Some poetry from our time in Brisas del Mar, Aramecina and La Tigra National Park:

Brand new places
Unknown smiling faces
Planting pineapple on hillsides
Between bumpy truck rides.
Counting all the coffee yields
After working in corn fields.
Three days of trying to dry wet clothes
And waking up with ice cold toes.
Hikes to waterfalls
Kicking butt with soccerballs
Camp fire flames
Salad bowl games
Helping to clean dirty dishes
While trying to fulfill hopes and wishes
It's funny how time flies
And we're left with teary eyes
And sad goodbyes

                    Katie Schober

     A wrinkle in time
Our squinting eyes match
the sunburned cheeks
as we
traveled from dried up streams
to cloud covered peaks.

The bumpy road takes its toll
on the tire popped by a deep pothole.

As the adventure continues
the stares never cease
but it doesn't mater
these gringos come in peace

A hike for the soul
and a disappointing Superbowl
remind us of home
and the driving we actually condone.

Ants in our pants
and sewage streams
we all got closer
crammed like sardines.

A lesson we've learned
as we've traveled along
speaking spanglish
our conjugations are wrong.

Plants living on plants
and trees covered by moss
shows us something
in the U.S. we have lost.

Being happy with less
and loving more
is just the beginning
we have much to explore!

          Leeann Reid

The following is letter that our guide, Aaron, sent us after we had finished our time in Brisas del Mar:


La Pandilla CELL,

That little coffee bean. Seems to have taken on a radically new meaning in my life. I am pretty confident that there are thirteen others that would feel the same way. While a simple expresso or latte would have drawn perhaps a sliver of my attention in the past, now it seems to have instigated a flood of images, memories and recuerdos.

I am certain, like many of you, that I will first think of Chico’s smiling face. That’s probably unavoidable. Then there will be a glimpse of Obed leaning on my shoulder on the car ride down the mountain and perhaps Evelyn letting me hold her for a very satisfying 60 seconds. While these mental pictures will undoubtedly push a smile on my face, I hope they also prompt me to remember the invaluable lessons of our Honduran teachers: extraordinary generosity, admirable humility and appreciation for the great opportunities that each and every one of us receive.

At the same time, it is inevitable that other images will not also appear in my head. Farm plots on unimaginably sharp slippery hillsides, 100 pound sack after one hundred pound sack carried on the backs of los corteros, and a voice of struggle and constant exertion that seems inherent in the story of just about every small scale coffee farmer. These particular images will have  another purpose. They are a reminder of our commitment and obligation, as was stated over and over again, to “take the community members with us.” Live differently, carry the message home and make a difference. I think we owe that much to our cloud forest amigos of Brisas del Mar.

As I said before, buen trabajo amigos! Your terrific attitude, willingness to absorb everything around you, and tremendous effort to get to know a rural Honduran family on such an extraordinarily personal level is nothing short of maravilloso. I wish you all the very best on the rest of your journey of learning and hope all that is taken in and learned will be converted into teaching, sharing and action in all that you do.

Hasta otro dia,

Aaron

Brisas del Mar

From start to finish, Brisas del Mar was a remarkable experience for all of us.  Trip Leader Aaron Banas, a Returned Peace Corps Volunteer (RPCV) who served two years in Honduras and two years in Ecuador, organized and coordinated the entire program together with SHI Field Trainers Salomon and Juan Carlos.  Aaron was tireless, insuring that every detail was complete, offering, each work activity and meal happened as planned, and gave Spanish/English translation any time it was needed.  His instant rapport with every farmer and family member was amazing.  He was the glue.  Unfortunately he probably won’t be around next year but SHI has hired another RPCV to fill his spot.  Salomon and Juan Carlos will probably be there and they too were very good both with the technical training and helping with our relationships with the farmers and host families.  All three were with us for the entire week.

 

Brisas del Mar was a special site because it was a community that probably never had a non-Honduran, let alone an SHI group, visit their communities before. According to Aaron they were anxious to have us come and see how they lived and farmed in this remote mountain setting.  He also said that our visit helped encourage and motivate the farmers to follow through with the sustainable agriculture training they are receiving from SHI.  It was clear from the comments from the farmers after each work day that our efforts had helped them develop or expand a plot and instill a sense of pride in their work.

Day One – the group split, four women and Remy going to help install a watering system.  This was the only work site during the week that didn’t go very well, the women feeling that they were ignored by the two older men farmers.  After lunch this group joined the larger group to continue to continue to dig and fertilize about 100-120 holes and plant plantains in between pineapple rows. 

Day Two – we stood on the edge of a steep slope which the farmer, Don Chepe, had recently clear cut with his machete in preparation for staking out contour lines to construct terraces for planting corn.  The hillside was so steep and littered with the clear cuttings that we couldn’t believe anyone could plant, or walk, on this site.  But six hours later we had completed eight long terraced rows ready for Chepe to refine and plant corn on.

