Pochuta!

I told myself yesterday that I would do a post tonight about my trip to the field Monday and Tuesday. I'm going to be honest... it's going to be a struggle. Not from lack of content...but rather lack of brain power. Today.. we had a training in the office... "Entrenamiento del Entrenador." It was 9 hours of nonstop Spanish (minus the 30 minutes for lunch). I understood 98% of the content in the morning- I was on cloud nine! Then the second half of the day came... and my brain STOPPED translating Spanish completely. I wouldn't be surprised if my co-workers caught me drooling. It was a rough situation. But I digress... now onto the trip...

I spent my Monday and Tuesday in the field with my co-worker Willy. We traveled about two hours outside the city to Pochuta. I definitely enjoyed this trip a lot more than my first one only because I was able to get a more comprehensive understanding of the area, its people, and the project. The only downside (and I'm surprised I felt this way) was that Willy knows English. When I'm with people that do not speak English, my Spanish comes out a lot more naturally. In this case, Willy preferred English because its easier for him to Speak English than to dumb down his Spanish. The English definitely drew even more attention to the fact that I was a "gringo" as I heard several jokes made about me throughout the two days. Although, I was lucky enough to have Willy tell me when they were laughing at me...AS IF I COULDN'T TELL lol

Many families live on this particular farm...they even have a small school and church there as well- it's a small community! Anyone who grows coffee in this area utilizes the plant, and earns a portion of the profit. The people also grown papaya, pineapple, bananas, green beans, coconuts, and probably even more! However, TechnoServe works solely with the green beans...for now. The farm has recently built a warehouse to clean, sort, and package the green beans. TechnoServe assisted with some of the logistics, but mainly has supplied materials for the warehouse uses. As of now, TechnoServe's main objective is improving the quality of the green beans to increase the value of the products in order to export higher amounts.

Anyways, so Pochuta was a great area, though unfortunately it was quite obvious that the people were struggling far more than the people I visited in Quiche. At the end of a long, bumpy, cobblestone road was farm with a coffee plant slightly run down. The main objective of the farm used to be coffee. Though the plant can no longer be used to its fullest potential, it still is able to do basic coffee processing while utilizing the local rivers (about six) as a means of electricity. The coffee is taken from the tree and put into a machine that dehusks the coffee. The husks flow down toward the end of the plant, outside, where someone lays it out to dry (for potential future use like fertilizer or biofuel briquettes). The actually coffee then flows through the rest of the process, being cleaned and separated. Upon reaching the end, the coffee is laid out on tarps to dry. After drying and raking the coffee for about four days, it is then brought inside, bagged, and ready to be sold. The farm processes both organic and non-organic coffee.

(I took pictures of all the products and the coffee process, but there are so many that I'm just going to put them on Facebook!)

The first day was mainly spent touring the farm and seeing the various products. Afterwards, we met with the group leaders and crunched some numbers and went over new material. From there (around 6pm) the men were done collecting their beans. The men are split into about 12 groups that are responsible for farming their portions. At the end of the day, every group weighs their amount and then organizes it to be picked up and sent out. The farmers income is based upon the amount weighed each day. The second day we simply set up the warehouse for practice runs until they are able to get electricity.

This trip definitely gave me a better understanding of how these types of TechnoServe programs work. That was the one plus of having Willy speak English- I was able to ask him more in depth questions about TechnoServe and the logistics behind all the projects.

Tomorrow I have a second day of the "Entrenamiento del Entrenador." It's only until 12:30 so the day is looking hopeful aka hopefully I won't end the day with a huge desire to cry from lack of Spanish in front of 8 people... Classic Rob.

On another note, I heard back from a local orphanage- "La Luz de Maria" and they said they'd love to have me volunteer on the weekends! I'll be working out logistics the rest of this week and hopefully get to go this weekend!