Sonia Maritza Vásquez, Finca Los Planes

My husband and I planted our first coffee plants 15 years ago. In the beginning, he did most of the work on our land, and I helped during the harvest: picking, wet mill, drying coffees. Little by little, I got more involved, and now my husband lives in the United States, so I’m the one who works the land.

We decided that my husband had to make the long and dangerous trip to the US to send money home every month. With the money he is able to make there in construction or field jobs we can buy more land. Our goal is to expand the current 5 hectares, so our children can each inherit enough land for their own future, and families.

I miss my husband every day, but it’s worth the effort, and my daughters help me a lot. We also hire someone to do the heavy work whenever necessary. And we are used to hardship. I’m a third generation farmer and my grandmother had to work even harder than I. She grew coffee next to our house but those were not plants. Those were trees and we had to climb a ladder to pick the beans, which grew five, even six meters high. 

In our own finca, we have small plants and no longer need ladders, of course. We grow four varieties: Catuaí, Lempira, Catimor, and Pacas. But we also cultivate tangerine, orange, lime and lemon trees. For our own consumption and to generate a bit of additional income. Also, the trees provide shadow for the coffee plants and a zest of citrus flavor.

Hopefully, my husband will be able to return home from the US in a few years, and we’ll have enough money to buy more land and focus even more on specialty coffees than we do now!

Farm facts

Five hectares at  1,360 to 1,410 meters.

Lots of shadow from citrus trees as well as local trees.

The land is FTO and RFA certified.

Catuai, Catimor, Lempira, and Paca varieties.