Today we finally made it to the Los Andes Nature Reserve after a groggy 6 AM breakfast, 30 minute hike, 1 hour boat ride, and a 3 hour bus ride (courtesy of Fidel)—stopping only once for coconut water and a bathroom break. We were greeted warmly at Los Andes by Olga and her husband Jaime. They treated us to a delicious lunch—that surprisingly did not include guacamole. After lunch we explored our accommodations—La Casa Oliver—and found them to be beautiful and very homey with hammocks on the porch, an amazing view, hummingbird feeders throughout, a pool, and 2 friendly dogs roaming the grounds. Olga taught us some of the history of Los Andes and how her individual history connected to the reserve when her father was hired by the Oliver Family (of La Casa Oliver) to maintain the grounds.
Our project is “sustainable community development”, and in a lot of ways the community of Los Andes is already sustainable. Many of the people living in the community have lived here for a couple of generations and continue to help the reserve evolve and grow in a positive way. Within the grounds they grow coffee, tea, macadamia nuts, and quinine—using community resources and sustainable processes. The entire reserve is powered by a hydroelectric plant on- site, built by the Oliver family in the 1950s.
We concluded the afternoon with a quick tour of the parts of the reserve surrounding the house, led by a local expert named Don Jesus. He was kind enough to give us machete lessons—which, thankfully did not lead to any serious injuries…but did result in some close calls. We learned about some of the crops, tasted raw coffee beans, and saw the water that flows to the hydroelectric plant.
After our walk we ate another delicious meal, played some quick games of president and mafia, and had our nightly reflection. Today was very exhausting but also very rewarding. Stay tuned for more Guatemalan adventures.
No comments:
Post a Comment