10day organic inspection

Organic Inspection-Oaxaca

2005 I was sent by GOCA and Growers First to due a Organic Farm Inspection report on about 250 growers of the Café Istmo Coffee Cooperative..
I was in Xela, Guatemala having a good time learning Spanish and making friends since most of previous 5 years were spent almost entirely with Mexican Indians in the lush mountains, with brief work trips to Oaxaca City to volunteer at Casa Hogar Childrens Home.
It was early in the year and I got the email from Paco Montero saying I needed to be in Juchitan in a week or so to due the inspections. Normally 10% of the farmers in each cooperative are inspected. Well, this was a information gathering trip to meet each farm, record his family stats and view his farm to see if it met organic standards. Well, I didn’t know what I was in for, I still have my 10 word daily journals with a brief outline of the extraordinary events that were passing on a daily basis. We were blessed to perform the trip during the harvest season, which was also the worst year to date since the EL NORTES (cloud forest drizzle conditions) were going to persist for almost the entire trip.. Since I was not gifted in organization we hired Jose Luis( a 20 year old kid with 2 or 3 of his own and was not making money except for hacking illegal passports and indentification cards for the locals who were leaving for the states on a weekly truck load as the coffee prices were dirt low and the farmers needed money and there was no coffee crop due to the persistent rain, so the coyotes were getting rich hauling the locals North.
We got Paco’s pickup truck to drive up there from Juchitan (6hrs). We rode away from the hot, dry wind driven plains of the Isthmus of Tehuantepec into the lush mountain towns that have been virtually left alone for generations, a world a apart from the developed coastal beach towns a hundred miles away.
We arrived and slept at Ladislao Solano house, the incredible wiry, and motivated preacher/farmer who transformed from an alcoholic into a well-respected Christian leader who was always full of energy and ready for another 8 hr slog through the mud.
The first day we had 2 local leaders and a former coffee growing consultant as my guides to visit 40 or so coffee farms. My sandals gave out early so a brother gave me his rubber boots, without socks.. They kept me feet dry but within hours my feet became incredibly nasty, smelly, itchy, and full of heat rash as we all were feeling the same pain but having a blast thrashing through the mud and rivers, visiting incredibly beautiful farms from Xadani which were nestled into thick shade canopies where the soil was rich and plant and animal life plentiful.. These were 2-4 hrs. from any houses and they were wildly cropped in perfect locations where no inputs were needed for their crops nor were they possible to get there. Giant trees, waterfalls you could drink from, and we always stopped to mix our sweetened corn mush into some waterfall water to make a grit like lunch. The 2nd day we found one new member furiously cranking his depulper in the rain with his son and wife, it was so wet only the toughest of farmers would dare to risk his life to pick the few precious but invaluable beens this season. It was wonderful, his wife made us fresh tortillas and cowboy coffee for a break from the rain. I was able to take pictures and gain valuable knowledge from them as the BS’ed and reminisced and talked coffee farming and they explained in simple terms why Xadan’s coffee was so good. This town produces an exceptionally clean coffee through old school, but proven manual labor techniques. I was recording altitudes and farm locations, and all pertinent information from each farmer while training(not really) the human GPS, Lao how to calculate altitude In the rain since the GPS was no good in the clouds. After 2 days he could look across a mountain point out another coffee farm and be within 20meters of the correct altitude, which was amazing since he probably didn’t finish grade school but had a PHD in survival and mountain living in which few could survive and fewer could prosper and be content with the meager living they scraped by on. But these poor people were full of life and most seemed to be truly happy and very excited to walk 3 hours with us to see their farm. They all desperately wanted the gringo to see their farm and give them a little advice or tell them they were doing an outstanding job while giving them some non-condemning advice on how to improve it more. It was incredible how full of life they were and how great of a time we had bathing in the creeks together, riding horse and taking turns every hour so each man could get a break. They insisted that I ride the horse and they walk as they knew I was the least capable of making the 10 day trek without the innated survival and walking skills only an indigenous man could have.. I kept up, huffing and puffing while they never tired or showed signs of physical weakness. Amazing since most were living off of corn and few side dressings, while I snuck a few 1lb cans of sardines to get proteined up. Well, the farmers only had to trek for 1 days and me and Lao had to do it for 10. By the 4th day, adrenaline and cowboy coffee was keeping me alive. I was pulling off more than 100 ticks a day and itching alteast that many new chigger bites. We randomly slept in the truck and with locals in tight damp adobe houses. Some each insisted they sleep with the chickens and made us sleep in their house. I won’t forget one man even bought us a Coke, which was a huge investement in which he spent a days income on our food and was happy due to so as his culture demands to treat guests like they wanted to be treated. These men were Godly despite their impoverished conditions, but to them, they had their own class systems, the dirt poor, semi- dirt poor, and the cement-house poor, which was the richest of the poor men.
I never felt treated so good in my life, I felt like a King, being given the only pair of rubber boots of one man, and rain jacket off another, a horse from another, a fresh cup of cowboy coffee and tortilla of another. A close washing from one the spouses, fresh avocado from a local tree climbing boy.. A raccoon stew from another. Bananas from many, mamey from a single lady. A bed from a family.To be finished later