Peru Travelogue

Friday May 14 through Sunday May 16, 2004

Friday was a long travel day. We spend May 15 and 16 in Lima and met our representative in Peru, Francisco Boza. Francisco is not only an expert in coffee, he is a member of their Olympic team and will be participating in the summer Olympics in Athens. Lima is located on the Pacific and has a climate a little like San Francisco, foggy most of the day but warmer and more humid. It is surprisingly arid, dry bluffs and a grey sea. Lima also houses enormous "Indian" markets full of rugs, silver, alpaca sweaters and scarves. Every item is up for bargain, but the transaction is good natured and fun.

Lunch was a wonderful scene at a local restaurant. A wonderful piano player, families singing and dancing, a Sunday afternoon that you would likely see in Europe.

Here is a photo of Jeremiah and Eric Gries, a member of our board of directors, enjoying a musical interlude:

We also visited a local supermarket, Santa Isabella. It was busy, even on a Sunday night and had a full service deli, bakery and meat departments. There seemed to be a product being demonstrated on every aisle. We were joined by Volker Sachs of Pan American Coffee who has been instrumental in developing quality coffee in Peru.

Monday May 18, 2004

Today we traveled to the Villa Rica highlands of the Chanchamayo Valley in central Peru. To get there you must cross the Ticlio pass, the highest pass that a road goes through in the world at 4,818 meters or 15,807 feet. The effect of the altitude varied, hitting some of us harder with headaches and general goofiness. A great chicken soup, the local corn (much larger and less sweet than we are used to in America) and Mate de Coca (coca tea) helped us over the top.

Descending from Ticlio we passed through an almost mythical valley and the town of Tarma. Ancient terraces keep the steep hill of this valley from eroding and the floor is filled with alfalfa, grains and flowers.

The trip takes over 7 hours and the last two hours are spent on dirt roads after passing the last large town of La Merced. About an hour away we are met by two workers (the "security department") on a dirt bike who guide us through to the farm.

We arrive that evening. We are in the dense green jungle known as Selva Central where the large rivers form the headwaters of Amazon. The farm is simple and comfortable. We are greeted by Mrs. Noche, she was born on this farm and has lived there all of her life. She maintains the traditions of the German culture that we see throughout several of the farms that make up the Villa Rica cooperative. The next morning we wake up to the sound of bells from the village school that is located next to the farm.

Tuesday May 19, 2004

Today we visit 5 of the 9 farms that make up the Villa Rica Highlands cooperative. The Villa Rica Highlands coop is a unique structure. While the farms vary in size, many are substantial and could do business on their own. Instead, they have banded together to mill and market their coffees collectively and to take advantage of their buying power. Each farmer has his own wet mill and partially dries his or her crop. Then the crops are brought to a central collection point in Villa Rica where dry-milling is completed and the coffee is prepared for export. They join together in marketing their coffees to the world. By building their own dry mill they ship product directly to the ports in Lima for export. They are saving huge amounts by avoiding the pilferage that regularly occurred when milling and packing in Lima.

As our visit continues we learn of the family ties that bind these farms together. The region was settled by the Brack family in the 1920's and 30's and several of the farms are owned by their descendants and their relatives.

The plots are hand picked over a long growing season influenced by the high elevation of the region, averaging between 1200 and 1800 meters. The hillsides are full of butterflies, birds and tropical plants and trees that offer a shaded environment for the coffee trees. Each farm maintains a nursery where young coffee plants are produced and planted as old ones mature. Fertilization is natural, using the compost that is removed from the coffee cherry skins and pulp during wet milling.

Here is a photo of young coffee plants growing in the nursery:

We see the farms of Klemens and Hans Brack, the Vidurrizagas, Noches and the Schulers. As we see these farms we explain the quality that our company seeks and our desire to support farmers that see themselves as stewards of the lands they work.

Here are Jeremiah, Francisco, and Ingobort inspecting the drying equipment:

During the day we pass a farm that is not a member of the group. Despite being certified as an organic farmer he is not cleaning the water that is used during milling and the smell overwhelms us. This is the only time we smell anything that strong during the trip.

Later that evening we travel to Villa Rica to cup the coffees that each farm produces. All of the growers show up for the cupping. With the variety in elevation, Jeremiah finds some of the samples to be young and grassy. Later we exchange comments and suggestions. We see the markings on the container of our coffee that will be leaving this month.

On return we visit the wet mill of Ingobert Noche, the farmer who is supplying us with Villa Rica coffee this year. At the end of the day pickers bring their coffee cherries to this mill where the pulp is removed. After de-pulping the coffee is held in tanks for 24 to 36 hours to separate the inner skin before the first round of drying. The mill works from 7 until 12 that night.

Wednesday May 20, 2004

The sounds of the jungle overwhelm you on awakening, hundreds of birds, insects and more domesticated noises, roosters calling out to each other and countless dogs. Breakfast is simple and good, locally grown oranges that have a tart acidity so lacking in commercial products, fresh eggs and baked goods. There is a local dairy in Oxapampa that supplies simple and forward butter and cheeses.

First we return to Villa Rica to visit the marketplace. In the town we see collection stations that buy from small farmers in the area. These farmers will wet-process their own coffees and there is little if any quality control or uniformity in the resulting product.

We travel to visit a cooperative today, La Florida. La Florida is a large cooperative with more than 1500 members now participating. We visit their wet mill where they collect cherries from around this area, avoiding the crude processing that often occurs in small farms and instituting quality controls. We speak about the effect that this cooperative has had on their farmers' lives in Peru. Simply put, the average member of the coop earns about $3000 a year, while this number may shock many Americans, it is double the average and enough to live decently. 40% of their farms are organic and more are in transition. The coop is building a large sedimentation pond to reduce runoff from the wet milling operations.

In the area we see a great deal of pineapple being grown. A new and lucrative crop it is also very harsh on the local environment.

Afterwards we visit the farm of Dagoberto Marin. He is the only organic producer in the Villa Rica group and his home is almost an arboretum filled with Orchids and tropical plants. His is the most remote farm. We see bright blue butterflies and birds everywhere.

Along with coffee he grows avocados, macadamia nuts, snails and tilapia (fish). We have our last lunch of green mashed bananas, soup, chicharonnes and "Chinese potatoes" with the growers and finish the meal with shots of a home made liqueur made with local plants and fresh papaya juice. The one thing we do not see on this trip is beans of any sort.

Dagoberto tells us a sobering story, during the times of Shining Path guerilla movement his farm was taken and used as a headquarters. At one point they put him in front of a group of his pickers and put a gun to him. They asked the pickers if he was a fair man. They said yes, he treated them well, and he was released. Many of the other farmers left the area for many years during this period and a large battle took place in Villa Rica in 1994 where a military presence remains.

After returning to the Noche farm we say good-bye and travel to La Merced for the evening. Our hotel, after requisite bargaining, costs $15.00. Including breakfast.

Thursday May 21, 2004

Before returning to Lima we visit the La Florida dry mill in La Merced. Here members of the coop bring their partially dried coffees for final sorting, weighing and processing before export.

One of the most impressive things about the La Florida coop is the bank that they have set up for their members. About 1/3 of their members use the coop to fund purchases that they have to make until their crop comes in at commercial rates. This eliminates middlemen called "coyotes" who "lend" supplies to the farmers at hidden interest rates often exceeding 50%. Their goal is to support 100% of their farmers this way.

We return to Lima that afternoon.

Friday May 21 through Monday May 24, 2004

While not a coffee part of the trip, we hope you will enjoy some of these images of Cuzco and Maccu Picchu.