My friend Jeanie has a colleague Joanna, an American from Denver, who is married to Jorge, a Guatemalan who grew up in El Cerrito, a small rural village, a 30 minute drive from Guatemala City. Joanna invited us to come spend the day with them. Jorge and Joanna moved back to Jorge’s village a year and half ago with their two lovely daughters Tanya and Audrey. They live in a modest village house which was built for them by Jorge’s family after they got married. Joanna met Jorge twenty years ago when she was working in Guatemala with the Peace Corps. She currently works with Jeanie at the Colegio Maya American School in Guatemala City where she teaches first grade. Her two daughters, aged 13 and 15, also go to school there. Jorge, the third oldest of a family of 12 children, grew up on a coffee farm in El Cerrito. He is a bona fide naturalist. As we hiked through the hills overlooking El Cerrito, Jorge was able to name all types of vegetation and relate exquisite details about their unique qualities. Here are some pictures I took during our excursion up the dirt roads of the El Cerrito countryside and our final descent into the village.
Off on our excursion with Jorge’s truck to view his property up into the hills
The El Cerrito Countryside
Subtropical Vegetation
A gigantic bamboo grove
Banana tree stalks
Coffee plant-Guatemala’s number one agricultural export product
Weighing and reloading 150 lb. bags of coffee onto a truck headed for wholesalers
End of the excursion- Adios!
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