Ocotal

We opted to be the second group of guinea pigs for the Ocotal tourism initiative. I don't think they really need any more work.
The other group loved it and so did we.
Even the ride up — standing braced in the back of an old pick-up truck with roll bars — was an amusement park stunt ride, crossing streams and picking up farmers along the way.
Alfonso, the leader of the cooperative, showed us around his mountain farm, coffee plants growing between the trees and beside the footpaths on the side of the peak. They pick the beans, hand shuck them in a hand-cranked machine that looks like it was invented with the cotton gin, then leave them to ferment for about 24 hours to dry.
They dry them laid out on plastic, then shed the final skin. We took turns trying out the mortar and pestle — "it's the artisan, old way," Alfonso told us as Adam hammered away at the beans in the stone.
His wife had a wood fire going in the cooking shelter and we helped turn the beans over the open flame with a giant wooden spoon until the smell of coffee filled the farm.
We hand ground the beans the relished the aroma before toasting Alfonso with a freshly brewed cup of coffee we helped make.
Man, it never tasted so good.