See How the Coffee Gets Made

18 de septiembre 2016
Hacienda el Roble, Mesa de los Santos, Santander, Colombia

Yeah, I know the famous quote actually refers to sausage and laws, but last weekend I toured a coffee farm, not a legislative building or a butcher shop (side note, for those of you who don't know, I actually DO know how the sausage gets made, and I've actually made that sausage with my family).

Last Sunday (11 de septiembre) I went on another adventure with the Caminantes de Santander to Ruta del Café Hacienda El Roble, Mesa de Los Santos.

For this trip, we got to sleep in a little bit and get on the bus around 6:30am.  After an hour or two, we got to the restaurant where we had breakfast (Only $4.000 for a full breakfast - eggs, arepa, and coffee!  That's approximately $1.33 USD.) and continued along our way to the Mirador del Chicamocha, where we took selfies, did a dynamic stretching warmup, and took a group picture.

What a view.

We then started walking up the road until we reached a dirt path leading into the trees - the start of the Ruta del Café.

The adventure begins.

We walked under the shade of the trees, chatting and admiring the view.  This walk was nice and easy - no rock walls to climb here!  It was nice and chill in the shade.  We soon came upon another beautiful lookout point, so of course we had to stop for more pictures.

Just admiring the view and contemplating my minuscule existence.

We continued walking without much to report.  Two hours of easy walking with beautiful views - in addition to the mountains and trees, we also got farms, a lake, and some really nice houses, not to mention all the various gorgeous flowers.  We talked about everything from our lives back home to the current political landscape of education.  But at long last, we made it to the Hacienda El Roble!

Hacienda literally translates to estate or plantation, but "plantation" in English has such terrible connotations.

Upon arrival, we were invited to tour the house on our own.  The hacienda is an old house with lots of cool stuff, including a library full of old books and a beautiful garden courtyard.  The house is also a hotel!  I'll let you see for yourself what else they've got.

After looking around a bit, we sat down on the veranda and had some time to relax.  They brought out snacks of mandarins, cookies, and the famous coffee.

Mandarins are like larger green oranges.  Or should I call them greens?

For the longest time, the best coffee in the world was this coffee from Indonesia that was made by harvesting the coffee beans pooped out by animals that ate the fruit.  A couple of years ago, the coffee from this region in Colombia (Mesa de los Santos) beat the poop coffee to become the best coffee in the world.

We snacked, we relaxed, we chatted, and then it was time to go out on our tour of the grounds (pun intended).  We set out to the Coffee Garden with Jack, the Caminantes mascot for the day, plus another dog or two that lived at the hacienda.  

Oh hey there Jack.  Jack is a 4-month-old golden lab that is owned by one of the Caminantes guides.

The Coffee Garden (not the Jardin del Café, why would you think it would be named in Spanish?)

Our tour guide teaching us about the coffee plants.

The tour was in Spanish, so I probably missed a few interesting tidbits, but I'll pass on what I learned.  I hope none of them got lost in translation.  This is the truth as I know it:

• Espresso has less caffeine than coffee.  Making espresso is a physical reaction because the water runs through the grounds very quickly, so less caffeine is produced.  Brewed coffee takes time for the water to run through, so a chemical reaction is allowed to occur, producing more caffeine.  The longer it sits the more caffeine is produced, so the first cup (at least for a pour-over) always has the least caffeine.
• They used to have only 1 type of coffee growing here, but they were required to plant a coffee tree for every sin they committed.  Now there's a whole BUNCH of coffee trees in many different varieties.

The fruit off the tree. 

Hey what's inside?

Oh look at that, it's the coffee beans!

• 1 gram of this specialty coffee can cost up to $100 USD.
• Overall coffee quality of the whole world ranks Guatemala first, Panama second, and Colombia third. However, at this small farm they have people harvesting the berries rather than a machine, so the people are able to harvest only the ripest red berries, whereas a machine would harvest them all.  This means smaller yields but better coffee.

Can you taste with all the colors of the coffee? (Dinosaur for scale.)

• After picking the berries, the next step is to "ferment" the coffee.  Through their experiments, they've discovered that coffee fermentation is best at exactly 18 hours.  19 hours and more leaves a weird over-mature aftertaste (like if you think about dating someone your parents' age).  Less than 18 hours and the micro-bacteria would not be removed.

