coffee and crazy drivers

To break up our trip a bit from Antigua to the coast of Honduras, Will and I stopped in Copan, a small colonial town just across the border, about 6 hours by bus, 4 hours by crazy mini-bus. There are several ways to get there, one which involves a "1st class" luxury bus, with a bathroom, and reclining seats. Then there's the mini-bus option, a glorified minivan with a driver who dreamed as a child of being a Nascar driver, but settled for blindly passing trucks on mountain highways. Have you ever experienced a double pass? As in, the car you're in is passing a car that's already passing a car. It's something, let me tell you.

After we miraculously made it to Copan we rose early and headed to Finca El Cisne, a coffee plantation tour we had heard good things about from a couple we met at Earth Lodge. The tour was awesome, most of it on horse back, then to the top of a mountain where most of the beans grow, and ending at hot springs. The owner has had the plantation in his family for at least 3 generations, and it's a huge operation. They grow, harvest, peel, peel again, peel once more, and dry, before shipping around the world. The farm also includes a huge variety of other fruits and veggies, as well as cocoa beans, which I hadn't realized, are enormous. The horse back tour took a break for coconut water, and ended with a home cooked lunch by the owners mom, easily the best food we've had so far. A long, amazing day, I would highly recommend.