Café History:

Since 1992, when God brought us together from our countries of birth (USA and South Africa), we had a dream to live in Guatemala one day. Michael has an extensive and varied background in coffee roasting, blending and espresso drink development in California, Europe and southern Africa. Naturally, the idea of opening a coffee shop in Panajachel on Lake Atitlan became our focus after a scouting trip in May 1999. Immediately after that visit, we sensed the time was ripe to make the move. All obstacles were divinely removed during the next few months. We drove down from Rohnert Park, CA, in April 2000, in our 1986 Toyota flagship.

The leisurely and adventurous trip took three weeks through the US and Mexico. We were very happy to finally be here and make this beautiful area our new home. After seven months of settling in and turning the downstairs room of the house we rent into a coffee shop, we opened our doors on December 18, 2000. Crossroads has quickly become well known in spite of its hidden location, to the glory of God. We endeavor to provide excellent coffee and home baked pastries to serve a cosmopolitan crowd.

One of our other dreams was to buy land and build a house. In our second year in Panajachel, we were blessed with a beautiful property on the outskirts of town. It is about an acre big and situated on a 45 degree slope. We call it Mooibos ("moi-bos"), which is Afrikaans for "beautiful woods". We started developing it in December 2002, building an entrance and putting a wall up around it. In April 2006 we finally began digging the foundations for the house. It is a slow process, since the excavating is all done by hand and we have a small crew. Our family looks forward to the day we can move in and enjoy the tranquility, more space, gardening and having lots of animals, as well as sharing a safe place of rest for many weary souls.

Our daughters, Kasia and Lungi, are sharing this adventure with us. They are home educated by me, Adele. We follow a classic curriculum. In addition to learning Spanish and picking up random information from all sorts of experts traveling through, they are being trained by their dad in the coffee business. They obviously thrive in the small-town-cosmopolitan-tropical-volcanic soil of Panajachel!