Two Days in Honduras - Part 1
It all started at 4:30am on a Monday morning. I woke up, put on my comfy traveling outfit, braided my hair, and kissed my family goodbye before hopping into Harry and Leticia’s truck waiting for me outside. After scooping up Daryl, our incredible Sales Lead, we were on our way to the busiest airport in the world: Hartsfield-Jackson International.
When our plane landed in San Pedro Sula, Honduras, my first thought was, “Did we just land in the middle of the jungle?” I’m not kidding when I say the airport is truly a drop in the middle of the most luscious and green forest I’ve ever seen in my entire life. It’s stunning.
A little fun fact about our family coffee farms is that they’re a solid 4-5 hour drive from the airport. So what did we do after our 4 hour flight? We hopped into a van where our incredible driver, Daniel, navigated the not-quite-paved roads of Honduras to get us to our destination: Finca Terrerito. Along the way, we stopped for snacks like freshly picked lychee, pineapples, coconuts, and a Honduran classic - baleadas! What’s a baleada, you ask? Great question. A baleada is a tortilla filled with mashed beans, scrambled eggs, and crema. 10/10 recommend!
At the farm, we were greeted by so many wonderful and kind people who immediately made us feel welcome and included. They fed us more baleadas and gave us a quick lay of the land before the sun fully set and left us in the dark.
The next morning, we started bright and early. After a hearty breakfast of, you guessed it, more baleadas, we set off to climb up to the cross that sits at the crest of a mountain inside of Finca T. The view from the top is unbelievable and stretches a great distance. From the cross, you can see the reservoir, the barn where the farm animals sleep, the processing plant, and the Finca T offices. It’s a lot to take in, but wow - what an incredible sight.
After our hike to the cross, we made our way through the coffee trees, going up and up and up until I honestly wondered if I’d ever be able to make it back down… but all the sweat and muscle aches were 100% worth it when we got to put our eyes on abundantly growing, gorgeous coffee cherries. Leticia even split one open in her hand and tossed the beans into her mouth. We don’t recommend eating the bean, but you can enjoy the sweet taste of the mucilage inside the cherry. So incredible!
From there, Daryl and I were handed our own baskets to pick cherries. Let’s just say we could use some more practice. What looks so simple is actually a very niche, practiced skill. There’s a very specific method to picking cherries in order to avoid damaging the root of the cherry. Watching actual coffee pickers work their magic was eye-opening and honestly fascinating to observe.
Once we made our way back to the farm, it was time for lunch and a short break before visiting the Finca T offices for a cupping performed by Lourdes Villeda, Finca T’s Director of Quality Control & Exports, who just recently received her Q Grader certification. HUGE kudos to Lourdes for this giant achievement as it is an incredibly intense course and very difficult to pass. We are so proud of her! “Certified Q Graders are professionals skilled in sensory evaluation of green coffee, and are employed throughout the industry.” (From The Coffee Institute.)
The evening was capped off with a long quad ride to two of the other Alma Family Farms, Finca Alejandra and Finca Mariposa (“butterfly” in Spanish). Both farms were more beautiful than I ever could’ve imagined. Finca Alejandra was surrounded by the most gorgeous florals, all of which were blooming from the recent rains. And Finca Mariposa is aptly named as we witnessed many butterflies fluttering around the trees, plus we spotted several banana trees sporting huge bundles of bananas! So cool to see a fruit I normally buy at the grocery store actually growing in nature!
We ended the day by visiting some of the horses who call Finca T home, sipping coffee by the man-made reservoir, and taking a quick tour of the coffee processing plant, all followed by dinner time with a huge crew of Finca T team members. Dinner was by far the most powerful point of the day because it gave me the chance to hear from the side of the coffee business I wouldn’t normally be able to access or bare witness to so close up.
I went to bed that night not only physically exhausted from a day of go-go-going, but also with a huge sense of gratitude that I’m in a place to make a difference in the lives of the farm team. Day 1 of Honduras really opened my eyes to the magnitude of the coffee industry and how many lives depend on the work both the Finca T team and the Alma team is putting in. It’s incredible to see what we’ve been able to accomplish as we’ve come together to build this business.
…and that was just Day 1! Stay tuned for Day 2 coming soon!
