Kalibus La Sierra
Pompeyo Castillo
Guatemala



Producer Bio
Foundation: July 15, 1983
Altitude Range: 1577 to 2000 masl
Harvest Period: January to March
Farm Size: 141 Hectares
Farm Introduction
56 years ago, I arrived in the Sierra, on a trip that back then was 3 hours on asphalt and about 4 hours on uncovered roads up to a place where I had to leave the four-wheel-drive vehicle with chains on the tires, at approximately 1675 meters high (5500 feet). I walked along muddy paths within the forest, which was dark because of the closed vegetation, mist, and light drizzle, there was not a single person, it gave a feeling of loneliness, of exile. I camped at an elevation of about 2450 meters (8000 feet) and came back two days after.
Later in 1978 I returned, invited by a German friend, whom I had met when I was 12 years old. I met him when he was managing a farm on the south coast, he was there for 25 years until derived from the fact that he was German, his farm was expropriated in the second war. He retired and began to work a small farm of coffee and cardamom of his property. I obtained a piece of land a little more than 160 hectares bordering on a corner with this farm. Then I remembered the feeling of 56 years ago, of exile, of a forgotten, dark place, with mist that gave a huge feeling of loneliness. It also made me remember a myth, Zeus, the Olympian god, had had a son with an earthling, whom he despised and discriminated against him. The son took revenge by killing his winged horses, Zeus banished him to an inhospitable, muddy, dark place, Calibos. By that analogy, Kalibus was born, in that Sierra.
The Sierra is at the highest Cerro Raxón, reaches an altitude of 3015 meters (9891 Feet), the entire area is part of the Biosphere Reserve of the Sierra de las Minas, internationally recognized and protected by Guatemalan legislation (Decree No. 49 -90 of the Congress of the Republic).
We do not consider the farm as a simple coffee plantation, but a single or a unit with the forest, since the main emphasis, and our fundamental objective, is the maintenance of the environment, and its very diverse fauna and flora.