Chalatenango is an up and coming quality region of El Salvador, mainly inhabited by small farmers. It was hardly recognized by anyone until Cup of Excellence (http://www.cupofexcellence.org) "discovered" their coffees. Last year this region took 1st, 3rd and 4th place with La Montana leading the way. The year before Los Planes took 2nd place. We visited these two farms. This section shows La Montana and the terrible ravages of a three-day wind storm that struck El Salvador in early January of this year.

We drove to Mr. Ochoa’s farm with Sergio Edmundo Ticas Reyes and his wife Isabela, owners of another 1st place Cup of Excellence winner (2006) from the same Chalatenango region. On the way Isabela told us that in early January the near-hurricane winds lasted for three days and nights “without pity.” We saw this pattern throughout El Salvador; every patch of land directly facing the Pacific Ocean was hit while those which were in some way protected were usually spared. Thus Matalapa, in an entirely different region but which faces the ocean, was heavily affected as well – we will report on this in the next newsletter.
The damage done to La Montana is so severe because not only did it happen before the harvest, eliminating any funding for this year, but also because all the shade trees were shorn of their leaves as well. The dry season started in November in El Salvador and it may not rain until April or May again – not once. So here we have leafless trees which have been desiccated by the driving winds and their parched soil beneath, without any covering against the scorching sun. Buds have already appeared on some of the less damaged coffee trees while others simply need a tug to be plucked lifeless out of the exposed soil. These green messages of hope will not make it without help from the heavens, it seems to us. We can only join the Ochoas in praying for rain. No one expects a crop next year; it is a matter of hoping for survival. The first crop will be the following year (appearing in the marketplace in 2010) and we are told it will be small.
Mr. Ochoa was deeply moved by your contributions, holding back tears when we explained to him what was being done. We explained to him that we could not let someone who was the winner of the Cup of Excellence four years in succession - 31st, 5th, 4th and now 1st - and who had shined an inspirational light for other small farmers in El Salvador by hard work and attention to detail, to go down. Mr. Ochoa had been planning to invest monies from this year’s harvest into infrastructure to secure greater quality control. We will be in touch.