- Southern Costa Rica News

R. News
C.R.
Southern C.
July, 2011
Family effort
garnered the
best coffee in
Costa Rica
Foreign judges
awarded prize for its
taste and smell of
chocolate and citrus.
The Hector Bonilla family had their backs
against the wall with the collapse of
coffee prices in 1987. The seven year
crisis continually bringing them to an ever
closer decision, that of going to work in
the U.S.
The drop in price was leading him to the
same fate of his fellow neighbors who lost
their native land in Leon Cortes, but in
1994 a miracle happened and the price
of coffee rose in the New York Stock
Exchange.
Hector Bonilla put away his suit case and
stayed with Cecilia Solis, his wife and
three children. He now did not have to go
Continue on page 3
In this Issue:
Page
1
Family effort garnered the best coffee in Costa Rica
Price of Coffee Hits 34-Year High
4
Chirripó Café Especial
5
Meet Mr. John Bowman the Clean Energy Man
8
New College for Santiago!
12
Why Do We Live the Way We Do?
14
IBM Announces us$300M Investment
and 1.000 Jobs For Costa Rica
18
page 2:: Southern C.R. News
6th Edition
quality, not quantity; and charge $275
for this special coffee, without a having to
go through a cooperative or the erratic
Wall Street market, where on Friday the
price for the traditional producer closed
at $ 127.
to a foreign country. The price increase
saved his family and an estate from
bankruptcy: He had no money even for
fertilizer.
The economic anxiety subsided for a
while, but a fire was lit in Don Hector:
and that was to become an independent
producer of high quality coffee, one who
was not forced to sell to the cooperative
and wait on their sales dates and receive
low returns for all the effort.
He dreamed of a small Beneficio to
process each ripened grain without
running the risk of it being mixed with
green beans or low quality fermented
beans. As he thought of a name he
decided on Beneficio Don Mayo in
honor of his grandfather and so named
his brand of coffee as well.
He wanted another farm at the height of
León Cortés where he could harvest
He dreamed of practically everything
except that on Friday, May 8, 2009 his
coffee would win the best in the country
by a vote of 17 international judges and
again winning the cup of Excellence last
month June 21, 2011.
Don Hector says, "I still have pinch myself
to awake from the dream of owning the
Cup of Excellence Award.
And for this the world's finest coffee
buyers are offering more than $ 1,000
per lot: Caturra of 15 bags of 150
pounds each. This is 10 times higher than
that offered on Wall Street to traditional
producers.
Support. When Don Hector was ready to
plan for the changes in the future of his
family, his wife supported him. Many of
her wages as a nurse at the clinic in San
Marcos de Tarrazú helped to realize
their goal.
In April 1997 the family bought a 10
page33:::: Southern
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acre farm, called Bellavista in Llano
Bonito de Leon Cortes, because it is at
1,900 meters, between small valleys
and mountain slopes in the area of
??LosSantos (also formed by Cantons
de Dota and Tarrazú).
Today, the country's best coffee smells
and tastes like orange chocolate with
lemon. It is produced in small
quantities, a production of 1,500 sacks
per year.
This delicious coffee is enjoyed by
Japanese, Italians and Americans. In
some cafes in Washington and
California there are photos of the
property and the Beneficio Don Mayo.
For more information on this intriguing
coffee story;
http://www.cafedonmayo.com/Eng
/0portada.html
Price of Coffee Hits 34-Year High
Coffee prices have topped $3 a pound for the first time in
more than 34 years.
A drop in supplies of high-grade arabica coffee beans
and a growing taste for upmarket coffee among the
middle classes of China, Brazil, Indonesia and India are
blamed for the sharp rise.
Continuing weakness in the dollar has also kept many
commodity markets soaring and encouraged a buy-up of
arabica beans.
New York's July arabica contract hit $3.025 a pound on
Wednesday, the highest since 1977. According to the
Guardian, coffee futures inched lower to $2.94 on
Thursday.
Coffee prices have more than doubled in the past seven
months. Supplies are running low because heavy rain led
to worse than expected harvests in Colombia, the secondlargest producer of arabica beans after Brazil and also in
Indonesia, Mexico and Vietnam. Colombia's supplies
dipped to their lowest level in 33 years.
