21 Chorora, Olinka Velez Rodriguez - Ecuador 2021

One winter day in 2010, I woke up and just my life changed in a second! I had to experience a lot of pain and suffering to return alone and with the illusion of having my son in my arms. I understood that it was time to start something extraordinary and trust in the magic of new beginnings, this period of time made me stronger.
New life began, however, motherhood was the alchemy that I needed at that moment to transform all negative feelings into "joys, hopes and dreams".
Thanks to my dear parents and my family who reminded me of the theory of Thomas Robert Malthus "The population grows geometrically, while food production increases arithmetically", I decided to return to live in my native Macará, in the province of Loja, with my parents. We analyzed many business options and a dream was born, a dream named Chorora, where the best special arabic coffees would be sown, from 1500 masl to 1750 masl, in the best coffee production area, with natural springs of water and surrounded by natural reserves, in Sozoranga town, province of Loja and little by little I fell in love with the cultivation of the fields. We carried out some research both on soils and on coffees in the area that date back many years as the coffee sector, indeed, some say that it was in this sector the first coffee planting in Ecuador, potential markets and after seeing the results I decided to start with research work and the experience of other coffee growers, I planted many coffee varietals, always looking for excellence and differentiation in everything I propose.
After the first harvests, I sent all the different varieties of coffee for tastings and the results were amazing. That is how I started to compete and always classify within the first places.
Big success in 2019! It was the year of the most daring challenges, we made coffees washed with aerobic and anaerobic processes, natural coffees, honey and very special coffees with up to 46 days of carbonic maceration processes. The result: we won 5 prizes in the national competition of 2019. First and second place broke record scores, from 13 years of contests in Ecuador. Additionally we won the ninth, eleventh and twentieth place, I remember the second place of my dear sister Diana, it was really very exciting, it was her first participation (she classified and broke records)
Today I feel very happy and grateful in this business, I love my work and found peace with it.
My wish now is to transform the my farm ́s surroundings as Sozoranga, into a biological coffee route that boosts the economy of the sector, where we create job opportunities for many people such as coffee producers, collectors, tourist guides, rural tourism, restaurants, handicrafts and more much more ...
I invite you to take the essence of Chorora ́s mistic, which is in this coffee and I hope one day to have the opportunity to personally assist you with my work team on the farm, so that you can enjoy the landscape, the endemic flora and fauna of the zone, the natural water springs that are born on our property, the kindness of our people, the process of sowing, fertilizing, the harvest festival, living a unique experience.
I hope that my story reaches the depths of your feelings, because I wrote it with all my heart.