Fin de Semana en la Finca

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Guatemala is rebuilding from civil war that destroyed its infrastructure and then combining that with that a huge drop in coffee prices in the late 1990s created further havoc in Guatemala and other central american countries.

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Photos

Eruption of Santiaguito
This is one of Guatemala's four active volcanoes and can erupt as often as 20 times per day. Behind Santiaguito is Santa Maria the second tallest point in Central America (3700 meters).

Santiaguito erupting
We rode from Xela to the Finca (Spanish for plantation) in a minibus and the driver stopped so we could take a few photos of the eruption.

The many parts of a coffee "cherry"
On the vine a ripe coffee "bean" looks like a small cherry. Inside it are several layers of material before you get to the heart or bean of the cherry. It requires several steps to properly remove these outer layers without damaging the bean inside.

Crab in the River
Our guide found a crab.

Jungle Swing
Several people showed us how to swing like Tarzan through the forest.

Kim on the swing
It looks pretty benign but once you swing 40 feet out above the jungle floor you can´t help but scream.

Cocoa Pod
In addition to macadamia and coffee the farm is experimenting with chocolate, bio-diesel, eco tourism and selling purified water.

Tour of the 19th century coffee plant
Our guide Oswaldo showed us around a working musuem still used to process coffee beans. Here he was showing us the wood burning furnace used to heat the air that dries the coffee beans.

Waterfall at the Finca
Connected to the plantation is a waterfall and was a nice place to cool off in the jungle.