Day Four, Project Visits

After a breakfast on our own, our groups separated to see projects.  This is Dia de Los Muertos so many are off of work. Others take a part of the day for family and work the other part.

First we traveled to a very small town La Llano. It is in a hilly tropical area about 10 kilometers from the coast. An area rich with fruit and agriculture, most of the people are very poor as they are the laborers. One of the Rotary Clubs with guidance from a club member Chipe. Chipe (of course this is his nickname - all Rotarians in this area of Mexico have them) is a professor of Agriculture at the University in Tepic. His idea is to "add value" to the fruits growing in the area so as to improve profit. They process and bottle fruits so as to extend their use and availablility to year round rather than seasonal consumption  They plan to market from a stall on a nearby road and evolve to wholesale distribution and subscription sales. He selected this one village as a project choosing the site based on motivated people, availability of a building easily converted to a facility(the building is free to the enterprise - offered by a local family, and good local leadership. Here there are 10 employees. The fellow on the far right is the retired area doctor. He believes in this project and offers his time and resources to help the co-op to be a success. Eventually they hope to inspire and support other neighboring towns

The workers actually will own the equipment and share the profits. They were working well together. The equipment was stainless steel, carefully tended. The product is delicious.