Okay... just when I thought the entire trip couldn't get better at this point, the third day ended up being the absolute best. Cristian had educated us so much in the last few days, and we had been lucky to taste his delicious coffee and get to know him, but we were still in search of story.
We awoke the next morning to Carlos Javier taking us on a "2.5 hour drive" to meet a small coffee-growing family that his larger company outsources to. We drove about 10 minutes before turning onto a quite treacherous bumpy, rocky road and that's when I realized we were in for a 2.5 hour adventure, not just a drive, in order to get to this family.
Driving up the mountain with my hand out the window, I literally felt tears coming on because the views were just so magnificent, and quite literally, breathtaking. I, unable to control my photographer brain, may have politely asked Javier a couple times too many to please pull over for the several photo-ops ;)
About halfway up the mountain, after seeing these crazy views, small little homes built on side of the cliffs, and naturally a little boy randomly in a tree in the middle of nowhere, we stopped to let these 2 ladies and a small newborn into the back of the truck so they didn't have to continue walking. We were probably driving at least 30 minutes straight up hill before we approached their destination. I couldn't believe these people living on this mountain walk up and down that terrain on the daily, or weekly, as they have no other form of transportation.
After a few other hiccups that included Riley falling out of the back of the truck and waters too high for our vehicles to pass, we hiked up the remainder of the mountain to the family's farm.
I'll never forget approaching their home. There are 4 main brothers that run this family coffee farm that has been in their family for over 100 years. Each brother has a rather large family of their own, a wife and several kids, that each live in their individual, very small, manmade homes. Coffee is their life. The men farm the coffee beans, the children pick them, the women process them into coffee. It is my understanding that the children have not ever seen the real world, much less have ever left the mountain that they live on. When we approached, the children scattered so fast and hid behind doors, their parents, anything that would hide them! They were so, so shy. After all, they had never really seen people outside of their family members.
We got to chat with the brothers, and I finally got the kiddos to warm up to me by snapping photos of their sweet faces and then showing them the back of the camera. They were the sweetest little children. The one particular little boy in the majority of my photos, in the red shirt (then later in the maroon/white striped shirt), holds a special little place in heart, as he followed me around all day, at a safe distance from me of course, so secretly, and so bashful. At one point, I noticed he had gone and changed his dirty shirt into a clean shirt and then he snuck over to their outdoor sink to rinse off his dirty face and arms. He seemed so intrigued by us, but I think I was more intrigued by his curious and sweet spirit. I caught sight of him at the wash basin, and every time I glanced over he would take turns hiding behind the pillar than doing more rinsing. I finally convinced him to give me a hug by the end of the day, and it melted my heart how he held onto me for a few lasting seconds.
After wandering around their farm a bit, my favorite part of the day came when we all sat in the eldest brother's dining area of his home, overlooking the view from the top of mountain, and sharing a cup of coffee together. His very own coffee. It was truly charming how his wife so eagerly prepared and served the coffee to us. It was even more touching to have the brother repeatedly telling us how much he couldn't believe we were interested in their coffee and interested in their story. He seemed radically humbled and I'll never forget the tiny tear I saw in his eye as he was smiling at Ben and Riley, thanking them over and over again.
In my mind, in that moment, the quest for the best cup of coffee had been accomplished. This family has a story. And it needs to be shared.