Colombia El Mirador

Finca El Mirador is owned and operated by Osito founders, Jose Jadir Losada and Kyle Bellinger. El Mirador is situated in the village of Picuma, just west of the beautiful Rio Suaza. When Kyle and Jose began their partnership at El Mirador, the farm was 11.7 hectares. Since then the farm has just about doubled to 23 hectares. The village of Picuma is special to the Osito family because Jose grew up there. En route to El Mirador, the Osito team will often stop and say hello to Jose's parents who live on the main road in Picuma. Although Jose now lives with his family in Garzon, Picuma will always be home. El Mirador has 2 year-round workers, one of whom is Jose's father-in-law, Carlos. However, during the harvest, El Mirador ramps their team up to about 25 pickers. Finding pickers in this region of Colombia is not an easy feat, as there is more lucrative work in coca (the plant from which cocaine is derived) in nearby Caquetá. Kyle and Jose hope to encourage pickers to step away from this industry through offering wages far above the national average.