Coffee Country

A few weekends ago Octavio, some of his friends from school and I went to visit his friend Azucena's home town, Cosautlan, about an hour and a half away from Xalapa.  The bus ride there was harrowing.  It was an hour and a half up into the mountains on little winding mountain roads.  Add to that the fact that we were sitting in the very back and every time we hit the smallest of bumps I went flying and you can maybe understand the level of carsickness I was feeling.  The scenery was beautiful at least.  We got there and Azucena showed us around the town and introduced us to the whole family.  Octavio & his friends kept making fun of her because it seemed like every other person we passed was either an aunt or a cousin of some sort.  Her mom made us a delicious lunch of pozole, a kind of soup that is really good!  Octavio & I tried to make it for my parents once in Kansas but it didn't turn out so great.  After lunch her dad and brother took us for a tour of their coffee farm.  We road in the back of their truck and saw all kinds of coffee plants!  They ship their coffee to all over Mexico and man, is it good!

The super intricate decoration outside the church made out of corn leaves, palms, flowers, and some sort of bamboo.

Inside the church.

In the center of their park.  Javier & I got the smile for the picture memo, Soco & Azucena got the be goofy one.

Octavio & I in the gazebo in the center of the park .

more gazebo.

At night you can see Xalapa and Veracruz from here.  We were really high up in the mountains.

more views.  We climbed up on her grandma's roof to see better.

The church.

everyone was very impressed by who Octavio called "quasi moto" ringing those big bells by hand.

Coffee plants

In the back of the truck cruising through the coffee plants

more of the farm.

coffee plants, coffee plants, and more coffee plants

they were shaded by banana trees

Azucena's dad teaching us about the different types of coffee.

view of the town.