Last week on Thursday we got to go to Margarita's (another one of our directors) coffee finca to take a tour and see the whole coffee process...

Here's a few pics of the process... i don't know if anyone actually finds it interesting, but here they are nonetheless....


The coffee trees/bushes. Other taller kinds of trees are planted around them to give them shade and protect them from frost...
















These are the beans before they are stripped from their shell.. they go from green to yellow to red. The red ones are the good ones. The green ones, if picked, are still dried and sold, mostly to the Japanese aparently, for blended coffees.






The women sorting the beans - they only get paid for the red beans they pick and they get paid by the pounds (I don't remember how much but it wasn't much - like Q35, which is about $7 Canadian dollars, for a 100 pound bag.. i think)











Carrying the 100 pound bag over to where the beans get peeled/stripped and then dried

The whole beans get dumped into a machine where most of them getted stripped from their shells, the man pushes the heavy beans (the good ones) through the the bottom.













The heavy beans then go up a tube and then are pushed by the water pressure into a big basin where they stay for a day or two to let the water drain and ferment..mmmm..





The lighter and unstripped beans go through another machine and then into a different basin..










After the water drains they are laid out to dry and then they are shipped somewhere else to be roasted...

After the tour, we were lucky enough to get a ride back into Antigua (as opposed to having to take the chicken bus)...



Jessica, Me, Amanda, Melissa


Birds of Paradise and Margarita's house (which was huge and beautiful)


After our tour a few of us were lucky enough to get a ride back in the truck (and didn't have to take the chicken bus). Me, Sarah, Andrea, Jesse, and Jana.


Amanda and Jana

Okay, this weekend, not only did we go to the beach, but a few of us went fishing the morning we left. I figured even though I was sick I was going to do something fun! So at 6:30 in the morning, this Guatemalan guy with this crazy afro picked us up from our hotel (and by picked us up I mean walked over to our hotel and then walked with us over to the other side of "town" to where his boat was.. hahaha). To get to Monterrico from Antigua you have to take a 3 (ish) hour bus ride and then a boat ride along a canal. This canal is where we went fishing. Madga (who is our teacher from Costa Rica - teaching the Spanish lit. class) was the only one who caught anything (and it was small) but it was still fun!


The Canal


We thought Jess had caught something - she didnt :) The guy gave us each some fishing line wrapped around a random piece of garbage (can, bottle, anything circular) with a hook and some bait on the end... it was sweet



Magda and her "big" catch

This weekend we went to the pacific coast - to Monterrico... Unfortunately I was sick the whole time, but figured being sick at the beach in a hammock was better than at home in bed! I didn't get a chance to see much of the area but here are the pics of what i did see! It was beautiful and a nice little getaway (and HOT!)

My view from the hammock


Melissa and Jesslyn


Sunset at the beach



The hotel (was going to take more and better pictures but my sickness told me I couldn't... sorry... that's alls I gots)

Yesterday (Sunday) a few of us hiked up to the cross on the side of one of the hills in Antigua.... We didn't get mugged, and it was a beautiful view from the cross... here are some pics...


Some sort of parade type thing going through the town square... Apparently the locals were celebrating when the wisemen met Jesus or something? Anyways, lots of fireworks and parades


The cross, Antigua, and the Volcano Agua (which we will eventually hike) in the background


Antigua


Jessica


(left to right) Emily, Ryan, Amanda, Cassandra (back) and Deanna

Mi Casa

Here is my Guatemalan home....


The Entrance


The Dining Room


Hallway from outside my Bedroom.... The end of the hallway is the entrance


The front door and my housemate - Deanna - from U of Guelph