Now it’s the time to tell you a story about my Dad:

The most awaited day of the year has come. School’s finally over, and the excitement can be seen in the cousins’ eyes as they see Grandpa’s carreta (wagon) approaching to hitch a ride to their summer vacay destination: Loma La Gloria. There, they would put in their share of work on assigned chores. But also get the most of fun days running, hunting, river bathing, etc.

Grandpa Adolfo’s LLG was a large estate, where they grew fruit, grains, coffee, among other produce. While Roberto’s Parents (My Grandparents) ran one of the few town’s general store. Back in those days, plastic packaging didn’t exist yet. Roberto would help pack pounds of sugar, salt, grains, etc. in paper. He also ran errands, and collected open invoices from customers all around town driving an old Jeep. He remembers getting paid colones $0.10/day which would be plenty for a young teenager in those days.

Roberto grew up to become a civil engineer, and building residential developments became his main trade. But those memories back in Loma La Gloria, kept haunting him and dreaming about those ole days.

So, by the time he got pretty well stablished, and had the money to invest, he bought a coffee farm in the western part of the country. But that land caused him so much headaches and wallet-aches! One day a friend of him asked for a favor, if he could accompany him to check on a farm that was for sale. So, he did! As they were walking through it, the childhood memories struck his mind, he felt as he was back in Loma La Gloria. After that, he sold the farm he owned and put an offer in this other farm, which he got! And named it Loma La Gloria.

Given his entrepreneurship abilities, and vision. Right away, he built a coffee mill on site from the ground up. But never got to run it, not even once. A coffee crisis hit, so it was left forgotten and abandoned.

I could say we have a heritage in coffee because of Great Grand Pa. But technically, no coffee lands were passed on to us. I feel my Dad pioneered in coffee because of the love to the land!

For those who might be wondering what happened to my Great Grand Father’s Loma La Gloria. Well... It got divided, sold in parts. But that area in Ahuachapan, it’s still known today as Loma La Gloria!