The London-based International Coffee Organization
added that coffee inventories at their lo west level in 50
years w ere unlikely to build up this year, the Financial
Times reported.
Price hikes are reportedly being felt in American coffee
shops.
JM Smucker, the U.S. company behind the Folgers coffee
brand, has raised retail prices three times during the past
year. The company has warned it will do so again if
wholesale prices do not fall soon, the FT reported.
Tammy Durbin, co-owner of Capitol Roasters in
Charlestown, W.Va., told the Charlestown Daily Mail that
her coffee prices had jumped by 80 percent since June.
"That's a big jump," she reportedly said, adding that the
price of a 12-ounce cup of coffee at Capitol Roasters had
gone up 10 cents to $1 .49 in the pas t few days.
"It's tough," she said. "Everything seems to be going up.
It's just hard on our customers in general."
Source;
http://coffeemarketnews.blogspot.com/2011/04/priceof-coffee-hits-34-year-high.html
page
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C A F E
E S P E C I A L
At the end of a gorge in the
north eastern region of San
Isidro lies the best coffee
growing village of the Valle
del General.
The village of La Piedra (The Rock) lies in the foothills of the
Chirripo National Park about 20 kilometers from San Isidro. The
coffee brand Chirripo, was named after the famous, highest
mountain in Costa Rica.
Ricardo Carrion and his family represent a Coop of growers and
the Chirripo brand is made up of 2,000 of these local growers.
Chirripo Coffee is SHG classified (Strictly High Grown) coming
from a chilly and cloudy altitude of 5,200 ft. These coffees are
some of Costa Rica's best washed arabica's. Traceability is a very
important issue to the Coop and tools are in place for a roaster to
purchase direct from the Ricardo Carrion family. This coffee has a
clean cup, high acidity, and good floral notes. Mr. Carrion has this
coffee available in the JavAlliance warehouse for immediate
Café Chirripó Region.
Ricardo Carrion Home
page
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C A F E
E S P E C I A L
Ricardo Carrrion Home on East side
of this river and farm on western side
Ricardo Carrión
shipping! You can purchase today for $3.65 per lb.
Mr. Ricardo Carrion has been neighbor and co-laborer to the
community of La Piedra's 200 families for 22 years. Here in their
little mountain home the Carrion couple have raised a family of 7
children, subsisting entirely from the production of their 6 hectares
of coffee. Mr. Ricardo has now given each child a plot of coffee of
their own and Café Chirripo will continue to be the livelihood of
the extended Carrion family.
JavAlliance is excited to bring
an awareness and the product
availability of this fine Chirripo
coffee to roasters in the US. We
will keep you updated as our
relationship with the Carrion
family develops and we
welcome and assist anyone
page 6:: Southern C.R. News
7th Edition
Yanet Jimenez (Daughter in law)
who wishes to visit the Carrion family's coffee farm. You may
contact Ricardo Carrion direct at 011-506-8972-1874 or a
[email protected] or call toll free: 1-800-580-3096
Be assured that you will not
reach a high pressured
salesman. You will either be in
contact with the grower himself
or a very helpful and
informative JavAlliance
member!
Leonardo Carrion (Son)
C A F E
Ricardo Carrion Village of La Piedra
E S P E C I A L
page 7:: Southern C.R. News
7th Edition
Meet Mr. John Bowman the
Clean Energy Man
Energy has always intrigued me but
recently even more and I began to some
in depth research and what I have found
of energy production in Costa Rica is
very interesting! Part of what caught my
attention is a decree signed by Laura
Chinchilla (The Chinchilla administration
has asked electrical distributors to come
up with pilot plans so that customers can
generate their own power and market
the excess. The request from the central
administration was in the form of two
page 8:: Southern C.R. News
7th Edition
decrees issued March 15, 2011 and
published just before Easter in the La
Gazeta official newspaper. The
significance of the decrees was largely
overlooked, according to industry
sources. The Chinchilla decrees,
however, gave the price regulator, the
Autoridad Reguladora de los Servicios
Públicos two months to come up with
tariffs that would promote individual
production of electrical power. The
president also asked the electrical
institute to come up with financing
options as quickly as possible that would
accelerate the development of this type
of power generation.) and ever since I
have kept my eyes and ears open.
dad was in charge of a department of
The United Fruit Company here in the
country and so John is very much a
pioneer in this country. He now lives with
his wife in San Jose.
