Earthquakes and Baguettes

I woke early on Tuesday morning to the crowing of roosters and to the barking of dogs. The sun rose at around 5:30 am and light began to filter into the room through the open window. My roommate was still sleeping so I decided to get a jump on the morning's routine.

I tiptoed into the bathroom and gently closed the door. I cracked open the window and started the shower. As I waited on the dry side of the shower curtain, I read through the notice on the back of the door. It said that the hot (caliente) water tap is on the left and the cold water tap is on the right. It also said something long winded about the hot water and then thanked the reader for their understanding. Hmmmmm. Wonder what that's about? I questioned as I dipped my hand under the freezing cold water. One of the words in the notice referred to the distance that the hot water travels. I supposed this had something to do with the rather long time it took to coax the hot water out of hiding.

I started to feel terribly guilty about the amount of water that I was wasting as I stood and waited for warmth to find its way into the shower head. Screw it, I thought as I eased into the shower. I dipped my toes and then my shins under the cool stream of water. Still too cold. I pushed myself against the right side of the shower and out of reach of the icy shower.

In the next moment, I was suddenly less concerned about my shower and more focused on my sudden feeling of vertigo. As I braced myself against the walls of the shower, I felt the world tilt under me. Am I going to faint? I wondered. Am I coming down with something? It's just fatigue, I reasoned as the feeling left me. And then....warm water showered down upon me and my attention was quickly redirected towards taming my crazy hair and rinsing away yesterday's travels.

By the time my shower was finished, Sharon was ready for her turn under the now warm water. I dressed quickly, ran down to the lobby to fill up my water bottle and returned to the room to catch up on my journal. At 8:30 a.m. Sharon and I went down to the dining room to meet the others for breakfast.

"Did you feel the earthquake?" asked Annie and Sally.

"It happens all the time," explained Jody and Chris.

Ahhhh, earthquake, I thought, so I'm not getting sick. Thank God!

We spent an hour together reviewing our itinerary. During the week, we would meet with representatives of CIEPAC (Centro de Investigaciones Economicas y Politicas de Accion Comunitaria) and CAPISE (Centro de Análisis Político e Investigaciones Sociales y Económicas) to learn more about the historical record and current events involving human rights violations in the state of Chiapas. We would travel to the Zapatista coffee cooperative Yachil and to the Maya Vinic cooperative in Acteal. We would visit the site of the 1997 massacre at Acteal and the refugee camp that houses hundreds of displaced citizens. We would visit the mountain village of Puehlo and stay overnight in that community while visiting coffee farms and bodegas. We would visit the village of San Gregoire to learn about the Chiapas Water Project and how it has helped the farmers in this community. We would travel to Agua Azul and the Zapatista community of Bolon Ajaw to hear first-hand of how public forces continue to harass and violate the rights of aboriginals and, specifically Zapatistas.

I spread a spoonful of pineapple preserves on my slice of baguette and made notes in my journal as Chris and Jody explained the social environment of Chiapas. As I sipped my coffee, I learned that the world's most vulnerable cooperatives are in Chiapas because there are no support structures in place to assist them in their growth and development. Fair trade is becoming a business and industry insiders are looking for alternatives to TransFair licensing. FloCert is a possible alternative, but the producers need a loud voice. Many members of the public want to purchase Fair Trade Coffee, but they are afraid of being misdirected so they look hard for the TransFair symbol to make sure that what they're buying is certified. What they don't know is that the sticker shows up on 100% fair trade or 5% fair trade coffee.

TransFair USA's volume Guideline requires its members to convert at least 5% of its green coffee purchases to Fair Trade within the first two years of launching labeled products. FIVE PERCENT! That's a goal, by the way, not a requirement.

We tossed questions, answers and comments back and forth as we discussed the merits and pitfalls of fair trade certification in the coffee industry. We talked about fair trade as a business, as a movement and as a certification. We learned about the price of fair trade coffee and how it is affected by the NYSE and about country differentials and premiums for quality and organic product.

We wrapped up breakfast by about 10:30 and gathered up our things before heading across town to CIEPAC. I grabbed my camera and my water bottle and walked out into the sunshine.