i Patrick W. Staib Anthropology This dissertation is approved, and it ...

Adrian was able to invest in a beneficio húmedo (wet processing mill) on his own land
and broke ground for his beneficio in August 2009.
Adrian used his macho to haul his despulpadora (depulping machine) to his
farmland in El Lechón, 1,200 meters above sea level. Before purchasing the macho,
Adrian would disassemble the machine and we would carry it in woven sacks to where it
was needed. The coffee in El Lechón ripens late in the season because of the high altitude
and cool temperatures. Adrian depulped the picked coffee at the end of the day and
transported it to his house in Las Grietas, at a far lower elevation, for washing and drying.
Prior to the purchase of Domestico, we would carry the despulpadora and the freshly
depulped coffee beans down the mountain.
Adrian farms alongside his brother Manuel de Jesús and his brother-in-law
Melvin. During the peak harvest period, Adrian, Manuel, and Melvin leave the depulper
buried in a pit of discarded coffee pulp rather than haul it up and down the 400-meter
change in elevation to El Lechón. It was extremely arduous to hike the mountain, pick
coffee all day, take turns cranking the depulper, and then descend before dark. Tired and
often cold, Adrian would leave the day’s harvest to ferment in sacks and then wash the
coffee in the morning. Leyla helped to wash the beans that would later dry in rectangular,
wooden racks with walls of wire mesh.
Adrian relied on his immediate family to help with the harvest. I felt the most
comfortable helping out on Adrian’s farm because he seemed to be the most in need of
additional help. I made an effort to work on the rest of the farmers’ plantations from time
to time, but I worked mostly alongside Danilo’s work crew or with Adrian and Chele.
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