The coffee fermentation basin.

• After fermentation, the next step is to dry the coffee.  The beans stay 9 days on each level; the bottom level is first, then level two, then the top level.  This is because the top level is the hottest.

The beans are on screens akin to the kind you'd sift for gold with.  Makes sense, since this coffee costs a pretty penny.

Our next stop was a presentation of what happens next to the beans, all the way to your glass.  We all packed into a little room where an old Colombian man told us his secrets.  First, the dried beans are thrown into a machine where they are deshelled.  The golden color you see is torn away, leaving a greenish-gray.  Next, the beans are sorted through and defects are removed (insect-ridden, diseased, etc).  For about 50 pounds of beans, perhaps 12 beans will be defective.  Next, the beans are roasted, gaining their traditional brown coffee color.  At this point, they can be packaged and ground at home or ground first and then packaged.  Grinding at home right before use is better, because with pre-ground coffee, every time you open the bag, the coffee loses more of its aroma, so by the time you reach the bottom of the bag you're drinking crap.

Coffee beans throughout the process.

Started from the bottom now we're here!

Once we got to the grounds stage, we moved into the room next door, where he had set up four different varieties of the coffee they make at this farm: Caturra, Nacional, Borbón, and Tipica.  He had grounds in glasses, and after telling us a little bit about them (in Spanish, so I am not sure of any descriptions here), he had us each come around and smell all the kinds.

This room smelled so good.

He then poured hot water into each one and talked about the chemical processes happening inside.  The first cup will always be the weakest, because the water and the grounds haven't been able to react and produce very much caffeine.  We were then each given a silver spoon (silver does not change the taste/smell of the coffee, where other materials might).  These spoons were used to break up the foam to release the smell so we could try the aroma.

Catando means to try, smell, taste

Next, we were each given a glass of warm water and a tiny "spitoon" (for lack of a better word).  Before we tasted any coffee and between each type, we were told to fully rinse our mouth with warm water.  After rinsing, we got a spoonful of coffee, ensuring that the coffee hits everywhere in the mouth to reach all the taste buds and get the full flavorful experience.  Our coffee instructor had this quick slurp-spit-rinse routine, but I decided that I didn't want to spit it out.  Why waste the best coffee in the world?  The slurping was fun though.  No quiet spoon-feeding for us....you gotta make the noise!  My favorite coffee we tried was the caturra.  It was very strong, but not as bitter as the others.

After we all had the chance to catan (no, not the board game) the coffee, we took another group photo and headed back to the hacienda for a bit before heading back to the bus.  We were settling in for the ride when we stopped again - we were given an hour to explore Mercado Campesino, an open-air market with lots of food, produce, souvenirs, and, unfortunately, flies.  

It was really cool to walk around and see all their wares though.

We were pretty hungry, so we decided to grab some grub.  Our group split off into a restaurant group and a street food group.  I love street food and wanted to explore.

Almost every other booth was selling arepas de chocolo con queso, with a little corn husk plate.  Saying this was amazing would be an understatement.

After a little snack of an arepa, a sausage, and some guanabana juice, we walked around and did some shopping, both actual and "window" (no windows in these little shacks, but you get the idea).

There was a booth selling medical marijuana, and another selling marijuana plants for your home.

Where am I again?

A picture of an American girl, wearing her new Colombian hat, drinking a German beer made in Colombia.

After walking around a bit and making some purchases (I got a new hat and some coffee whiskey liquor), we looked at our watches and noticed we were running low on time.  We climbed the pyramid-thing to get one last birds-eye view of the market.

Hey, I can see my friends from here! (They're the ones waving.  It's like Where's Waldo!)

We got back to the bus, where we made one more little stop to buy some of the delicious coffee we had tasted, and then it was homeward bound.  We got home around 6 pm, and I promptly fell asleep all the way until the next morning.

