Greetings from Bogotá.
I am having a short break from the farm to give Adriano more space to lead the cosecha (harvest), which is a couple of weeks in.
We had been suffering an extended drought, which was causing real problems. Not only do we need sufficient rain to mature the coffee cherries so they are ripe for picking, but it also discourages coffee pests such as broca, the coffee borer. We were being affected, but not as much as those unfortunates at lower altitudes for whom the cosecha starts earlier. We had prayers for rain being said on two continents and it seems they worked as the weather has now settled down, with rain each night and sun during the day.
Now our problem is getting enough workers to pick the coffee. With coffee cherries ripening in the rain everyone is now picking. But they are also nicking others’ workers by offering them more money, and even though we are paying ours over the market rate, other growers are going further.
Our immediate solution might be to hire Venezuelans. There are lots at La Virginia, about an hour away down in the valley. If we bring them here we will have to accommodate and feed them, but we have done that before. It is estimated we have more than two million Venezuelans in Colombia now. What’s the attraction? The monthly wage in Venezuela, where inflation is running around 1,000,000%, is US$ 6. They make that in one day here, and can send money back to their families so that mother or wife can spend a day queuing trying to find something in the shops with which to feed the family … maybe a chicken, which would cost around US$ 6.
During the sunny, more relaxed period constituting July and August we were blessed with some very enjoyable guests who chose Casa Adriano as their coffee region retreat.
We had a truly lovely couple from London, who decided on Colombia for their honeymoon. They had been married in Assisi in Italy the week before and after visiting Bogotá came to us before heading on to Medellin and Cartagena. We had a jeep tour of the locale, a visit to the Co-Op and to the Federacion’s coffee mill, and the usual gastronomic treats.
From Paris we had a foursome, two couples mostly in banking or consulting, and for them we organised live musical accompaniment for the first night dinner, and a folkloric dance presentation, which occurred in different venues around Mykanos, for the second night.
In between we had the pleasure of internationally renowned theatre and staging designer Adrian P Smith. In theatre he designed shows for Alan Ayckbourn, and more recently you would have seen his work in Game of Thrones and on the MTV Music Awards, as he was both Designer and Creative Director for MTV Europe for six years. I first worked with Adrian decades ago when he was based in London. He has since moved to Barcelona. It was his first trip to Latin America and he came to us from Panama, Costa Rica and Nicaragua.
It was great having him here. He went with Adriano to inspect plantations and watch the collection and trading of plantain and guineo, and explored Anserma, its markets, its cantinas, and accompanied by Adriano and Juan, its dens of iniquity. Having two artists in the house was fun and Adriano even let him do the flowers one night.
We send all our guests away with packs of roasted Zamudio Estate coffee beans and instructions on how to procure the Bodum Bistro Burr Grinder we recommend for grinding the beans immediately before brewing. Hugues from Paris sent a photo by WhatsApp proudly showing his new acquisition with the caption “my joly coffee grinder with your tasty coffee beans in it ;)” (Sic).
Our next visitor is Father Reg, who was vicar of Saint Stephen’s Gloucester Road in London and is one of our dearest friends. We have known him for many decades and his first trip here, to Rancho Grande, was in 2002. He is currently in Las Vegas celebrating his 70th birthday, which just happens to be today October 4. Why Las Vegas? That is where he was born, and that is where we went in 2009 to help him celebrate his 60th.
Quite coincidentally, 4 October is also Adriano and my anniversary, 34th this year, so it is quite a festive and inevitably thoughtful day.
Some time ago, Barbara in Paris set me the movie challenge on Facebook, in which one must feature 10 films that meant something to you, one per day, hinting at each film to start with, then revealing it next day. Normally I eschew all such silliness on FB as I don’t like to provide too much personal details, both because it is nobody’s business, and because (the now defunct) Cambridge Analytica might think it is. As it turned out, I found the challenge of coming up with 10 films that really did affect me quite enthralling, and I suspect that I revealed a lot more than I would have imagined in my exposition of each of them.
My third film, revealed on the third day, was ‘The Lion in Winter’ from 1968. Written by James Goldman, from his play, it starred Peter O’Toole and Katherine Hepburn, with Anthony Hopkins, Timothy Dalton and Nigel Terry.
I explained …
“I thought this was going to be more history; a power struggle between kings, between siblings, between generations, between spouses. I was already into Henry II thanks to the earlier film Becket, also with Peter O’Toole. But this wasn’t primarily about history. It was about two powerful individuals in conflict, but more importantly in love … love defined by passion and respect.
It taught me that love is not about flowers and always agreeing with each other, but sharing passion and engagement and having respect for each other as formidable individuals with independent ideas.”
Well, we never had the tectonic disagreements and contrary ideas of the preferred shape of the world as those enjoyed by Henry and Eleanor, but we have had 34 years over which to get to know and appreciate each other, and to realize, if you are lucky enough to find the right person, how a life shared is a true and very great blessing.
I count my blessings every day … not just on 4 October.
Love from him and me
Barry
