The Coffe Tour Chicoj is rated one of the top 12 things to do in Coban according to Trip Advisor. I totally agree. My tour guide, Alban, was extremely friendly and spoke good English. The tour was informative and the zip line (aka canopy) was amazing! The plantation was also very beautiful.
The tour (Q60) walked me through the following:
History of the plantation and Guatemalan coffee
How to grow coffee, including a demonstration of planting seeds. The tour guide explained the different phases from planting the seeds, re-potting the seeds, and then finally planting them in the ground. Did you know it takes 3 years for coffee to be harvested? I didn’t!
The transition from a coffee flower to seed to ripe seed. I got to taste a ripe seed as well! Not as good as trying grapes in Napa though.
The different ways to shade the coffee plants
How the coffee plants are segregated between different farmers
After the tour, I was able to take a canopy tour! To be honest, I was quite skeptical of this prior to arriving. The price of the canopy tour is an additional Q60. Based on what I saw online, I thought this may only be a single zip line and also was skeptical of the security of the zip line. I was totally mislead. This tour was totally awesome. I felt very safe and it was extremely fun. There were 7 zip lines for a total of 750 meters, of which 2 zip lines went over a lake. It was so beautiful to pass over the coffee plants with the mountains and forests in the background. Zip lining over a coffee plantation is the coolest way to take a tour. At the end, you are served a cup of joe and some cookies. I hate to admit I liked the cookies more : - P
I did the tour with one of the employees at my hotel. We went later in the afternoon (around 4:45). Therefore, no more buses were available at the end of the tour. Alban, the tour guide, was so nice and gave me a ride back to Coban on his motorbike!
Here is a picture of me and Claudia before we go down the first zip line!
Definitely a must see in Coban and well worth the Q120!
