Guayabal de Síquima

Tried our first Worldpackers volunteering on a coffee farm in the middle of nowhere in Colombia for 7 days. Didn’t quite go as expected…

Thought we’d be staying with a whole family, but ended up just being a solo woman. She was a nice lady, who in fairness was ill with some infection during our stay.

Things started brilliantly when on first day I misunderstood her Spanish, thinking she wanted to make her own breakfast and for Zach and I to cook our own. Sat eating and she walks in and asks ‘you didn’t make me anything?’ Extremely awkward.

The topic of food only got worse. She cooked rice, and then left it out uncovered (Colombian heat..) for THREE days and then served it to us again. Unsurprisingly, zach and I both got ill. She also took chicken out the freezer one night and instructed us to immediately cook it on a questionable fire that we had built. Somehow we are alive to tell the tale.

The extent of the coffee beans to be collected were as shown in the bowl. This took us approx 1 hour, after which there was no work for us to do the whole time (other than feed the hens / dogs).

She would leave us alone on the farm for days and nights at a time to go to work and then stay over at her ‘secretary’s house’. So didn’t quite get the Spanish practice we were hoping for. Initially, the beautiful views and isolation were nice. However, left with only deeply concerning meat-looking objects in the freezer to survive on, it almost became a prison. Also 1 of the 5 dogs was ex-police with PTSD, that would not stop barking nor circling us in an intimidating manner.

Despite all that, some of the most unreal eggs ever had, fresh limes, and 4 very cute dogs as friends. Also everything free so can’t really complain about the near death food hazards.