{"id":52790,"date":"2017-03-15T15:54:29","date_gmt":"2017-03-15T15:54:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/global\/?p=52790"},"modified":"2017-06-05T14:54:40","modified_gmt":"2017-06-05T14:54:40","slug":"global-coffee-culture-trip","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/global\/2017\/03\/15\/global-coffee-culture-trip\/","title":{"rendered":"Global Coffee Culture Trip"},"content":{"rendered":"

The following is a summary of a recent Customized Program organized by CGEE for Providence College, by student Danielle H., recipient of the Mary Witt Scholarship. This program took place in March of 2017. Photos from Danielle as well. We hope all participants had a wonderful time and learned a lot on the program!<\/em><\/p>\n

The Global Coffee Culture Trip<\/strong> I took with my class, organized by Augsburg College’s Center for Global Education and Experience, was life-changing.\u00a0 Throughout the trip, I was immersed in Guatemala’s rich culture, history, and language.\u00a0 I have never become so close with people in a class in such a short period of time or learned so much in such a short period of time.<\/p>\n

\"Panoramic<\/p>\n

After waking up at 3:45 (after my first alarm did not sound) Saturday morning to take a shuttle departing for Logan Airport by 4:15, we made it to the airport to check in for our boarding passes.\u00a0 After going through security, we waited for our flight and boarded.\u00a0 The first flight, with a layover in Miami, was very turbulent.\u00a0 The second flight, from Miami to Guatemala, was much less turbulent.\u00a0 As the plane lowered in altitude, we saw volcanoes from our window.\u00a0 The first culture shock we experienced was using the bathrooms in the Guatemalan airport after landing, where we could not flush toilet paper.\u00a0 Further, we could not fill our water there like we could at Logan or Miami International.<\/p>\n

We met Fidel and Gloria, along with the other driver, in the parking lot.\u00a0 There, we drove to our first hotel, Hotel Pan American, in Guatemala City.\u00a0 We were shocked at how globalized Guatemala City was \u2013 not only were there countless McDonald’s, McDonald’s delivered!\u00a0\u00a0 We were also shocked at all the shanty houses on the hillside that were built on land at a near 90-degree angle.\u00a0 Our first hotel was very different from those in the United States, but was relatively nice.\u00a0 We would not realize this until later, but we were placed in a relatively nice hotel with American cuisine the first night to adjust us to Guatemala without complete culture shock.<\/p>\n

\"Government
Plaza Mayor in Guatemala City<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That night, we checked into our rooms, then went back into a meeting room on the first floor of the hotel, where Fidel gave us a general overview of our trip.\u00a0 We then explored Guatemala City in el Centro Hist\u00f3rico, exploring the new and old government buildings and a cathedral.\u00a0 After returning to the hotel, Fidel gave us a detailed history of Guatemala, especially centered around government and politics.\u00a0 After eating dinner \u2013 spaghetti with a tomato meat sauce served with traditional hibiscus juice \u2013 we went to bed after what felt like the longest day of our lives.\u00a0 That morning we woke up to pancakes served with fresh fruit, coffee, and hibiscus juice.\u00a0 That morning we experienced a survey of Antigua, before we would spend more time there as we ended our trip.\u00a0 Some people in the group opted to go to mass, but I chose to explore Antigua.<\/p>\n

\"Archway
Santa Catalina Arch in Antigua<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

We left the downtown area of Antigua to visit a coffee finca owned by the Dalton family, Finca Filadephia.\u00a0 The tour was very well organized and informative.\u00a0 Although the finca was not fair trade, group members of mine were sure to problematize the issue by asking what pickers did during the off-season, for which our guide did not have a well-prepared answer.\u00a0 During the tour, we explored the finca and the coffee growing process by caravan.\u00a0 After the caravan, we finished our tour with the coffee production.\u00a0 We ran into a producer making a television documentary series on coffee while looked at coffee being dried.\u00a0 At the end of the tour, we made our way over to a caf\u00e9 where we tasted black, Arabica Antiguan coffee.\u00a0 After the tour, we ate a delicious buffet lunch; I took this opportunity to start ordering food in Spanish and to try different Guatemalan cuisine.<\/p>\n

After exploring the grounds a bit more, we departed to make our way back to the hotel.\u00a0 There, we listened to a professor named from la Universidad Nacional de Guatemala, Victor Ayala.\u00a0 There, he gave us a history of Guatemala and its current problems.\u00a0 He explained how the truth is relative and how Guatemalans aren’t living in poverty, but rather are impoverished.<\/p>\n

