by Hector Zevallos
Jungle Tech's Peruvian Representative
April 2002
A visit to Coffee farmers from Perú could take you more time than you think it could, since there are different variables that affect your time schedule on the trip.
First of all, you hope your national airline (there are only two) really goes to the city that you are trying to get to, or there's a city that is nearly where you are going that the plane can land. And, two, when you are in the airport, you hope your plane departs at the right time. My last flight was confirmed for departure at 9:30 a.m and it really left at 1:30 p.m.(and in another machine plane) and you better not ask "why the delay?," because you are going to hear many different answers, and you know that probably the airline office employee also doesn't know the right answer.
 When you arrive to the nearest city, you can figure what's the best and safest transportation you can get to go to the place you wanted. You really don't have any choices, you only find the normal transport medium offer: an old and strong toyota car with a chauffer who needs to have a minimum of 5 passengers. If not, you will have to wait, sometimes a very long time, until it reaches the 5 passengers needed to began the long hours road trip. If you are smart, and have a little more money, you pay for the car with no other passengers, and the happy chauffer will began the trip with just you.
But all the previous struggles are forgotten when you see the wonderful and huge green mountains, red rivers, impact sun shine and-- if you are lucky-- beautiful rainbows. Last time I saw 5 Rainbows, and I could see two rainbows at the same time, which was the first time I have seen this spectacular view.
If the coffee farmers' community you are visiting is a little far from the cities, you probably are going to take a three-hour or more river boat trip. If you are lucky and arrive on Sunday, you can get a boat and share it with around 15 or 20 native people who are returning to their land, and who have sacks that contain sugar, beans, salt or a car battery for his home and radio or TV. But if you aren't so lucky, or arrive other than on Sunday, you won't find boats and you will have to walk and hike for around 5 hours on a jungle path, and hope the farmers have cleaned the path days before. If not, you better have a native guide, or you could find many times the same river only to find you have gone far away from it.
The other thing that makes you forget your transport trip delay problem is when you meet the coffee farmers. They are the people who live in in this place. They probably live in a small house that has only two rooms inside, the house walls are made from mud and plants mixed, or tree woods, and their roof is made from palmera leaves. They cook all the time with wood fires (what a good taste), they are so friendly, and you see in their faces not only the strong workers that they are (women and men), but they tell you with their eyes that you are welcome, and your visit represents that you didn't forget them. It also means they know their next coffee crop will have probably include a new coffee contract, and that would represent a better income for the farmer and his family. But what it also means is this: That they could rent, in the next months, a little room in the nearby city, where their children could study in a school, because in the farmers' community the school is closed.
Also, because they don't have too many children, it means they could probably buy a little mule that could help, in the future, get his coffee to the port river (three-hours hike), and means that they could buy a complete sugar sack, not just a little sugar envelope, and buy some very basic cloths, rubber boots, make a cement coffee dry patio, or a cement fermentation tank, not just get by with a wood tank.
After staying there two or three days, you began to think about your return. First of all you have to wake up, if it's Sunday, at 3:00 a.m.(so dark) if you want to get the boat that leaves at 6:00 a.m. from the river port to the city port. Then hope you're lucky to find trucks or cars going to the city, and then find 4 more guys that want to go to the more nearest city that has an airport and go with your friendly taxicab chauffer back.
Thanks for visiting us.
Hector
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