THE BEST DAY so far!

Today was absolutely one of the best and most interesting days of our trip!

Our friend (and driver Garnel) picked us up at our AIRBNB and we proceeded up a rough muddy road (they have had considerable rainfall these past few days) into the mountains very close to the Guatamalan border. We passed through several small hamlets where most people work in the coffee plantations. We are in a major coffee growing area and saw several pick ups loaded with hundreds of pounds of fresh picked beans as now it is the season and the picking is in full force. The red coffee ‘cherries’ are all picked by hand…one at a time as the the whole bush does not ripen at one time and each one requires several pickings. One can really appreciate the time and effort here involved in producing your morning cup of Java!

First, a tour of Tanya and Garnel’s lovely mountain paradise…the number of edible plants was incredible, from fruit trees to medicinal to herbs and spices…star fruit, mango, banana, lemon (huge!) avocado, cinnamon (Sri Lanka), vanilla, sugar cane, lemon grass in addition to coffee, of course. And….the turmeric (cúrcuma) plant was one of the most impressive in terms of it grows literally everywhere underfoot! It seems to be a weed, but one with fabulous healing properties. They actually produce a turmeric/ black pepper capsule…again involving quite a process to go from root to powder!

Tanya provided us with a delicious lunch, homemade sourdough bread, home made butter, a pasta with fresh tomato/basil sauce and fresh squeezed juice.

And then it was off to the LUNA JAGUAR SPA! Tanya provided us with the full complement of accessories which included a mud mask facial, a honey/sugar scrub and some very lovely avocado hair oil treatment, all handmade by her! Sorry the pictures are a little out of focus, but it was a very wet (totally relaxing) experience!