We have been on the go, from waking up early to find a Sunday market to bouncing along on an incredibly bad road for more hours than I care to mention. We left the dry heat of the tribal lands for the incredible lush coffee-growing region. We are staying at a coffee farm, and upon arriving in this beautiful areas Yirgacheffe and Yirgalem.

The upside is our team is fun and good-spirited, and the landscape simply could not inspire me any more. Each area’s so different and inspiring.

The bad news is, it’s really poor. When I think of the coffee trade and the massive amount of money made on coffee, and you see how very poor the people doing all that work for our morning coffee experience are — well, all I can say is buy fair trade. They are not asking for aid, just fair trade.

The highlight of the day was painting on location on a coffee plantation as the sunset. Pure joy!

There is so much more to share, but I’m utterly exhausted. So until next time, thank you for joining my journey!

Stephanie

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