January 2011 News

-News on the Coffee Harvest
-New Years in Honduras
-Visit the Coffee Farm Yourself

It's a chilly 9 degrees here in Minnesota. Hard to believe that Wednesday morning we were in Honduras where it was 85 degrees when we boarded our flight in San Pedro Sula. Our 10 day trip passed in a blur of noisy activity surrounded by Guillermo's large family. Below, we give a brief update on our trip, a link to pictures if you want more and news about the Honduran coffee harvest.

News on the Coffee Harvest
Although it was hot when we left (San Pedro Sula is almost always hot), it has been a cold rainy winter up in the mountains. The family said they have suffered through unusual amounts of rain and cold this year. (I assure you, 55 degrees and weeks of constant rain are VERY cold when you don't have a heater or tightly enclosed walls.) The coffee in Rio Negro suffered too, plagued with diseases, falling leaves and fewer ripe berries to harvest. We won't be getting much coffee from Rio Negro this year, but thankfully, Guillermo's brother Sabel and his brother-in-law Alonzo have farms in other areas of Honduras that are doing a bit better this year, so we'll have enough. The coffee harvest throughout Honduras and around the region is generally poor, so market coffee prices are at record levels. We are likely going to pay more for our coffee this year so we will be crunching numbers to see whether this means we need to raise our sales prices. We'll ask for your feedback in the coming months before making any changes.

New Years in Honduras
Thankfully, during our visit, the weather was mostly sunny and clear, with temperatures in the 60s and 70s. We enjoyed several days on the outskirts of Comayagua where two of Guillermo's sisters live next door to each other. On December 31st, four truck loads of us (37 family members in total) traveled up the mountain to the farm to ring in the New Year. We danced to a local mariachi band, marveled at the multitude of stars in a clear dark sky, talked and ate and laughed and talked some more. On New Year's day, we celebrated two birthdays (Guillermo's mom and his niece's son who was born just last year) with a pinata, cake and more celebration. After most of the family headed home, we enjoyed one more quieter day hiking the farm and relaxing, although Guillermo, never one to sit around, found time to help paint the old farm house. If you want to see more, we have created a few collections of photos on Flickr.

-Short and Beautiful - Eight of our favorite shots from the trip, suitable for your computer desktop. (Click on the thumbnail, right click and download the large size).
-The Story of our Trip - 27 photos that give more details of what we did ("Show info" in the slideshow to read the descriptions).

Visit the Coffee Farm Yourself
We mentioned last month we are planning an informational open house and coffee brunch for those interested in traveling to Honduras (or just learning more about our family coffee farms). Although we were originally planning to do that in February, it is looking like March will be easier. We'll let you know more as plans develop. In the meantime, if you speak Spanish and/or are comfortable traveling on your own, the family is ready to host you at any time. Just let us know and we'll get you more details. The cabins that are available for rent can be seen here.

We hope the New Year is treating you well so far!