Ileana Jimenez de Terán, founder of SACRO (Save Costa Rica’ Orchids), an organization to protect plants in their natural habitats.
SACRO’s goals include preserving the pink-purple national flower, the guaria morada orchid, educating students to be defenders of nature, and assisting with community projects.
Ileana's beautiful home, garden and two green houses is in the middle of the Hacienda La Laguna overlooking eastern San Jose city in the hills of Curridabat. The Terán family has owned and farmed the land for over 160years, one of the oldest coffee plantations in Costa Rica. It is now the single remaining coffee farm in the San Jose area.
There are still 200 hectares of land in coffee, but the family is gradually developing the land because the land is more valuable than the coffee. Ileana has been interested in gardening and plants since she was young, and has long been an advocate for the protection of Costa Rica’s natural areas in general, and orchids in particular.
She hosts groups such as ours to discuss her conservation efforts (and social improvement projects) and to help raise funds for their projects.
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