Though they have land, anyone who has ever owned a small farm or business knows that start-up costs are high. Many face a struggle with invasive pasture grasses even before they can put in coffee seedlings. That coffee will give no appreciable financial returns until its third year. The most successful parceleros have diversified household economies, with members working the land and also working as seamstresses, artisans, carpenters, and in the eco-tourism industry.
Average income allows families to scrape by, but falls far behind rising inflation.
My work stemmed from my Swarthmore College education in ecology and Latin American studies, and from a growing commitment to the Quaker values of social justice with which I was raised. I am grateful to the San Luis, Santa Elena, and Monteverde communities for sharing their lives and wisdom with me. I distinguished over 500 species of cultivated and wild vascular plants and nearly 100 different kinds of birds within the farm's 122-acre environmental mosaic. The two parcelero representatives visiting Canadian Friends in August 2000 approved of this priority. The Santa Elena Co-op is still in a period of austerity measures and financial overhaul, but seems more economically stable.