In our last weeks we enjoyed our hideaway at Casa Emanuel, an inexpensive (less than USD $3/night) hostel nestled between two separate coffee processing plants. 
Thanks to Folger’s and personal experience, most people know the rich and unmistakable bouquet of fresh coffee brewing. What they won’t recognize is the rancid stench of coffee beans rotting in house-sized mounds, waiting to be de-husked, washed and dried.
Coffee grows all around Lago Atitlan and you’d be hard pressed to find a place too far from the pungent sour smell of the ripe fruit. Upon our first visit to San Pedro we thought we were near a garbage dump, but began to recognize the smell as the unprocessed something we both love dearly and enjoy daily.
While I wouldn’t wish that smell on anyone each morning, I am glad to have a fuller appreciation for the sweet, warm darkness, swimming in me this very moment.