Journey to the Center of a Cave: Where I lost my Sunglasses, but not my Dignity

17 de septiembre 2016
Cueva de los Aviones, San Vicente de Chucuri, Santander, Colombia

Work life is getting pretty busy down here, so my blog posts end up being pretty late.  I am about to tell you of my adventures on 4 de septiembre 2016.  At 3:30 in the morning, I grabbed a taxi to nearby Provenza, where I met up with a group called Caminantes de Santander (caminar = to walk, hike, so caminantes = hikers) for a trip to La Cueva de los Aviones, en San Vicente de Chucurí.  My coworker Nestor had gathered a group of us to go (the two of us along with Rosa Maria, Colleen, and Dan), and had told us that it was going to be a short hike to a waterfall, where we would picnic.  It would be muy tranquilo.

It was anything but tranquilo.

But we'll get to that later.  For now, it's 3:30am, we're on a (very full) coach bus, and we're traveling about 3 hours on little to no sleep.  For the most part, the journey was fairly uneventful, if very bumpy.

I did get to see the sunrise over the mountains from the bus!

At one point, the bus stopped, and we were told to get off.  We were all a little confused, as it did not seem like we had reached our destination at all.  Turns out the bus was having problems driving on such steep hills.

Our bus got stuck driving down the hill, hitting its front bumper on the cross-street.

Luckily, after a bit of work backing up and making sharp turns, the bus made it onto the next street.  We were only a few blocks from breakfast, so we walked there to eat.

Good morning San Vicente de Chucurí!

After a delicious traditional Colombian breakfast, we walked through town a bit to get back on the bus and onto the next leg of our adventure.  Along the way, our guides explained a bit about what to expect, but I was not able to follow most of it (I really need to learn Spanish).

We arrived at the top of a mountain, where we disembarked and were told to bring only what was truly necessary.  We changed into our swimsuits and hiking clothes, grabbed our water bottles, and left our bags at a little farm.  We were ready to go.

The hike began by walking down a very steep switch-back path.  Along the way, I made some friends, and we chatted about our lives and tried not to fall.  There were some expert hikers who helped me out along the way, teaching me different methods, or having me put a hand on their shoulder for stability.  We made it down the mountain and out of the sun into the tree cover.  After a bit more hiking (more level and easier), we made it to our first waterfall.

Time for a swim break!

It was cold and refreshing and wonderful, and we all swam around a bit.  We were having a blast.

So fun!

Well, not all of us swam around blissfully...

After a brief respite, we noticed the guides had started having people climb up out of the water onto this huge rock to continue the journey.  It had foot-holds and hand-holds, sort-of, so they had not yet broken out the rope.

Ok; that doesn't seem too bad...

We all made it up with a little push from behind and pull from above (thanks Caminantes!).  We were proud of ourselves, but we hadn't seen nothin' yet.  Our next task was much steeper, and there was a rope involved.  It was very difficult, but I made it after ~3 -4 tries with some extra help.

Go Nestor! (Sorry it's blurry, my waterproof camera case was dirty inside.)

Uh oh, how am I gonna make it? This is not "muy tranquilo"!

I made it, but not without getting a little bit dirty!

We had made it up the steep climb, and we continued walking, sometimes through the jungle and sometimes through the river without much mishap.  We then got to our next waterfall and little swim break.

I'm Queen of the Rock!

Water polo prepared me for the moment I would be treading water underneath a waterfall.

Blissfully unaware of our next task.

We were all swimming around, climbing on the little rock in the middle of the pool and jumping back in, just like a bunch of kids at summer camp, when we noticed the guides setting up another rope.

We were going to climb the waterfall.

Now I don't know what muy tranquilo means in Nestor's mind, but climbing up a mother-fuckin' waterfall doesn't sound tranquilo to me.

So, I watched a few people do it, and I watched a few people climb up the super-steep alternative path as well.  I pondered both.  I discussed the options with my new Colombian friend Sara and German friend Hanna.  We decided that the waterfall was the better option, as there were guides and experienced climbers there to help.

It doesn't seem too hard....no wait, it does.

Well, I gave it a try.  And I got stuck.  So I gave it another try.  And I got stuck.  So the guide had me sit on his shoulders for a boost up to get me past that part.  And....I got stuck.  So I decided to take a little break, watch a few more people, consider the alternate route...

