Follow our Nicaragua trip at www.carabellocoffee.com !!

Streets of Somoto

This video is the perfect glimpse of life in downtown Somoto. We've got oxen, firewood salesmen, motorcycles, bikes, people, and regular cars. Enjoy!

Nicaragua 2011

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FINALLY home!

Hello! This is Emily. It's Sunday afternoon, and we are finally back at home, doing laundry, resting, and trying to get rid of a stomache thing that Dan and I seem to have brought home with us. Thank the Lord we are home, and our house is safe, and our car is fixed. (we hit a deer a few days before we left.) I am busy uploading tons of pictures, and I wanted to share a few good ones with you! Above are pictures of the kids with Dan and Justin, a team member named Chris from Virgina with a little girl named Amalia, Jeff fixing bikes, and Justin and I in our raincoats standing in front of an active volcanoe that is considered by the Catholics to be a gate to Hell(!). Nicole, (team member from Cincy)Justin and Dan on the property, artwork the kids made about Joseph and his colorful coat, and a reflection of myself in front of the hotel.

FLIGHT IS CANCELED

So...we are all packed up and at the airport in line and we discovered our plane is cancelled. We cannot get on another flight for 12 hours, so needless to say we will not be catching our next 2 flights home. We thankfully purchased travel insurance so we do have phone, food, and hotel paid for us for today. Thanks to my husband who thinks ahead!

So, back to our old hotel to hang out until we leave tonight at 9 pm. I guess it´s good I have a book and a bathing suit. Even though I assure you we´d rather be at home, we´ll make the best of it! The worst part is that we are missing the Farmers market tomorrow, which we so carefully planned our trip around to make sure that did not happen. Blah. We will get to Miami at 1 in the morning tonight and see what happens from there.... lots of unhappy people in line at the airport!

Our stomaches are all like...please...no more Nicaraguan food. Oh for some salad.

Slurping and Spitting at the Beneficio... Apparently Sideways!

Sorry this video is sideways. I will try to fix it.

This is Justin... Emily, Jeff Brooks and I did some serious slurping, spitting and sniffing of coffee (otherwise known as "cupping") at the Beneficio Las Segovias in the town of Ocotal, Nuevo Segovia in Nicaragua a few days ago. This short video gives you a look at what we did for more than an hour as we attempted to zero in on which coffee we wanted to walk away with from the finca "Un Regal de Dios" of Luis Alberto Balladeros.

A beneficio is a place where coffees are processed for roasting and prepared for exportation. A finca is simply the Spanish word for farm. Luis is a pastor and a business man. His vision for his business is very similar to what Emily and I desire to do in that they give a hefty portion of their yearly profits away to provide for a better life in the immediate community, but more importantly, to build the kingdom of God. For example, this year Luis took his profits and bought a slew of mountain worthy motorcycles for area pastors who live up in the mountains. It can take as much as a day for a mountain pastor to walk to town and back. A motorcycle that can go where cars cannot (and even where the government refuses to go) can go a long way in spreading the Gospel and meeting the needs of the people.

At the end of our time cupping we chose a coffee and then had it vacuum packed in 20lb increments so that we could transport it back to the States. We pùrchased 120lbs of what I expect will be a very popular coffee (though short lived).

The funniest thing about all this is that we had NO IDEA what in the world we were doing. These guys were very gracious as they´re used to doing this with seasoned coffee cuppers who come to their beneficio to buy large quantities. Incidentally, while we were there they loaded and shipped a 20,000lb container of Cup of Excellence winning coffees to the USA. These guys are in the big time, but their heart are for the Kingdom! 90% of their employees are born-again Christians. The atmosphere there is tremendous!

Enjoy... and put in your ear plugs!

Sweet Photos on Our Coffee Website.

Hey guys,

This is Justin... we are back in Managua and are heading out for a day of relaxation at the colonial town of Granada. I posted some cool photos and an entry about our day at the coffee Beneficio on our Carabello Coffee website. Check them out here: www.carabellocoffee.com. More soon!

Justin