\"Looking<\/p>\n

On day three, we ate breakfast then made our way to San Lucas Tolim\u00e1n.\u00a0 On our way, we visited a co-operative, Fedecocagua, and listened to a history of the company and its mission.\u00a0 After and in route to San Lucas Tolim\u00e1n, we visited a co-operative that worked with Fedecocagua, which was essentially a bank, located in Palin.\u00a0 After this, we visited a plantation and heard the producer perspective.\u00a0 the owner was Ladino, and apparently looked down on Fidel and Gloria for their Mayan ethnicity until he saw the rest of the group.\u00a0 He gave us his relative truth about coffee production, which appeared transparent to me.\u00a0 He even admitted that his coffee isn’t the best like Antigua’s, and why he does not fully support fair trade products.<\/p>\n

\"Students<\/p>\n

After visiting his planation and viewing el Volc\u00e1n de Atitl\u00e1n, we went to our next hotel, Posada los Volcanes.\u00a0 Since the hotel restaurant was not prepared to serve us, we went to a higher end restaurant at a local resort.\u00a0 The next day we visited another fair trade, organic organization, CCDA.\u00a0 Not all of the speakers were present since some were protesting in Guatemala City.\u00a0 Next we visited a permaculture farm, IMAP.\u00a0 Here, our speaker spoke to us about sustainability and the anthropology of Guatemala.\u00a0 After eating lunch and viewing the farm, we bought local products and viewed el Lago de Atitl\u00e1n.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

After returning to our hotel, we took more pictures with the lake.\u00a0 Later, we visited a speaker who was a friend of Fidel’s, and, with the help of a missionary Father Grey, escaped slavery in a coffee finca.\u00a0 Later, we reflected on our day after dinner.\u00a0 We went to Cajol\u00e1 after some other photo opportunities.\u00a0 Here, we visited a migrant who was deported back to Guatemala.\u00a0 He was in limbo; had provided for his family after visiting the United States but still lived in Guatemala.\u00a0 A woman who helped in there, Karen, had moved back to Cajol\u00e1 and started a business for women there, where they could weave part time for Maya Mam, while their children attended the pre-school and the same building.\u00a0 Eduardo, our speaker, also started many sustainability efforts, including a chicken farm.<\/p>\n

\"Students<\/p>\n

After eating lunch and touring the rest of Eduardo’s efforts, we made our trip to Santa Anita where we started our homestays.\u00a0 There, I met Gloria and three of her four children.\u00a0 Her sixteen-year-old was married and her youngest, a boy named Sebastian, had Downs Syndrome.\u00a0 After starting our first official day in the homestay, we observed Gloria’s usual work day, which included cleaning her coffee trees.\u00a0 After hiking there and back, we rested for a while \u2013 tired from the manual labor and heat- then ate lunch.\u00a0 After, we went to the community center where we departed on a tour of the land, which ended in a viewing of the waterfall there, which was well worth the hike.\u00a0 After that, we quickly washed up, but since the running water was off and we felt guilty using it regardless, we used towelettes to wipe off.\u00a0 Then we went the to community center to hear a speaker share her experiences as a guerilla in the war and loosing her husband, which was very powerful and moving.<\/p>\n

\"Mountain<\/p>\n

The next day, we had the opportunity to buy coffee and tour the museum before leaving for Antigua.\u00a0 It was sad to leave Gloria and her family, but a relief to have running water and meals that we more accustomed to.\u00a0 After a long ride with one pit stop, we arrived at our hotel, Hotel Posada San Vicente.\u00a0 There, I immediately showered before lunch.\u00a0 Then, we had some time to shop and explore the city more.\u00a0 At night, we had our final reflection on the rooftop of the hotel.\u00a0 Then, we had a delicious dinner and then explored.\u00a0 The next day, we had our final breakfast in an outdoor caf\u00e9, then left for the airport, it was bittersweet to leave, but it felt like the right time.\u00a0 Our last day was filled with travel, and by the time we got back, I was happy but exhausted.<\/p>\n

Overall, I cannot imagine not having gone on this trip.\u00a0 As Bob, a retired Providence College professor and expert on Guatemala who travelled with us said, “now you’re all ruined.”\u00a0 He meant that now we can no longer look at things superficially and ignore injustices nationally and internationally.<\/p>\n

\"waterfall\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The following is a summary of a recent Customized Program organized by CGEE for Providence College, by student Danielle H., …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":236,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-52790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-central-america"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/236"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=52790"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52790\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":53059,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/52790\/revisions\/53059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=52790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=52790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.augsburg.edu\/global\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=52790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}