A really great experience

I spent four unforgettable weeks working with coffee farmers whose land is on the slopes of Volcan Agua. February is the harvest season and we spent our mornings picking the beans, laying them out on the roofs in the village to dry, or painstakingly sorting them before helping to pack them into huge 100kg sacks for export. We helped roast and grind the beans for sale locally and made sure the labels were stuck on straight.
The most memorable part, though, was getting to meet and talk with the farmers themselves. Eduardo, Miguel, Manuel and Lesbia (the only female member of the cooperative) I thank you for letting me work alongside you. I am in awe of how much work and care you put into producing every bag of 'shade grown Guatemalan coffee'.
On a more practical note, much of the success of the programme was due to the professionalism of the people at De La Gente coffee and at Maximo Nivel. I knew there were people I could completely rely on to sort out any problems. I found the Spanish classes intense, interesting and our teachers were excellent. Finally, I'm way older than most of the volunteers but I never experienced any ageism from anyone, staff or fellow volunteers, that I met.