- Ashley Elayne
980 comments
CONTACT THIS GREAT SPELL CASTER FOR LOTTERY WINNINGS AND ANY OTHER KIND OF HELP NEEDED. WhatsApp +234-8133261196
I am very grateful for sharing this great testimonies with you, The best thing that has ever happened in my life is how I won the lottery. I am a man who believes that one day I will win the lottery. Finally my dreams came true when I emailed Dr Isikolo and told him I needed the lottery numbers. I have come a long way spending money on tickets just to make sure I win. But I never knew that winning was so easy until the day I meant the spell caster online which so many people have talked about. He is very great at casting lottery spells, so I decided to give it a try. I contacted this man and he did a spell and he gave me the winning lottery numbers. But believe me when the draws were out I was among the winners. I won 755.000.00USD. DR ISIKOLO truly you are the best, with this man, you can win millions of money through the lottery. I am so very happy to meet these man, i will forever be grateful to you. Text him on WhatsApp via: +2348133261196 or go to his webpage (https://isikolo-temple.com)
Hello everyone my names are ALEX JACKSON from the UK, I want to use this golden medium to appreciate Doctor Abdul a great spell caster for helping me retrieving back my relationship with my ex lover when she ended and turned back on me for quite a long time now (6 months ago). He performed a spell for me and within 48 hours after the spell had been cast I received a text from my ex saying that she is sorry for the pains and tears that she had caused me and that she will not do such a thing to me again in her life. I was surprised but later accepted her back again. Anyone that is in the same line of problem or different one that wants to contact a spell caster should happily contact Doctor Abdul now on this email address.doctorabdulspellcaster@gmail.com or message him through his Whatsapp +2348108728256
Hello everyone my names are ALEX JACKSON from the UK, I want to use this golden medium to appreciate Doctor Abdul a great spell caster for helping me retrieving back my relationship with my ex lover when she ended and turned back on me for quite a long time now (6 months ago). He performed a spell for me and within 48 hours after the spell had been cast I received a text from my ex saying that she is sorry for the pains and tears that she had caused me and that she will not do such a thing to me again in her life. I was surprised but later accepted her back again. Anyone that is in the same line of problem or different one that wants to contact a spell caster should happily contact Doctor Abdul now on this email address.doctorabdulspellcaster@gmail.com or message him through his Whatsapp +2348108728256
OPTIMISTIC HACKER GAIUS IS THE RELIABLE CYBER RECOVERY EXPERT I’VE FINALLY FOUND TO HELP WITH LOST BITCOIN ISSUES.
I’ve always liked the notion of investing in cryptocurrencies, but I didn’t follow the correct procedures, and I ended up losing all of my money to a phony site that made fraudulent bitcoin investments. I was duped out of my hard-earned money after falling for a bitcoin investment scam because I didn’t conduct enough research. I tried everything to get my money back, but I was unable to do so. I also called the authorities, but they were unable to assist me until I learned about OPTIMISTIC HACKER GAIUS, a cryptocurrency recovery business that has assisted other victims of scams in getting their money back. I got in touch with them right away and gave them all the information they required to aid in their investigation. My cryptocurrency money was recovered, and OPTIMISTIC HACKER GAIUS was able to find the con artists. I sincerely appreciate their dependable and competent assistance. The finest strategy for getting your locked money and stolen cryptocurrency back is OPTIMISTIC HACKER GAIUS.
Contact info;
Telegram….. http://t.me/optimistichackergaius
WhatsApp at +4..4..7..7..3..5..2..8..0..4..7..3
email… optimistichackergaius @ seznam.cz
OPTIMISTIC HACKER GAIUS IS THE RELIABLE CYBER RECOVERY EXPERT I’VE FINALLY FOUND TO HELP WITH LOST BITCOIN ISSUES.
I’ve always liked the notion of investing in cryptocurrencies, but I didn’t follow the correct procedures, and I ended up losing all of my money to a phony site that made fraudulent bitcoin investments. I was duped out of my hard-earned money after falling for a bitcoin investment scam because I didn’t conduct enough research. I tried everything to get my money back, but I was unable to do so. I also called the authorities, but they were unable to assist me until I learned about OPTIMISTIC HACKER GAIUS, a cryptocurrency recovery business that has assisted other victims of scams in getting their money back. I got in touch with them right away and gave them all the information they required to aid in their investigation. My cryptocurrency money was recovered, and OPTIMISTIC HACKER GAIUS was able to find the con artists. I sincerely appreciate their dependable and competent assistance. The finest strategy for getting your locked money and stolen cryptocurrency back is OPTIMISTIC HACKER GAIUS.
Contact info;
Telegram….. http://t.me/optimistichackergaius
WhatsApp at +4..4..7..7..3..5..2..8..0..4..7..3
email… optimistichackergaius @ seznam.cz