Arriving in La Merced:
We
left our hostel early Monday morning. After dropping off the first
team of students in Supía, we headed for La Merced. From Supía, we
drove up a windy road into the mountains. We kept getting higher and
higher, and I wasn’t sure when we would finally see the town. We
finally turned a corner and I could see the enormous church and the
colorful buildings of La Merced nested in green trees on top of the
mountain in front of us. I felt like we had discovered a secret that
had been hidden away in the hills.
Before
going into the town, we made a quick stop at El Tambor. This is the
paragliding site in La Merced that is currently the major draw for
the tourism industry there. We got to the edge of the cliff at El
Tambor, and the view was unreal. The clouds and the green mountains
were spectacular.
From
there, we went on to find our house. We are staying with Daniella, a
graduate of the New School. She participated in the IFP in La Merced
in 2012 and earned a grant that brought her back. She has been living
in La Merced ever since. As we drove to her house, I began to
understand more and more why she has never left. She has since
established an income generating group of women who have started
their own business, sewing and making clothes, as well as creating a
community of support and personal development.
We
arrived at her house, which is a traditional colonial house of La
Merced. There are a few rooms surrounding an open courtyard area.
In addition to the 5 of us and Daniela, there is another woman,
Marisella, who lives there with her two children. Along with two
more dogs, we have a full house! Andrea works there also and makes
our delicious meals. The first morning, she asked us if we would
like coffee or hot chocolate with breakfast. I asked if she had any
tea. She repeated herself and asked if I wanted coffee or hot
chocolate with my breakfast…I guess I drink coffee now. Everyone
is so friendly and welcoming, it has not taken long to feel at home
there.
After
settling in, Daniela took us on a walk around town. As we walked
around, I felt like I was going back in time. The structures are all
vibrant with colors. Children are able to play in the narrow streets
unattended. Bags of coffee are being dropped off at the local
collective for export. People pass by on horses and greet you with
smiling faces…we even saw a man on a motorcycle pass by as he led
is donkey behind him on a rope. I asked if there was a good place to
go running, and she took us to an amazing soccer field on the edge of
one of the mountains…it has not been very hard for me to get up to
this each morning.
My
first morning in La Merced was surreal. Here I had been studying and
researching this place since January, and all of a sudden, I woke up
to the sound of horse hooves on the pavement, and ringing church
bells outside. I walked through the narrow streets of the town lined
with old colonial style buildings. On my way to the soccer field, I
was greeted with smiling faces. After reaching the field and
beginning my run, I looked around me, and I had to keep reminding
myself that this was real life. The green sweeping landscape of the
mountains is unlike anything I have ever seen before, and I am truly
so fortunate to get to see it. Although I have been reading
countless reports and doing research on La Merced this semester, my
arrival in this town has given me a much deeper understanding of what
life here really is. Its hard to believe that I place so beautiful
could have such an ugly history of violence and distrust. The bad
blood of past conflict that has stained this community is in stark
contrast to the peaceful beauty of the mountains that surround it.
La Merced Coffee:
We
have already finished our first week of work in La Merced. Within the short span of a few days, I have gained insight through many new experiences
at every turn. My newfound knowledge in coffee production is beyond
anything I could have imagined for myself. Our first day here, we
were fortunate enough to meet Wilian. He is a local coffee producer
who works with ASPROCAFEM, La Merced’s coffee collective center.
He showed us around the distribution center and described the process
of grading out the coffee. I learned that the ideal humidity for
almendras, or coffee beans, is 12%, and that the larger healthy beans
are separated out for specialty coffee export from La Merced.
Meanwhile, café pasilla, or the defective beans, are graded out for
lower quality sale. Generally, the café pasilla is what stays in La
Merced and is consumed by local residents while the higher quality
coffee is enjoyed elsewhere.
However,
Wilian is working against this normality. He has begun to market and
sell his high quality La Merced specialty coffee to a local cafeteria
in town, and is looking to expand his brand. He was kind enough to
invite us to his factory, where we learned about the drying,
shelling, grading, roasting, and grinding process for his coffee. We
were also able to meet his 81 year old father as he returned from a
day of harvest at their coffee farm. It was an amazing opportunity
to see the coffee process from fruit to grind. The smell of the
beans roasting in the toaster overwhelmed the room as we sat around
the table and separated out the defective beans in preparation for
the next roast.
The
visit to Wilian’s factory, and the conversations we had with him
were incredibly enlightening. The pride and care that he puts into
his work is clear. Although I have read countless articles regarding
Colombia’s coffee industry prior to our arrival here, the
experience of meeting and talking with him has put a face to the
facts, and broadened my understanding of the industry. It was also
encouraging to meet someone whose values were in line with our
project objectives. The fact that he is trying to market a brand of
La Merced coffee precisely follows the goals of our IFP. It creates
a coffee identity for La Merced, and something else that this
incredible town can be known for…not to mention it was absolutely
the best cup of coffee I’ve ever had!
Wilian showing us the coffee beans drying on the roof
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