Biolley

Below the wilderness of Parque Internacional La Amistad, a network of rural villages is signposted by Gaudí-esque mosaic navigation markers made by a local artist. These farming villages went about their business mostly unperturbed by tourists until 1997, when an enterprising group of local women in the village of Biolley (pronounced bee-oh-lay; named for a Swiss biologist who settled here) set up a cooperative, Asociación de Mujeres Organizadas de Biolley (Asomobi). It has 37 members and is designed to promote rural tourism in the area and to generate funds for the cooperative's various sustainable projects, such as organic coffee growing.