guatemalan families to support education, among other things. By holistically supporting families economically, educationally, and through psychological and health services, Common Hope assists affiliated children and their families as they go through school. Additionally, Common Hope links Guatemalan children with a U.S sponsor who supports their education and receives letters in return. Jody and Brenda were able to meet with the children they have sponsored while Margee and I went on an excellent tour of the organization. We truly enjoyed learning more about some great organizations in Antigua and are looking forward to meeting with the coffee farmers of Huehuetenango tomorrow!

Hannah

GUATEMALA - Mayan Hands

Leaving Antigua with a full minivan heading for Huehuetenango - the Guatemalan adventure begins to unfold. The first stop is a small Mayan village and a meeting with the Mayan Hands women. They were formed in 1990 during the civil war when many were widowed and some were orphaned as children. They weave baskets from pine needles making things to sell to earn money. I was moved by their pure innocence. They giggled and laughed as we all told our stories. The children were curious and friendly. I am continually moved by the strength of the human spirit.

Brenda