Located in the northwest corner of Guatemala on the Rio Azul is Huehuetenango (hway-hway-ta-nan-go). This the highest and driest coffee region under cultivation. It is also by far the most rugged and remote area of Guatemala, with coffee cultivated in broken and very steep terrain. Thanks to the hot dry winds that blow into the mountains from the Tehuantepec plain in Mexico, the region is protected from frost, allowing coffee to be cultivated up to 6500 feet above sea level. Huehuetenango's extreme remoteness requires that virtually every producer process their own coffee. Fortunately, the region has an abundance of rivers and streams so a mill can be located almost anywhere. This is the highest, driest, most rugged and remote non-volcanic coffee region in the world. Due to the hot, dry winds blowing across this terrain the ground is free of frost, allowing coffee to grown up to 6,500 ft.