Coffee anyone?

Today we were invited to go to the Coloma Coffee Plantation with our American friends as well as an American father and daughter (who was adopted from Colombia 20 years ago). It was about a 3 hour ride (but it was probably only 80-90 miles out of the city)...the traffic was horrible and it took forever to get out to the countryside. Once we got to the mountains, though, I was shocked at how lush and beautiful the countryside was. It was like a night and day difference from what we see everyday. We drove through many little villages selling everything from candy to pig carcasses! We stopped at a little roadside restaurant for a potty break and to get some snacks. It was almost time for Laura's bottle so we asked them to heat it up for us. Instead of heating it up, they dumped out the water, washed the bottle, and gave it back to us empty!! It took a lot of help from other Spanish speakers to help them understand what they did wrong and what we actually needed them to do! When we finally got to the plantation, I was amazed at all the vegetation. I expected it to look like a vineyard but the coffee trees grow among orchids, lime trees, and a whole bunch of tropical flowers that I don't know the names of. We had a great guide who told us all about coffee - from planting it as a seed to bagging it for resale. Coffee beans start out green and once they are red the are ready to be picked. The picking is all done manually...talk about hard work! We got a tour of all the machinery that is used to separate the bean from the shell, to dry out the bean, to size select the beans for the best taste, to roast the bean, and then to bag it. We also had a coffee tasting. Shawn only likes his coffee with milk and sugar and I don't really like coffee at all, but it was neat tasting coffee that was grown in the area we just walked through. We bought a couple bags to bring home. Our drive home was a little faster and Laura was able to sleep through some of it. We were very glad to get back to our hotel for dinner though...we had been gone almost 8 hours and had only had some bread for a snack around 2:00. Fortunately, tonight was spaghetti night at the hotel so we were both able to eat pretty well. Laura was an absolute angel the whole day. She hardly fussed at all and when she did it was just because she needed some food or a bottle. If she stays this easy when we are out and about our life with a baby is going to be a breeze!!