Day 11 Puerto Quetzal, Guatemala
Guatemala is located in the northern most part of Central America , borders on Mexico and is one of the largest countries in this region. It boasts 37 volcanoes, a rich Mayan heritage and one of the best-preserved colonial cities, Antigua. Our on-shore excursion took us to Antigua. But first we went to the Filadelfia Coffee Estate to explore a working coffee estate and see the processes that are involved in taking coffee from the field to the cup. Our guide at the plantation walked us through every step of the process beginning with the plants in the field. He explained how and why they are able to not use pesticides on the coffee plants and how they shade them so they don’t get sunburned. We were each allowed to pick one of the fruit and squeeze the bean out and taste it. Some parts of the process seemed quite unusual. Once the beans are removed from the fruit they are dried outside in the sun in thin layers and raked regularly to dry them. The rest of the process seemed to be pretty high tech. After the tour we were taken to the Filadelfia Resort and Spa where they have a 5-star hotel. At that location they also have several very large and very nice tents set up on a thick plush lawn where they serve an excellent luncheon to the bus tour patrons. The food was native recipes and very, very good. During the luncheon we were treated to music by a Mariachi band and some interesting dancers. Just in case you would be interested in traveling there for a vacation, you can find out all about it at: http://www.rdaltoncoffee.com/5_1_hotel.htm#L