As we are in the process of turning our
water project in Santiago Springs over to
a public water system I have been in
contact with Felix Quesada and through
a conversation with him I came in contact
with Mr. John Bowman. Mr. Bowman is
to blame or fame for most of the
small/medium turbines and generators
sold in this country.
John came to Quepos, Costa Rica with
his parents in 1941. As a small boy his
Here a couple weeks ago Mr. John
invited me along with two Colombians to
accompany him to visit three small hydroprojects in the San Carlos area. John sold
the turbines and generators to all of these
and is stock holder in the last one we
visited! Without a doubt I have come in
contact with very likely the best source of
information on the subject in the country!
The production of clean energy is a must
if this country is to succeed in anything.
And investors are catching on as there
are already many projects under way,
and as soon as the decree is passed in
congress there will be
many, many more I am
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sure. There are already five new wind
projects under way in Costa Rica.
Costa Rica already has 116 megawatts
(One megawatt is equal to one million
watts, so for instants, one megawatt can
power 1000 homes.) of wind power on
five existing wind farms.
A group of Italian investors led by
Valerio Catullo plans to produce wind
power for the first time taking advantage
of wind currents in Cañas, Guanacaste.
The initiative, called Montes de Oro
Wind Project, will produce an output of
20 megawatts (MW) through eight wind
turbines installed in a farm of 105
hectares. This farm will be added to the
five that already operate in the country.
page 10 :: Southern C.R. News
7th Edition
The first of these developed wind farms is
Los Leones which will generate 27 MW.
It has estimated an investment of $60
million. $2.2 million is the average value
of each turbine. At this point they are
considering two options: installing
between 27 and 30 wind turbines with a
capacity of 900 MW or about 11 with
2.5 MW power each. The area of
Guayabo is favorable for this type of
activity having to be between two
volcanoes, there is no turbulence and
wind conditions are ideal.
The other project the canton receives is
the Bagaces Guayabo Wind, which
expects the environmental endorsement
soon.
Gustavo Echeverri told the group of
entrepreneurs who make up the two
companies involved, that it takes about
15 years researching the scope of the
winds.
are friendly and clean energy, but a
source of employment and even become
a tourist attraction.
In Guayabo ESPH is in partnership with
the owner of the farm, Jorge Campos,
who maintains a confidentiality
agreement.
While Guanacaste stands today as the
birthplace of wind projects, other areas
of the country also have their initiatives,
like the National Company of Electricity
and Power (CNFL) in Pavilion Santa Ana
and the Rural Electrification Cooperative
of Los Santos (Coopesantos) in this
region. In fact the next time you cross the
Cerro de La Muerte en route to southern
Costa Rica you will see all the new
towers being put up on the mountain.
Coopesantos will have 15 turbines for
13 MW of annual production.
So far, in the town of Bagaces, the only
electricity generating wind is the Wind
Guanacaste, but there are five
geothermal with ICE in charge.
Gabriela Mendez, Deputy Mayor of
Bagaces, said the community welcomes
these investments, not only because they
Nat Yoder
page 11 :: Southern C.R. News
7th Edition
a new college for the village.
New College for Santiago!
The 20th of May 2011 was another
historic day for the community of
Santiago as a delegation of government
officials came to approve the building of
page 12 :: Southern C.R. News
7th Edition
Several years ago the ministry of
education had purchased a 5 acre
parcel of land behind the community hall
building in Santiago with the intention of
building a college but as many times
happen in this country, good intentions
sometimes get shelved for awhile but this
time we have the promise of construction
to begin yet this year. I tend to believe it
will happen this time though as several
civil engineers have been back out since
in preparation of building plans etc.
And as if this were not enough we broke
ground for a clinic beside Super
Santiago!
One thing certain, our little community
has never seen so much good will from
the governments in the past and this has
a lot of locals very hopeful about the
near future of their community. I count it a
privilege to be a part of the development
that is happening and my desire is that
we would seek wisdom and help from
God as we strive for improvement.
Nat Yoder
page 13 :: Southern C.R. News
7th Edition
Why Do We Live the Way We Do?
