Our Story

Our community is geographically located in the center of the Osa Peninsula, within the Golfo Dulce Forest Reserve. It is estimated that throughout the decades of the 1940’s-1960, there were incursions from other zones like Puerto Jimenez, Drake, and Sierpe, principally in search of gold. This zone is rich in mineral deposits, and some people who entered the mountains as travelers occasionally settled with thatched roofs overhead.

It wasn’t until 1965 that a family made the decision to conquest the lands making permanent residence from Buenos Aires. Following the route in canoe below the Sierpe River and above Estero Guerra, they walked through virgin mountains until reaching the Riyito River valley, where Rancho Quemado is officially located.

As the population increased little by little, the Integral Development Association was formed in 1989 as a community-based non-profit organization. It was backed by the government and would allocate economic resources to implement projects according to the needs of the community, annually.

The association has managed, implemented, and served as a mediator to complete large communal projects such as the sports plaza, basketball court, library, international donations, and many more. They also function as a rural tourism operator, as well as the legal representative for all the comities based in the community.

Between the years 1990-2010, the community grew, dedicating themselves to the diverse work in the industries of ranching, agriculture, reforestation, and African palm production for its oil. However these projects were not generating sufficient employment and the pay was very low.

Due to this, in 2006 the University of Costa Rica became interested in supporting the community to provide them training programs on topics such as business planning, promoting familiar entrepreneurship, local production, community networking, and the protection of wildlife, just to name a few.

All of this resulted in sustainable development and was a process drawn out over various years, breaking the social model, and planting the seed of resilience on a local level until a new consciousness was created. The community came to understand that rural tourism could be a viable opportunity to follow, such that the resources of nature and culture are readily available.

The Integral Development Association is currently in charge of executing and promoting the rural tourism network of Rancho Quemado. Its importance has been crucial to the development of the community such that it has become a pioneer model in the region with a trajectory that spans more than 10 years, without stopping to grow and recognizing that there is still much work to be done.