July 2009 Coffee News

-A Successful Adventure
-Honduran Political Crisis
-2009 Coffee Supply Safely on its way
-Expanded Delivery Route in the Twin Cities

We had been planning to fill this July issue of our email newsletter with happy news from our trip to the coffee farm June 11-21 (and we still will) but then Honduras grabbed international attention by deposing its President in a military coup! We've had several requests from folks wondering about the impact on our family and our own take on the complicated matter - so we'll give some space to that too.

A Successful Adventure
The good news first. On Thursday afternoon, June 11 our group of 22 travelers left the Minneapolis/St. Paul airport group headed for Honduras. We spent the first night in San Pedro Sula where the group experienced the sweltering heat and lively noise and grime of the industrial capital of Honduras. They enjoyed the "plato tipico" of beans, eggs, tortillas, plantains, cheese and tortillas for breakfast before we headed out for the winding drive to Comayagua. We broke up the nearly 4 hour drive by stopping at beautiful Lago de Yahoa for fresh fried fish and plantains eaten lakeside and then a few miles further entered into the caves of Taulabe (where at least a few of us wondered why in the world we were going into the depths of a cave in a country that was still experiencing after shocks from a recent earthquake - but we emerged unharmed glad to have seen the amazing underground formations). We spent the second night in the much quieter city of Comayagua in a lovely bed and breakfast and enjoyed sight seeing and souvenir shopping in and around the colonial city plaza.

Then the real adventure began. We climbed into the back of three pickup trucks for a memorable drive up the bumpy mountain road to the coffee farm. As we climbed higher, the temperatures cooled and the forest changed from arid pine to lush tropical rain forest. We arrived just in time for a delicious lunch ably served by Guillermo's sister-in-law Bertilia and five neighbor woman that she hired to help her during our stay -- the first of many wonderful meals we enjoyed together. The group was warmly welcomed by Guillermo's brother Abilio his parents Maximo and Natalia. We had known they were experienced at providing hospitality for tourists to the area, but it was a real pleasure to see them in action. Over the next seven days, Abilio showed our group the coffee farm and his mini-hydroelectric project. He shared his vision for a community that protects the forest while benefiting from eco-tourism and the sale of fair trade organically grown coffee. We met other community members who are building their own eco-cabins out of traditional adobe. Students learning English from Gabe Sidman, a Minnesota native Peace Corp volunteer working in the community, performed skits for us and we learned from Bertilia what it is like to be the only teacher at the rural school that serves 80 children in 6 grades. Local guides took us up a mountain trail to the Cascada de Suenos (Waterfall of Dreams). And we played in the smaller (but closer) waterfalls of Rio Negro. The week came to a glorious conclusion when we were seranaded by a local mariache band of guitars and accordian at dinner on our last night on the farm.

We don't have photos to share yet, but members of our group took over 10,000 photos, a few of which we hope to be able to share at some point in the near future.

Honduran Political Crisis
Our trip was so successful, that we had hoped to ask in this email if there were people interested in traveling with us next June (or perhaps even sooner). But then, the political situation in Honduras took a sudden dive into chaos when President Zelaya (who was hoping to extend his stay in power by holding a referendum to reform the constitution) was forced from power Sunday morning by the military in a move backed by the Congress and Supreme Court. The situation is complicated and it is hard to take a clear side in the political crisis. (Click here for a quick Q & A about the situation).

As of yesterday, the US State Department is advising against travel to Honduras. And there are alarming reports that the interim government, led by the newly appointed interim president, Roberto Micheletti (formerly speaker of the congress), is trying to supress pro-Zelaya rallies and has suspended some constitutional rights such as freedom of assembly and is enforcing a country wide curfew. But at least at the moment, we are relieved that Zelaya has temporarily postponed his plan to return home (which certainly would have escalated the situation), leaving a bit more time for diplomatic efforts of the Organization of American States to hopefully find a calmer solution to the crisis.

We've been in touch with some of our family members, and most are outside of capital city of Tegucigalpa where most of the unrest is occuring and so there aren't any immediate concerns for their safety. But we are all deeply concerned about the potential for the situation to spin further out of control. We'll be following it closely. If you'd like to learn more, we've found a wealth information by simply Googling Honduras and choosing News Results.

2009 Coffee Safely on its way
Given the political situation and threats by the international community to close borders and stop trade with Honduras, we are extremely relieved to know that our 2009 supply of coffee is safely on its way from Miami (where it arrived last week) to our roaster in Le Center, Minnesota. At least for the moment, we don't expect any impact on our business (except perhaps for time lost reading news reports on the internet that could be spent more productively on other matters!)

Expanded Delivery Routes in the Twin Cities Area
Finally, some good news to end this long email. We have seen a very nice increase in our customer base since our business was featured in the Star Tribune in April. As a result, we have been able to expand our free home delivery route somewhat. We now have regular monthly customers in the following cities and suburbs:

East Metro: St. Paul, West St. Paul, Woodbury, Maplewood, White Bear Lake, Shoreview, Vadnais Heights, Falcon Heights, Roseville
West Metro: Minneapolis, Edina, St. Louis Park

If you or anyone you know in these communities is interested in purchasing our coffee, contact us to see if we can add you to our free home delivery route on the 2nd Friday of each month.

We hope you have a lovely Independence Day weekend! We'll be trying to forget the craziness in Honduras while we enjoy three days camping with Cathy's extended family.