December 28, 2014

The Aurora Hotel buffet breakfast started the day. We met at 10 AM and were instructed to walk around the corner and up a couple of blocks to connect with two Fildadelfia Coffee Resort Unimogs, big four wheel drive trucks, open air and with benches in the back. We boarded and had a fun open air ride to the outskirts of Antigua. We entered the lovely grounds of the estate that the resort is set on and pulled up in front of the restaurant and gift shop. In addition to the hotel, the property encompasses an ecological reserve and a functioning coffee plantation, as well as a host of tours and activities.

Our guide met us and we set off on an informative and interesting tour, starting with the nursery for the baby coffee plants. Arabica coffee plants with a weak root structure are hand grafted onto the roots of the Rustica coffee plant. In the nursery where we were there were about 100,000 little plants. We were told three women did all of the grafting over a period of several weeks. We each picked a ripe coffee cherry from some full grown plants surrounding the nursery. This is harvest time, November to March. We squeezed the cherry to remove the red outer skin. Inside is the coffee bean surrounded by the outer husk and the inner silver lining. The nursery was shaded with trees imported from Australia. We were told pesticides and fungicides were used to control the coffee rust. To farm coffee organically and keep it disease free is very difficult and very costly. In different parts of the world coffee is grown at different elevations. This, in part, determines the strength and quality of the coffee. We were in the highlands, 4000-8000 feet, which produces very good coffee. Coffee grown at lower altitudes ripens faster and does not have the complexity and richness of flavors.

We then went back to processing plant and learned how the processing of coffee beans must start the day they are picked. First, the freshly harvested cherries are passed through a pulping machine where the skin and pulp is separated from the bean. The pulp is washed away with water, usually to be dried and used as mulch. The beans are separated by weight as they are conveyed through water channels, the lighter beans floating to the top, while the heavier, ripe beans sink to the bottom. The beans are passed through a series of rotating drums which separate them by size. The beans are transported to large, water-filled fermentation tanks. They remain in these tanks for anywhere from 12 to 48 hours to remove the slick layer of mucilage (called the parenchyma) that is still attached to the parchment. They are rinsed and then set out to dry in the sun. The parchment layer is removed. Before being exported, the coffee beans will be even more precisely sorted by size and weight. They will also be closely evaluated for color flaws or other imperfections. Depending on the purchaser of the beans, this process may be done by machine or hand. At Filadelfia, roasting is done. There are three different roasters, large medium, and small. Filadelfia exports its beans to the United Kingdom, Japan, and Germany and coffee is R. Dalton Coffee. . At the end of the tour, we enjoyed a cup of the premium coffee which was very smooth, very refined, no acidic aftertaste.

The coffee tour over, we went to the restaurant where we had a lovely buffet lunch. There were salads, a wonderful cream of mushroom soup, pork, chicken, potatoes, tamales, tortillas,and vegetables. The tamales were much better than the ones I had the night before. There was this green slimy stuff in a dish which I took and it was the most delicious squash. The desserts were really good - Banuelos, a pudding that tasted a lot like rice pudding with raisins in it and nutmeg sprinkled on top, probably arroz con leche. After this wonderful meal, we wandered into the small gift shop and looked around. Several of us did not want to do the zip lines, the afternoon's activity. I did that in Costa Rica, wasn't my favorite. So we got two tuk-tuks to take us back into Antigua. Tuk-tuks (three wheeled motorized rickshaw) here are sort of like golf carts that carry two to three people, are inexpensive, and get you where you are going. The tuk-tuk could not go into the central area, so since I was already half-way across the town I walked down to the market area. There is the general market with, of course, everything one might need in one stall or another. There was not a lot of food, however. As I made my way, I found near the back the entrance to the Artisans market which was much less chaotic, with individual stalls built around courtyards and around the perimeter of the building. I walked around and actually found at two different stalls the two things I had been looking for - sandals (I forgot mine) and a pair of woven cotton pants. It is not that these were not in other places, but I found some that I actually liked. As I continued exploring, I found a stall filled with masks. I have a small collection of masks. I had seen some that were interesting, brightly colored animal heads. The man in the stall told me they came from the town where I will be going after I leave Antigua, Chichicastenango and its big market. So, I thought I will see what they have there.

As I was walking back, I stopped to photograph the one of the many colonial church ruins in Antigua, San Agustin. I saw some people coming out of a building next door so went over to see what it was. I was subsequently told by Cindy it was the Spanish consulate, but the signs inside indicated it had something to with international cooperation between Central American countries. I walked around the courtyard and found a small museum with an exhibit about cooking utensils and food of the pre-Columbian Mayans, and it was free. So I went in. It was small but interesting about the various foods eaten, old cooking pots, some with pictures of tamales on them for example.

I headed back to the hotel, walked around a bit, and finally came back for a bit of a rest (after walking to the refrigerator in the kitchen and taking some a couple of pieces of my homemade chocolate candies for anti-oxidant power). Then up and ready to go for dinner. This time we walked the opposite way, away from the central area and down a street that seemed to have a number of hostels to the Sky Café which was upstairs in a hostel. We ate in the front room with the big screen TV. The menu was very much in English with pasta, fajitas, chicken, beef, and so on. I ordered the chef's special, beef shish kebabs, which were very good. We had a few pitchers of sangria and a very good time. I left a bit ahead of the crowd to walk back and saw Sue and Gordon across the street who invited me to join them (good thing since they knew which corner to turn on to get me back to the hotel.) Back to the room and good-night as the next morning was to be an earlier start - out by 8 AM for our first work day.