Artisinal Gold Tour: Las MinasFinca Las Minas offers the experience to get to know the work of artisanal gold miners, as well as the history of Rancho Quemado and the Osa Peninsula.
From the first steps taken on the property, the visitor is engulfed in history. The former gold mining diner now serves as a reception and refreshments area. A brief historical context of gold mining and techniques will be covered before heading to the famous river where locals mined for gold. The tourist will be able to try their luck in the process! Duration: 2-3 hours Refreshments are included. The finca can be accessed on foot or by car. There is parking available for cars, mini busses, busses. *Tour given in Spanish. A translator can be hired at an additional cost. For More Information Contact:
Jessica Roldan (506) 8667-2535 [email protected] Juan Cubillo (506) 8621-6531 |
Our HistoryDon Juan Cubillo has been a miner since he was 7 years old, he dedicated himself to try his luck in the rivers of Osa, and traveling in search of opportunities he arrived in the 80's to Rancho Quemado to take care of a farm where they also mined gold. He worked for years in this tough trade and then did the paperwork with the IDA to achieve the certification of this farm that is also the original site of the camps that gave its name to Rancho Quemado, and along with his wife Rosa Moreno and 3 children continued to pray to survive.
The idea of the tour starts with a proposal from some visitors who were promoting projects for conservation, but don Juan Cubillo still did not trust that it would work. In 2011 a competition for tourism projects in the forest reserve and surrounding funded debt swap CR-USA and executed jointly by the Neotropica Foundation and the Corcovado Foundation and when Dona Rosa takes the initiative to participate and left selected was noised within the 50 classifieds that passed through filters to complete 23 participants of a business plan training process for almost a year with all costs covered. It was a difficult process of perseverance and faith that this initiative would be consolidated to finally form a cooperative of 15 tourism ventures, but on the last day of the organization Don Juan decided to retire. As time passed and as the tourism activity grew in the community, Rosa continued with the hope of participating, also trained with INAMU and had more tools to shape the project. After more training with the UCR and with the reception of tours Don Juan Cubillo began a change of thought and valued the opportunity to develop sustainably for the welfare of his family and the community because he had seen that teamwork provides results, so they joined the Rancho Quemado Integral Development Association to be part of the chain of rural tourism, made procedures with FONAFIFO to encourage the farm and receive payment of environmental services for forest conservation, and also participated in the formation of the Association of Osa at the level of the peninsula. They are also currently engaged to offer the service of participatory artisanal gold tours with typical dance presentation, in this endeavor all members of the family play a different role and the objective is to rescue the history and tradition of the mining history in a positive, cultural way and to promote the conservation of the forest. This family teaches us that change is possible and that faith and perseverance are the key to success, and that the true color of gold is green! |