Do you have a
computer area in
school? What do
you do when
someone steals
something from
you? Do you have
problems with
securit y? What
happens to your
waste, or do you
have a recycling
plan? In your own
cemetery, do you
have a layout
University students visit Santiago
design for the vaults or do you just build anywhere? If some one wants to get a college
degree, are you allowed to? What do you do if a child chooses not to follow your
teachings? These and many more questions were fired at us from eight professors' who
are taking PhDs in the Catholic University of Costa Rica this past Sunday July 10,
2011.
We were pleased to welcome this group of University students to our humble Christian
"Mennonite" community in Santiago, southern Costa Rica. I like the challenge of being
asked why I do what I do. After a message titled "Jesus is King" by James Troyer, we
had lunch together in the chapel and then moved to the Mount Zion Literature office
where we gave them a short presentation of our Christian
literature work here in the south.
Adolfo Morales
It turns out that Morales Adolfo Chavez, one of the students is
also the Vice-President of the Assemblies of God in Costa Rica
and they having a conference the end of this month and we
are invited to do a presentation of our literature to 400
pastors.
page 14 :: Southern C.R. News
7th Edition
go
a de Santia
tian
Iglesia Cris
Besides this
Mrs. Obando Sofia Navas,
Professor, which is in charge of the
regional directors of the public schools in
this country invited us to make a
presentation of the school curriculum we
offer.
In our office here in Santiago we have
little educational material, so we talked
about the possibility of a trip to La
Merced Publishing with them to view a
Interview
larger selection of curriculum and also to
be able to talk personally with some
writers and editors.
I hereby want to make a formal request to
Seth Bauman a Mount Zion Literature
representative and a Publicadora La
Merced representative to assist us on a
Monday between now and the end of
August to make a presentation to the 32
regional directors of all public schools of
this country.
Literatura Monte Sion Presentation
page13
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They become friends!
The possibility of a door being opened
inspires me very much! It is the answers to
my (our prayers). It was very inspiring to
share our values with these folks, who
feel the same weight for the declining
morality of our beautiful country and
they like us are clear that real education
begins from the foundation of moral
values. The excitement I feel is thinking
about the possibility of convincing the
leaders and influential people (who are
teachers and educators) in this country
that we HAVE to change the present
moral compass.
Rosa y Marielos
Xinia and Andrea join our church!
Enterview with Luis Cascante
Santiago School
page
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Sharing values
Mennonite community of Santiago
favorite brother, Ruben, 84
It is disturbing for me to read the statistics
on violence and crime that is increasing
at such a rapid pace in Costa Rica, and
even more so when we understand that
these are merely symptoms of empty
hearts and low values. Most of the
school curriculum at present in this
country is so empty and not only empty;
it is fictitious, with lots of witchcraft and
subtle terminologies.
So how do we fill these hearts with
values? To every believer it is clear that
only Jesus Christ can do this, but what
about the time of childhood before
children have the knowledge of good
and evil? Before you are even
responsible for your own soul and its
actions? This precisely, is our vision! To
provide the proper nutrients to all these
children will make a huge positive
difference in a generation from now.
Again we thank you for visiting us, (we
welcome anyone else who would like to
do the same) our goal is to humbly serve
the well being of the peoples of CR and
be a blessing.
Nat Yoder
page 17 :: Southern C.R. News
7th Edition
We know there is talent in Costa Rica and we can
serve our global customers with the quality we
need," said Cronin, who assured that this was the
main reason that weighed in the selection of the
country as a destination for the investment.
IBM Announces us$300M Investment
and 1.000 Jobs For Costa Rica
The international giant, International Business
Machines (IBM), announced of Thursday that it
will invest in Costa Rica us$300 million dollars
over the next ten years and create up to 1.000 new
jobs between now and 2014.
The IBM investment represents one of the most
significant investment in the country in the last
thirteen years, and the largest in the services sector
for the last seven years.
The new IBM facility will create up to 1000
technical professional jobs
The company said the investment is to open an
information technology services centre, to assist
corporate clients in areas such as servers,
information storage, securit y ser vices,
maintenance and monitoring hardware and defect
prevention software.
IBM said it will start operations in Costa Rica in
2012 with focus on support in the area of cloud
computing.
