Is it Just Me, or is that Mountain Smoking...?


Ever just wake up, make yourself a good cup of jo, look out your window and appreciate the beautiful, majestic volcano in the distance? No? Me neither usually. But when you’re a study abroad student traveling in the gorgeous country of Guatemala - a country with a total of 37 volcanoes - that’s just a good ol’ fashioned “regular” day.

On my week long excursion in Guatemala, I never stopped short of being amazed by my surroundings. That being said, I unashamedly had “tourist” stamped across my forehead 24/7. The music, the busseling artisan salesmen constantly husseling around the corner, and the smells (oh, the smells)...I soaked it all in. But nothing, and I mean nothing, beat the shock and awe of witnessing the smoldering, mountainous volcanoes surrounding the cities of Antigua and San Miguel Escobar.

Occasional small, but bright eruptions from Volcán De Fuego could be seen from our pasado at night, whilst during the day billows of smoke puffed from Volcán de Pacaya - a volcano we had the honor to climb! We even roasted marshmallows on the side of Pacaya, using its natural “vents” of heat to melt gooey snacks - now who can say that so casually?

Well, apparently now I can.

So thanks Guatemala, for sharing your natural treasures with me everyday. It’s a bitter sweet feeling looking out my Texan home window and not seeing huge, miraculous, fiery mountains every morning. But you can bet that, in addition to the Pacaya volcanic rocks I managed to smuggle back home, I’ll forever keep the memory as a cherished keepsake.

- Rosalind Walker ‘17

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Working and shopping

Woke up at 0600 to go to Mass at 0630.   The church was very full.   I liked seeing that there were people of all ages there.   It seems like religion is still very important here.   After Mass I went back to the house, changed, and had breakfast.   A farmer, Gabriel, met us and took us to his house where we picked up baskets and then hiked to the coffee plots in the direction of Volcan de Agua.   We didn’t get to go as far as originally planned, which was kind of a bummer for me because I was enjoying the climb.   Gabriel told us the whole process of growing from seed to harvest.   A coffee plant reaches full production around five years, and has to be periodically pruned after that.   We harvested for about an hour and a half, then went back to Gabriel’s house for lunch.   After lunch we processed the coffee cherries, and Gabriel told us how the seeds would be rinsed and left in bucket to ferment for several hours, then spread out to dry for several days.   When the second hus
Read more

A Boy, a Mountain, a Sarape

Today was one of the coolest days of my life. We woke up and walked to Farmer Gabriel’s house to pick up baskets and hiked to the finca on the mountainside. There we received a brief history of his time in the coffee farming business and then spent about 2 hours picking coffee cherries. It was so simple but it brought me such joy to get the ripe ones from the top of the trees because the short native Guatemalans can’t reach. I did this, of course, while overlooking the town of San Miguel Escobar with the mountains and volcanoes in the distance while talking to my new friends about almost everything. All together, we picked 93 pounds of cherries, and Gabriel and our British translator, Joe, put the strap of the bag around their foreheads with the bag on their back and walked it down the mountain; very impressive. When we finally made it back to Gabriel’s house, we went through each of the steps in coffee preparation; from tree to cup. Finally, we were able to enjoy una taza de café . Af
Read more

First Aggie Horticulture Experience in Guatemala

Image
This blogs contains a few of the impressions that the first "Service Learning Coffee Origins" Study Abroad course left on the student participants. The course took place in San Miguel Escobar and was conducted in partnership with De La Gente . Scroll down to read more about this incredible experience. The Group at Cerro de la Cruz, overlooking the city of Antigua, Guatemala.
Read more