Tour of the Madre Tierra sugar cane plant.

Today we accompanied Elder Kendal and sister Celeste Mann along with their daughter-in-law and granddaughter, Harmony to the Madre Tierra sugar cane plant near Esquinta.  The Mann's bishop was kind enough to give up half of his day off to take us on a tour of the plant where he works. We saw how the sugar cane is processed into white sugar, brown sugar, and molasses products. They are shipped elsewhere for final processing packaging and distribution.  We were given the royal tour of the plant where every step was explained to us.  On the way home, we stopped for a couple of hours in Antigua, a very old (as the name would suggest) and rich with history city, founded in 1542.  It was the administrative capital of the Spanish empire for all of Central America. In the late 1800's it was severely stricken by an earthquake after which the Spanish moved their colonial headquarters to Guatemala City.  In September 1821, Guatemala gained independence from Spain.

The cane which is mostly cut by hand is loaded into these trailers to be delivered to the plant.  12 tons per day.

After the sugar is extracted, the by-product becomes fuel for an on-site power generation plant which supplies the needs of the plant and surplus is sold to the power grid. The name of the Plant is Madre Tierra and you might guess from the name (Mother Earth) they are very ecologically minded.  Nothing is wasted