Part I coffee: product of Colombia

     Coffee is a common drink in America but to some in Colombia, it's more than just a common drink. It's their way of life. An author by the name of Kelsey Timmerman discovers that as he travels to find out where his food is made. He tells about how he not only learns but experiences what heights the farmers are willing to go to make what we drink, "I've never been so terrified by a 'slight incline.' It's not so much that I'm afraid of heights as it is I'm afraid of falling down a mountainside to my death like a rag doll"(Timmerman 21). Timmerman also explains that the farmers  work everyday in the valleys covered in fields of coffee.  With the life that they do have some still want to improve it.
      A Colombian woman by the name of Flor grows coffee but has to pay 11 cents back to the company she sells for. She does all this and still receives little to no help, "technicians don't help us, but our neighbors do"(Timmerman 32). Farmers like Felipe benefit because they received help from the same company that Flor sells to. She hopes that the company will help her; she explains that she wants to have an improved house and improved standard of life (Timmerman 37).  Felipe on the other hand, does have some privileges that some others don't have. "A Dell computer sat in the corner on a desk next to a Samsung LCD monitor. Two HD printer boxes were stacked in the opposite corner..."(Timmerman 24). Felipe has this right in his house, while flor and her family have to travel a great distance to get internet. Not only does he do better than people like flor, he gets paid more than his neighbors. Even though he gets paid more, all of them could be getting paid much more "Today, in 2012, they're lucky to keep 10 percent. Consumers are paying more for coffee; producers are getting paid less..."(Timmerman 25). These farmers are doing their part and making the coffee, going to great heights literally and they still aren't getting paid what they deserve. "Flor is referring to the new free trade agreement with the United States. The first tariff-free products shipped to the United States were crates of roses from Colombia, while the United States sent a Harley-Davidson as its first product to Colombia. Roses in exchange for a motorcycle. Nature for a machine. A commodity for a high-tech, finished product"(Timmerman 37). All of this hardwork in return for something that they can't even use. The people of Colombia are very hardworking people who do what they have to in order to survive. It's in their culture to stick together and make sure all of those in their community is taken care of. They do all they can to strive towards a better life.