text & photos by Richard Morgan Szybist
You may have been urged to think “outside the box”
to be creative on occasion. This idea can be readily applied to how one envisions
the Lake Atitlán Basin. The normal focus of the lake basin is on the
majesty of the lake itself and the inside slopes, which naturally draw one to
it. But there is fascination to be had on the basin’s outer face as well.
Los Tarrales Nature Reserve, on its south side, is a good case in point. Tarrales
are bamboo thickets, plant life here that shares space with a profuse variety
of tropical and sub-tropical flora and fauna.
Jeep ride: Passing through a planted area
of crotons at Los Tarrales Reserve. These
non-flowering ornamental plants are
highly regarded for their colorful leaves.
The contemporary history of the reserve began two generations
ago when a lumber prospector from Kentucky, Joseph Delaney Burge, stumbled on
a little piece of natural paradise near Atitlán which had been turned
into a coffee finca that was struggling to survive. Burge bought the finca and
offered it to his son, Joseph Jr., to manage. Joe Jr. and his Tennessee-born
wife Mary knew nothing of Guatemala or the Spanish language. But they packed
their bags and moved to the Central American wilderness to forge an adventurous
life. Joe died young, but his son Andy took his place alongside Mary to steer
the business through the perilous years of revolution from the 1960s until the
late ‘90s. Now Andy, his wife Monica, and the still-feisty Mary are meeting
the challenge of surviving the bottoming coffee market and tailoring Tarrales
into a more resilient entity that incorporates a nature reserve and a blossoming
exotic plant nursery. It’s an admirable juggling act worth visiting.
From Guatemala City, the traveler can come to Tarrales for
a short stop on the way to Atitlán and hustle through impressive birding
and tropical plant trails. Or, better yet, one can spend a night or two and
smell the flowers and listen to the bird calls. A tour of the coffee production
operation that has been the core of the fincas’s economic life is fascinating
in its own right. Seeing the immense bulk of iron machinery used for depulping,
hulling, drying and sorting coffee beans – and realizing that some of
it was hauled here from as far away as Europe before World War II – generates
an awe for the challenge that faced the finca’s developers at a time when
the site was only a remote corner of Central America. Los Tarrales also offers
hikes up the slopes of Atitlán’s volcanoes. Tours are provided
in English and Spanish. The Burges have a guest lodge with four rooms as well
as two trees houses available for rent.
Los Tarrales is located north of “downtown” Patulul,
125 kilometers (two hours by road) from Guatemala City, along the paved, largely
high-speed Pacific route to Atitlán. It is just over one hour from Panajachel.
While Tarrales is truly on the way to Atitlán, the act of visiting it
is somewhat complicated by the fact that this is not the principal tourist route
to the lake. Again, one must think somewhat outside the box to get here. You
can rent a car or take a public bus. Or you can arrange a tourist shuttle to
travel the Pacific route. There is a bonus benefit in taking this route to Panajachel.
On this last leg you will travel the scenic upper east rim road of the lake,
with views of the lake that many visitors never see. •
Information note: www.tarrales.com
Bean sorter: This machine sorts
de-hulled and polished coffee
beans by size and shape
