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an emphasis on investing in the poorest parts of the city. Among the many projects the government instituted was a network of aerial trams. They were installed to move people among the shanties on the steep mountainsides. Additionally, the country's first rail-transit line was built, and beautiful, modern libraries were constructed in the poorest areas of the city. The message was clear: The most underprivileged people in the city are a valued and important part of the social fabric, and as such, the city spent money on them and invested in making their lives better. Additionally, as a former aca- demic, Fajardo believed in the importance of education, and the local government invested heavily in improving educational opportunities for its citizens under the banner "Medellín la más educada." (Me- dellín the most educated.) Today, just over a decade since Fajardo's first election, Medellín's social makeup has been transformed, and the city has even won awards for its innovative development model. The city now boasts a vibrant restaurant and café scene, and is considered one of South America's best cities to live in. Fajardo, meanwhile, has become gov- ernor of Antioquia and has brought to the office a familiar, if slightly modified, slogan: "Antioquia la más educada." Much like the munic- ipality's efforts within Medellín to create educational opportunities for everyone, the department's government has taken those efforts and expanded them throughout the entire region. Antioquia has long been one of the biggest producers of coffee in Colombia, but for most of that time, its reputation and its farmers' efforts have been all about quantity over quality. In 2012, however, the newly elected Governor Fajardo redirected the government to work toward improving coffee quality, seeing a sustainable future for coffee production based on high-value specialty coffee. "We believe education is the engine of society," explains Yenny Ve- lasquez, manager of Antioquia: Origin of Specialty Coffees (AOSC), a government program initiated in 2012. "We believe if we have more education, we have more opportunities." One of the first projects launched by AOSC was Antioquia's Best Cup (ABC), a competition wherein growers submit lots for auction— something like the Cup of Excellence, with one exception. "In our competition, it is a personal connection. You have to come in person," says Yenny. "The next day after the auction, the buyer meets the grower." To reach the farm of Silvia Elena Higuita—winner of the third ABC, and whose coffee fetched the remarkable price of $31.50 per pound—you have to park on the side of a bumpy dirt road. Follow a steep, narrow trail along a stream before hiking up the side of a mountain, and passing a couple of other coffee farms, until a low cin- der-block house painted bright blue with flower pots hanging from the corrugated tin roof and a plethora of animals running around the garden comes into view. Silvia is rightfully proud of her work and her farm, and she credits a good portion of her success to the education outreach undertaken by AOSC. Specifically, she says learning about selective harvesting and fermentation was invaluable. She changed the way she picked coffee and processed it, and immediately saw better results. "I'm really thankful," she says. "[AOSC has] given me so Le: On the trail to the farm of Silvia Elena Higuita, whose coffee won the third Antioquia's Best Cup contest, a rider passes the campers, his coffee-bag-laden mount showing that the traditional horseback method of transporting coffee is still alive and well. Right: Campers sort coffee during a class on fermentation. The campers learned that selective picking and careful sorting is imperative to producing specialty-grade coffee. 32 barista magazine