Comunidad Nueva Alianza
Ecotourism Project & Fair Trade Organic Macadamia & Coffee Plantation

Comunidad Nueva Alianza is a fair trade, organic coffee and macadamia plantation owned and run by a cooperative of forty Guatemalan families. All profits raised by the community are divided amongst the community members and are used to improve the health, education and living conditions within the cooperative. Nueva Alianza is located in a temperate area 1000 metres above sea level in the Guatemalan municipality of El Palmar, Quetzaltenango. It is about 45 minutes drive into the mountains north of the tropical coastal town of Retalhuleu.

The community is nestled amongst a large plantation of organic coffee and macadamia trees. Large tracts of natural tropical forest have been preserved and a walk through the plantation will bring you to cascading waterfalls with crystal clear water, verdant natural forest, edible and medicinal plants, and breathtaking views of volcanos Santa Maria (3772m) and Santiaguito - an active volcano which erupts on average every hour.

Apart from the incredible wilderness to be discovered within the community, Nueva Alianza's richest resource is the forty families living and working on the plantation. Third generation plantation workers, the members of the collective are an incredibly generous and curious group of people who will welcome you into their family with the warmth and enthusiasm of parents welcoming home a long lost family member. The collective works according to principles of Direct Democracy and currently boasts within its organizational structure a Women's Committee, an Education Committee an Administrative Body and various other groups dedicated to ensuring that all workers have equal rights and the principles of collective well being are the ultimate goal of the collective. A visit to their community, either as a tourist or a volunteer (see 'Volunteer Opportunities') will give you the opportunity to learn their amazing history of exploitation and their extended struggle for land and workers rights.