A Different Visit to the Valle of the Angeles

On Monday, May 21st, Mike and I adventured out to the Valle of the Angeles for lunch and to relax at the coffee shop.  We arrived around ten in the morning and parked in front of The Coffee Shop.  Gene and the girls were just opening up the shops.  Mike asked Gene would he mind taking us up to the mountains to see his coffee plants.  Gene planted coffee beans six months ago as a way of making some coffee which is in grown in the Valle.  So off we went up into the mountains of the Valle of the Angeles.  We went high up into the mountains and the temperature was cool and crisp.  Gene shared the higher the elevation the better the coffee.  He had six acres of coffee plants.  He had banana trees planted and another ground cover plant to provide shade for the bean plants.  Mike and I learned so much about growing coffee plants on Monday morning.  After leaving his crop of coffee beans we went to another location which is actually up about a mile behind where The Coffee Shop is located.  Gene has a shop up there where all his mahogany items are carefully crafted into beautiful works of art.  In the picture above Edwin spends his day sanding the boxes getting them ready to be stained.  The three men who do the craving of the boxes were working in Tegus this particular day.  They carve them out and Edwin sands them.  Gene has the mahogany and the cedar wood behind the building to dry out in preparation for carving.  So those of you who have bought any maghony wood items from Gene there is alot of tender loving care which goes into them.  There is a building up on top of the hill behind the shops where a dear sweet baptist pastor lives and he makes more detailed items out of maghony for Gene.  He spends his day carving and sanding the maghony while listening to his Christian music.  Gene found this artist in Choluteca.  It is a small world even in Honduras.  Gene asked where he could find a good carpenter and this is how he found this humble man.  He is the one who makes the chess sets Gene sells in his shops.  Gene has many talented men and women working for him.  It makes his shops more personable for Mike and I now.  To make my day complete Gene had a vegetable garden at the location where Edwin was working.  He had spinach plants.  It is hard to find good spinach here.  Gene asked me would I like some of his vegetables.  I said just give me the spinach and my day will be complete.  Thank you Gene for such an amazing day in the Valle of the Angeles.  This entire day was a God moment for me.