Day Three – we picked coffee on the farms of our two host families, Don Chico and Don Esbin.  Before starting, Chico instructed us in how to pick the coffee beans.  He also described the challenges of being a single small farmer who when bringing his unprocessed coffee to market had little choice but to sell to middlemen or “coyotes” who had the cash on hand and set prices low.  At this point we could now see the advantages of a farmer’s cooperative like the one in Copan who avoid middlemen by processing their own coffee ready to sell it directly to buyers for big retailers.  At the end of the afternoon we watched the beans we had picked be run through a de-pulping machine in preparation for bagging and selling to the “coyotes” in the market.  A 100 lb. bag sells for $220 to the retail buyer but Chico only receives $110.  We roughly estimated that at the end of the day Chico would make about 40 cents a lb. in profit for his coffee that later might sell for between $5 - $11 a pound in the US.

Day Four – we arrived at a newly cleared slope even steeper than the slope on Don Chepe’s property.  Don Jose and his 14 year-old son were still placing stakes to mark contour lines where we were to dig holes and plant new coffee plants.  Salomon gave a short lecture on how the coffee seedlings were planted and raised over a three-month period and that it would be two years before coffee beans could be harvested.  Some of the group very carefully made our way down the slopes, avoiding occasional bee and ant hives, to dig holes while others even more carefully transported baskets of coffee seedlings down the slick clay hillsides and placed them at the holes.  After lunch we planted about 70 or more new coffee plants.  As we departed, the 69 year old Don Jose expressed  sincere gratitude for our help.  His family lived in a very meagerly constructed home without even bathroom facilities.  This small plot of new coffee would eventually be a big boost to his family’s income.  

Day Five – we split into two groups and went to two different houses to assist SHI field trainers Salomon and Juan Carlos construct fuel-efficient wood burning stoves with vented exhaust pipes that will greatly improve the air quality over previous cooking methods.  The stoves’ brick base, about thirty inches high, three feet wide and four feet long, were built before we arrived.  We helped build the stove top, adding three additional layers of brick held together with a mortar mix of thick red clay and water.  Three interior spaces were left open for heat chambers, one for the wood fuel, a second and third filled with large rocks and pebble-sized stones successively, which absorbed and held heat from the wood fire.  A large rod-iron top (about 20”x 30”) was placed on top of the brick and secured with mortar.   The students really enjoyed getting their hand dirty in the clay and setting the bricks.

Each of the hands-on activities gave students a real taste of farming and their homestays gave a taste of this very modest life in the mountain communities.   A real bond was established between the families and students.

Chuck Wattles

We spent this past week in the Honduran mountain community of Brisas del Mar working with Sustainable Harvest International. This organization teaches families how to live more sustainable and nutritious lives, with the hope that when they graduate from the program they will pass on their new knowledge to other community members. In this community, SHI has helped families through the implementation of new things like chicken coops, family gardens and fishponds.  Our facilitator, Aaron, introduced us to the community and coordinated our service projects throughout the week.

Navigating the steep and muddy roads up the mountain in the back of pickup trucks was scary but fun, thanks to our SHI field leaders and drivers, Solomon and Juan Carlos. For the next five days we lived in the clouds. Brisas del Mar is so high in elevation that the clouds often make it very misty, but when they clear you are surrounded by green mountains for miles in every direction. The roads are made of bright red clay, but just off the path the atmosphere quickly turns into a steamy jungle, full of  countless tropical plants, animals, and hidden waterfalls.

We spent a lot of time getting to know the families of our host fathers, Don Chico and Don Esbin. All of the women in Don Chico’s family spent hours preparing great meals for us throughout the week. Our group also enjoyed the company of the children at our houses, and the family dogs provided much entertainment (except for Peluche, who is an excellent guard dog jaja). The family members delighted in watching us play games, and one night they even gathered in the doorway of the kitchen to watch some of us put on a shadow puppet show while others shared dishwashing duty by candlelight.

This is a coffee farming community and for our host families, coffee harvesting is the main source of income.  For a product that we consume so much in the U.S., we knew surprisingly little about how it is grown and processed. Our families taught us how to plant, harvest and de-pulp the coffee. We also tried our hand at planting plantains and clearing a hillside in preparation for corn planting. We concluded our trip by helping a couple of families build fuel-efficient stoves. We were exhausted at the end of each day, and we learned that it takes a lot of hard work for the farmers here to produce their crops from start to finish.

Last night we had a closing ceremony with our host families and the SHI coordinators, which included a bonfire, a feast complete with cake, and a surprise visit from a local guitar duo that led us in an impressive variety of both Spanish and English songs. Thomas, Zach and Tommy kicked off the sing-a-long session with an enthusiastic rendition of Hotel California, and soon everyone was joining in. The ceremony ended with speeches from everyone about what we would remember from this week, and finally…we performed a song and dance routine to the Macarena, to everyone’s amusement.

We’ve certainly had our share of challenges this week. We’ve hauled tools and plants down steep inclines, pushed trucks stuck in mud up mountainsides, and spotted tarantulas while digging holes. We will remember being chased by angry dogs, stung by unidentified insects and pricked by thorny pineapple plants. But what will stand out most in our memories are the impressions left by the people we have met in Brisas del Mar. They live simply, work hard, and place much value on their families and farming sustainably. They have been an inspiration to us and taught us that hard work and passion are key elements in meeting the challenges of sustainable living.

Lia and Juliet