Best Cup of Coffee Take 2

While we don't have a team here, Tully and I are trying to learn some of our mountain villages and I am practicing driving in the mountains and in 4-wheel drive.

Today, one of the deacons from our church went with us up to the mountains. We wondered where on earth he was taking us after we crossed two streams, many huge mud puddles, and the grass in the dirt road/path began to get higher and higher, meaning no other cars had traveled through there in a long time. You don't have to go very far here to feel like you are a million miles away from everything. All of a sudden, you begin to pass acres and acres of farmland, an occasional house here and there, some oxen in the road, a horse or two here, a pig or two there, some goats along the way, and beautiful, green, rolling mountains as far as the eye can see in every direction.

The path began to get smaller and smaller until we finally came to a house where everyone seemed to be busy with their day's work, but when they realized they had company, they suddenly dropped everything and came to greet us with big smiles and handshakes and welcome us to their home, really their mountain. On their mountain, they grew corn, coffee, tomatos, bananas, sugar cane, and chile peppers. They showed us all around their property, and wanted us to hike with them up to the top to enjoy the view up there. We did it, me with my sandals on and all. (Note to self: get boots and leave them in the car for such occasions as this!)

The view from the top was gorgeous, and worth hiking in sandals! It was even better to learn about their family--we met six of the ten sons (ages 14 - 42) who all work the land with their parents (father is age 70, and they say he outworks his sons). We didn't get to meet their five daughters, though (yes, 15 kids in all). Afterwards, the grandmother offered us a cup of coffee (which we of course accepted--see previous blog). Tully asked me when we were leaving, "Was this coffee better than the other that you had last week?" I said, "This is pretty good, but I think the other was better." He told me that he thought this was the best cup of coffee that he had ever had. It, too, was "from the stick."

We left there with two big stalks of bananas that the sons had cut for us from their trees. We were asking our friend why people give us things when we go to their homes and he said it shows that they consider us friends now. What a sweet blessing!