The last day (Friday) is our cultural experience day in which we experience something about Nicaragua which we would not have during the rest of the week.
So for our last day we where able to get an extra hour of sleep today before breakfast, which was definitely appreaciated by all. With breakfast over we emptied our rooms and left the hotel for the Salva Negra Coffee Estate. Which is hotel/resort that was built on a coffee plantation. We took the coffee tour and found out lots of information about the process of how coffee comes to our lips.
North of Matagulpa about 20-30 minutes drive higher into the mountains is Salva Negra Resort & Coffee Estate. Our Guide Manuel is very knowledgeable and lives in Matagulpa.
The following photos are from the walking tour we took...
Coffee beans on the plant. Green is not ripe yet, red is ripe and that won't happen until November.
Mixed amoung the coffee plant are a variety of banana trees and other trees which provide shade for the coffee plants.
On the property they hire approximately 250 year around employees who are able to bring their families and live on the plantation. Those employees have a health clinic on site, a school for their children to attend, a home to live in and meals are provided. (The homes are shown in the above picture. The clinics, school, cafeteria, etc are shown below.) During the picking season an additional 500 or so workers are hire for 3-4 months of the picking season.
There are all sorts of plants, animals, birds, etc that can be found on this plantation.
Many different varieties of flowers are found through out the plantation.
The original German owner's home. This owner originally came acrossed the pond for the gold rush and found just enough to by the 500 acres here.
This was sold to a Nicaraguan Family in the 1940's and then sold to the current owners in the 1970's.
Inside our next building we found the machines and tubs that take off the multiple layers before you dry them.
Outside we find multiple greenhouse like structures which have drying racks within. Once they are dried with in the final layer then is taken off.
Here is the current German owners home on site near the drying "greenhouses".
Above are more drying areas near the hand sorted building. The hand sorting/inspecting is completed by only 14-16 people and they can do approximately 500-2500 lbs of coffee per day.
The sorting table.
Once our walking tour was complete. We were taken to a coffee tasting room where we were able to watch a video on the process and taste tested one of their varieties up against a Columbia coffee. You had to slurp from a spoon to get the full taste of the two types. Almost a majority of the us chose the Salva Negra coffee. The other type had a much stronger taste we weren't used to.
This chart is what the professional tasters use to categorize the different coffee's tastes.
Afterwards we enjoyed a delicious lunch on the patio near the lake.
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Nicaragua is considered a third world country, but as you see, God spread his beauty upon this country! You will be amazed by the culture and by the people. As with any country there are areas where people just need to be blessed by others and shown a way were they might be able to improve their way of living. God is all around them and they gather in the many churches throughout the towns and barrios. God bless you for supporting us and we pray that if you feel God working in your life urging you to make the move to bless others that you would be able to take part in a future short term mission trip or do it in your local area.
Thank you from all of us and God Bless!
Barb Collins, Bill Collins, Elaine Cooper, Rebecca Cooper, SallyJo Gieser, Chuck Gieser, Leigh McCormick, Tim Mueller, Doug Ophardt, Caitlin Schultz, Donna Spellman, Kaleigh Spellman, Amy Vogel, Todd Vogel, Jennifer Wilson, Logan Wilson
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