Ashlyn and I took a quick long weekend trip to Cuetzalan, a pueblo mágico in la Sierra Norte de Puebla a month ago (yikes, I'm bad about posting) and we had the most amazing time! We stayed in the nicest hotel close to the center, tried lots of coffee and yummy foods, and learned a ton.
Mole, café de olla, churros, tlayoyos (on Ash's plate--regional food; thicker tortillas with filling of beans and other yummy things) and more
Atole made of pollen! Honestly, it grossed me out. But it felt ridiculously healthy and too unique to turn down.
Here are some helpful things I learned at the local museum:
A really cool church candle with wax and corn!
Holy dog!
We got to see a traditional dance!
Coffee classification mechanism
But the HIGHLIGHT of our trip was a visit to a local coffee farm. We learned how coffee is grown and processed, as well as about other plants and foods like honey (I got to see bees, my favorites!). I wish I could go into detail about the process, but I hope the pictures do the trick.
COFFEE:
Coffee plant
Coffee cherry and bean inside
Beanie Babies
Beans all dry
Hand-roasted! (They don't always do this, but it's the old-fashioned way.)
Toasted bad boys
Time to grind!
Weighing for the perfect cuppa
Café de olla, from the source. YUM!
Other cool things from the farm that aren't coffee:
Pepper corns and a leaf from the tree it comes from!
I don't know what this is, but it comes from that red cherry-like fruit in the previous pic.
Flowers that hold little tadpoles inside! :D
Berrrrrnaaaaners!
Time for the BEES! These bees don't sting, but they will try to scare you off if you mess with the hive. It was too cold for them to fly around, but I know they were working hard in there.
We got to try (and buy) honey from these bees, and it's super strong, with apparently many health benefits.
It was an amazing trip.
I actually just returned from being home in the States for about two weeks, and coming back to Mexico was difficult after being with my loved ones, but reliving memories like these reminds me how blessed I am to live in Mexico. I've only got a month left, so I'm making it count!
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