5.01
The monsoon is in full swing and it has rained all night. But the rain stops as soon as the night guard flicks on the lights, as if the switch also controls the weather. “Hay cafe,” he says. His twelve-hour shift is almost over. If coffee is life, then Finca Ixobel is ready for a bright new morning. But for now, it’s still dark outside. The sunrise is an hour away, the earliest bird has yet to sing its first song. It seems like the world is asleep. But that’s not entirely true, Isabel and Paula are already kneading dough.
6.11
The air outside is still cool and the grass is covered with dew. But it’s hot in the bakery where Isabel and Paula fill the massive iron ovens with the first batch of whole-wheat bread of the day. The big black ovens are older than Finca Ixobel itself. They have been bought secondhand. Presumably, they date from the sixties.
The ladies in the bakery don’t seem to suffer from morning grumpiness. With arms until their elbows in the dough, they smile in spite of the early hour. One is kneading the dough in a plastic bowl big enough to do the laundry. The dough is orange – this is how the delicious carrot bread is made. In the corner stands a 23 kg bag of flour. Every day, up to three bags of flour are turned into delicious bakery products: white bread, whole-wheat bread, burger buns, banana and carrot bread, cinnamon rolls and all kinds of cakes and pies.
Isabel takes out the muffin pan and starts to prepare cinnamon rolls. These huge mouthwatering buns are great for breakfast or dessert and you will not find anything like them elsewhere in Guatemala. She spreads oil on the table and rolls the dough on top of it. Then she masterfully brushes the sheet of dough with a mix of cinnamon and sugar, she rolls the dough into a big log and cuts it into pieces. The first buns find their way into the oven. Light presses itself through the windows- the sun is up, but work in the bakery doesn’t stop just yet.
6.46
“Hola! Hello!” Ixchel is awake, the beautiful scarlet macaw that’s lived on the property for decades. A worker is not distracted by her shouts for attention and continues sweeping the floors in the restaurant area. Oca the cat doesn’t want to be swept up and hides from the cleaning session on top of a chair. Waitress Emma arrives by motorbike for her morning shift. From the kitchen come sounds of rhythmic chopping of carrots.
Everything is ready for the first guests. But the first visitor of the day is not a tourist on the way to Tikal, nor a local coming for a yummy slice of butterscotch pie. It’s a feathered guest, a Berylline hummingbird that flutters by. Wings flapping with lightning speed, the bird stops at one of the feeders in the restaurant area and savours some sweet, sweet nectar. It seems that not only humans appreciate Ixobel’s food and drinks.
7.21
Pandemonium in the henhouse! Around 200 ladies trample over one another to get a spot on the front row when worker Francisco refreshes their water. But hey, what’s that? Now, he’s replenishing the mangers on the other side of the shed. That can only mean one thing. Food! To the other side, ladies! All the chickens are jumping and running as if their lives depend on it. Francisco isn’t bothered by the state of mayhem in the chicken shed. He’s calm as ever, quietly ticking off all his tasks.
He picks the eggs and counts them in his head. When his bucket is almost full, he says: “146 eggs, for now. But there will be more in the afternoon. The daily average is almost 200.” God only knows how many of these huevos will be revueltos, how many estrellados and how many will end up in the bakery. One thing is for sure: Francisco better doesn’t drop his bucket, or he’ll disappoint plenty of visitors today.
During his careful trot, he passes the volunteer house, which is slowly coming to life. Volunteers are stretching out and getting ready for work, one volunteer sits on the terrace and sips from a cup of coffee.
8.31
The first guests are ordering coffee and a traditional breakfast. Not much later, more hungry tourists are trickling in. The waitresses are rushing in and out, carrying huge plates with eggs, plantains, refried beans and toast, or bowls filled to the brim with fresh fruit and homemade yoghurt and muesli. Meanwhile, Paula slides the burger buns into the oven. They will be ready for lunch, when burgers with all kinds of fillings are by far the most ordered menu item.
9.49
The workshop is going in overdrive. Surrounded by sawdust, half a dozen volunteers are occupied with all kinds of projects. One is scraping the old varnish of a chair with a knife, another sands a chair and a third gives a chair a new layer of varnish. Two layers and a couple of drying days later, the finished chair will move back to the restaurant, looking like new and soft as velvet for the bums of dining guests.
Two other volunteers are grooming the horses. A dozen of horses are being kept in top shape for horseback riding tours in the surrounding countryside, passing over hills and through shady pine forests. The volunteers have already fed them their favourite meal a couple of hours ago and now the horses are chewing grass behind the workshop. But with horses, it’s like with humans – the grass is always greener on the other side. One dark brown horse tramples through the workshop, past the scraping and sanding and varnishing volunteers, to the pasture on the other side. It’s Diablo, the stoutest and most carefree of the gang – not a surprise, considering his name. A worker swiftly returns the rascal to where he came from.
9.52
In the bakery, Paula takes the blackberry pie from the oven. She can finally sit down for a break, the new day is well underway.
[Read everything about our experience volunteering at Finca Ixobel]
Practical information about Finca Ixobel
Set in a green corner of Poptún, Finca Ixobel offers the perfect break on the way to Tikal. If you don’t mind getting your hands dirty, you can volunteer as well. More information on the Finca’s website.