Pat Cronin, general manager of IBM Global
Delivery Technology and who made the
announcement at the Casa Presidencial in Zapote,
said that customers who receive this support are
part of Fortune 500 companies.
page 18 :: Southern C.R. News
7th Edition
Cronin added that the company has already
begun the recruiting process for technicians and
systems engineers. See http://www.ibm.com/cr.
The process of choosing a country for its
operations started back in 2010. Tipping the hat
towards Costa Rica, according to Presidenta
Laura Chinchilla, was her contact with the
company during her visit to New York last
September and follow up with a meeting in May
when she visited Washington D.C.
As President, my top priority is to thrust Costa Rica
towards development, improving its
competitiveness and guiding it towards innovation
through high technology and higher value added
job opportunities, such as the ones this project will
generate. IBM´s decision to establish in our
country is a clear sign that we're moving in the right
direction. Costa Rica welcomes opportunities to
further develop our skilled workforce and cultivate
the young minds in our schools. In this respect, the
National Social Digital Agreement Plan, which we
presented yesterday, has as its main component
the efficient and productive operation of
companies such as IBM, through which we will
take a leap towards connectivity and innovation.
This is how Costa Rica will keep up to date with the
new technologies of the future , Presidenta
Chinchilla said.
The Presidenta said during the press conference
that IBM made her aware of the decision on
Monday after the company firmed its decision last
Friday.
According to Alejandro Cruz, Minister of Science
and Technology, Cos ta Rica is moving forward
towards development with the help of science,
technology and innovation. The Ministry of
Science and Technology is promoting this initiative
through the National Plan for Science, Technology
and Innovation 2011 - 2014, which will strengthen
research, innovation and human capital, allowing
for further collaboration from the Costa Rican
talent in the goods and services produced.
President Chinchilla; Minister of Foreign Trade
Anabel González; Minister of Science and
Technology Alejandro Cruz, and a professional
team of the Costa Rican Investment Promotion
Agency, CINDE, are working closely with IBM.
IBM 's investment in Costa Rica sets a milestone in
the attraction of multinational companies to our
country. Parting from the fact that $300 million in
investment and
the creation of 1,000 professional jobs translates
into one of the most significant investments in the
last 13 years and one of the most important in the
services sector, it is also relevant to mention that this
new project is exclusively dedicated to high
information technology services, a highly
sophisticated process which positions Costa Rica
among the big leagues with regards to services
operations in the world. Equally important is the
impact that this new project will have in terms of
upgrading the country's capacity in the area of
Information Technology, an area which our
development process will benefit from. We are
facing a great opportunity which consequently
represents a great challenge: lining up our
education with the latest technological trends and
the global leader's demands to create new, better,
and growing opportunities for Costa Ricans.
assured Minister of Foreign Trade, Anabel
González.
According to the Cámara de Tecnologías de
Información y Comunicación (Camtic) there
currently are in Costa Rica some 1.300
companies, local and international, in the
information technology services field.
As to the us$300 million dollar investment, it may
see a high number, but it isn't the largest investment
by a foreign company. For instance, the Spanish
company, Autopistas del Sol, who brings us the
road to Caldera and tolls has invested so far more
than us$300 million in construction and
maintenance.
In terms of employment, the US giant Hewlett
Packard (HP) employees more than 2.000 in
Costa Rica after its 2007 expansion in the country.
IBM has been in Costa Rica since 2004 providing
services in human resources processes,
management and customer relations, finance,
accounting and shared services to customers in the
Americas.
page 19 :: Southern C.R. News
7th Edition
Last but not least please do not hesitate to
call Nat. Be assured you will not be getting
in touch with a high pressured salesman. In
fact after you ask a question you may well
have to say hello twice as he is pr etty
slow in answering at times as he thinks his
answers through very carefully. He is very
careful about not creating false expectations
and would rather y ou f ind or discover that
the product or subject is better than you
expected or what he proposed. He will
answer you all he knows about coffee, living
in Costa Rica and if he doesn't know the
answer he will tell you so. He will also be
glad just to hear from you, period.
Have a nice day and God bless you!
1-800-580-3096 Ext. 116
[email protected]
Costa Rica # 506-8337-4657
Or anyone of our staff. At
[email protected]