I considered it, and was walking towards it, when the guides told me to stop and wait for help.  I trust them better than I trust my own abilities, so I listened.  I went to go try again.  I jumped off the rock into the water and I lost my sunglasses.  RIP sunglasses.  I hope some fish get to enjoy them and be super-cool now.  I shrugged it off, they were old and scratched up and fairly cheap.  I was going to conquer this waterfall.

I did not conquer this waterfall.

I tried again, getting on the guide's shoulders, stepping up to the next foot-hold (the guide shoved my foot up to the next foot-hold), pulling the rope, grabbing the next guide's hand, and....I got stuck.  I panicked.  I didn't know where I could go and the guide was pulling on my arm so hard I thought my shoulder was going to dislocate.  I was crying.  I dropped back into the water and took another break.  I watched all my friends, old and new, climb up the waterfall.

The guides told me to wait, they were going to check if there was another way around.  Turns out there was, and one of the guides brought me through it, practically dragging me by the hand.  Another guy came with us too; he probably could've done it but he was worried about his phone.

We made it back to the group, and it turns out that my most recent failures had really badly scraped up my leg and I was bleeding, but we had no first aid with us so I just washed it in the river and kept on keeping on.  People kept asking me "¿Como estas?" and I kept answering that I was "Bien!"  One of the guides asked if I wanted to stop, but I said no.  It was around this point that I started accumulating a fan club.  A group of Colombians asked me something about a photo; I thought they wanted me to take their photo.  Turns out nope, they wanted a photo with me.  Was I a celebrity?

Well, they later all friended me on Facebook and said I'm a "warrior to be admired," so I guess so.

Well, we kept on going, and we walked and we swam and we climbed a little more, and we finally made it to La Cueva de los Aviones!  We swam through a little gap that opened up into a beautiful cave with a cool waterfall.

Worth it.

We hung around in the cave a bit, taking cool photos and swimming around.  A few people (including Nestor!) climbed on top of the cave and jumped in the hole in the ceiling.  A few other people exited the cave through a smaller gap that required holding your breath and going underwater.  We took a group picture inside the cave before we moved on.

We continued our hike, our spirits bolstered by the wonders of the cave, and we approached our next and final waterfall.  This one was stronger and larger than the others, so we all took turns receiving back massages from the falls.

Who needs shiatsu?

As we were all swimming and splashing around, we saw a local climb up and then slide down the waterfall.  It looked crazy.  It looked fun.  We climbed up, since our destination was in that direction, and I decided that I was going to slide down this waterfall.  I may not have conquered the last one, but I decided that I would conquer this one.  I watched the local kid do it again, but had him do it slowly while explaining that you simply have to go the same path as the water.  He said the bottom was just sand, so no worries there.  And then I did it.

As I was sliding, I heard lots of people cheering "Go Katie!" and I heard Colleen shouting "Wait Katie WHAT ARE YOU DOING STOP!"  But I did it.  I conquered that damn waterfall.  And I had a FANTASTIC time doing it!  10/10 would scare the shit out of my roommate again.

The rest of the hike was a pretty easy walk through the cacao trees and then up a gravel road back to the farm.  My legs were super banged up and though this was objectively the easiest part, it felt like the hardest.  

Can't beat the view from the top though.

When we got back to the farm, they cut a leaf off an aloe plant, shaved off the green part to let the soothing goo out, and rubbed it all over all my scrapes, bandaging part of the aloe to my worst scrape on my upper thigh.  

We all had some delicious lunch cooked by our hosts, changed, and got back on the bus.  We stopped for an hour in San Vicente again, had some ice cream, bought some souvenirs, and got back on the bus.

Little chocolate bombs to make hot cocoa!

A hot cocoa mug shaped like a cacao bean!

We were excited to be going home to sleep, but then our bus stopped at a gas station to change a tire.  We had a snack of empanadas and fresh guanabana juice, which was tasty at the time but ended up giving all of us food poisoning later that week. 

My scrapes are finally almost healed, and my food poisoning fiasco is over, and my legs finally don't feel like they're going to collapse every time I take the stairs.  This adventure was definitely one for the books.  It was the hardest day of my entire life, but it was also one of the best days I've ever had.