Guatemala - Part 1

Today we toured the Filadelfia (yes-- f's instead of ph's!) coffee plantation followed by a walking tour of the World Heritage city of Antigua. 

En route to the plantation, our tour guide passed around postcards. The one of the local "chicken bus" was my favorite. Although I hoped we'd see a bus like that, I was really praying that we'd see the volcano. We did--but we didn't. The countryside looked just like the postcard, but all three volcanos were draped with clouds. Nothing memorable. 

At the plantation we were taken to the "nursery" area first. 

Notice how trees and large-leafed bean plants shade the baby plants. 

As the plant matures, it blooms. 

And the blooms become coffee beans, green at first, then ripening to red. 

That red shell has to be peeled away, so the bean is soaked in  vats until a smaller, colorless bean sinks to the bottom. 

This machine tumbles the beans to finish the extraction process--peeling another parchment-like layer from the bean. 

The small inner bean is then put out in the sun to dry. 

Once dried, the raw beans are put into 100-pound bags for shipping. 

Most of the beans harvested at this plantation are shipped raw and roasted at their destination because raw beans stay fresher longer. 

A small quantity of the beans are roasted on location for local sales and to sell in their gift shop. 

We did tour the roasting room, but it was tight quarters for photos.  The roaster could take only one of the 100-lb bags. Different roasting times result in  the different strengths of coffee. 

When the tour was over, we were treated to a fabulous steak lunch on a beautiful patio.  (Notice the burlap bag to keep the tortillas warm.) One odd thing:  we were served lemonade, not coffee!

Next stop:  the colonial city of Antigua.