Welcome to the Jungle, Nov. 15

Starting the day out at 7:30 with rice and beans, the breakfast for champions, we had a long day ahead of us. A 45 min drive up in the mountains in Matagalpa to a fair trade coffee plantation. They gave us the background information and history before they put us to work. We were given a hand woven basket that was tied around our waist to put the coffee beans in. it worked out really well because when you pick them, sometimes they slip out of your hand but usually they fall in the basket. I had known idea that making coffee is such a long process. After we picked coffee for a half hour or so we took a hike in the jungle. We went to the top of the coffee plantation, about a 30-minute hike, and the whole way there where coffee plants on the side of the mountain, all over the place. The top was unbelievable; we had a full panoramic view of the mountains and the noises out there where incredible. As we hiked down, there where trees folding down and screams that sounded like gorillas that where going to eat us but they where only howler monkeys. Once we got down from the hike, the mothers at the plantation cooked us a traditional lunch. The best part of that day was one of my favorite parts of the trip, putting a smile on the kids’ faces. They where very full of life and happiness, they played soccer with an old rubber flat basketball barefoot, the kids make the best out of everything. Towards the afternoon we went to the dry mill, we learned how the coffee is made and taste tested the coffee,