Okinawa-rama

I'm back on caffeine. Well, I've been back on caffeine, but now I am actively searching it out and dragging along Joe and Gabe in pursuit of my addiction. About two weeks ago we went to a place called "Good Company", a shop where they roast the beans up for you fresh while you wait. Not a couple days later, I heard about Hiro's Coffee Farm, a place way up in the northern countryside of the island where this guy, Hiro, lives with his family and grows beans the way he learned to on his uncle's farm in Hawaii. He's got a little coffee shop there on the farm and chickens and everything. When my friend told me that Hiro actually gave him a coffee plant, that was it. We were there.

It took a couple of hours to get up to his farm, driving on the expressway, through the mountains and up the coast. Gabe was cool and snoozing in the back. We passed scenery like this:

And this: (my artsy shot)

and took the obligatory self-portrait with own hands shot.





Actually, all that was on the way back, so I'm kind of lying. But, still, it was part of the trip.


Finally we got to Hiro's.






We poked around for a bit. Hiro's consisted of a couple little open air shacks and a picnic table or two. Still though, it somehow managed to be a magical, otherworldly place. Maybe it was the windchimes. Or maybe it was something in the coffee. Anyway, peace and tranquility just kind of melted over me there. And Joe too. It's one of the few places he wasn't ready to bolt out of after emptying his glass. So they must be doing something right.


Here's one of the chickens that was strutting around.

Here's Hiro:

Here's his coffee. (Note how you get a whole pot! There's a potwarmer by each table so your coffee stays hot. Love that.) He has 1000 trees on his farm, which has been there for about 20 years. He roasts it right there too, so the whole place smelled umm ummm good.

Here's the inside of one of the little coffee shanties. Check out the floor covered in coffee beans. Paradise....

And here is the Garcia family happily awaiting our brews. Gabe just wants to go out and play with the chickens.

After we drank our coffee, I wandered around and took pictures, watched Hiros son at the roasting machine, and wrote a little something in the guestbook. Meanwhile, Gabe and Joe stretched out under the shade of a tree and caught a cool breeze. This is Hiro's daughter and granddaughter. They were so sweet with Gabe and let him join in on their game of ball.




Here's the stretching out bit:



I have so much admiration for people who, out of little more than sheer creativity, can create these special little pockets of beauty that make the world just a little bit better. Thank God for them. Hiro and his family and their little oasis gave our family the gift of a sweet little Sunday.