Guaria de Osa’s Staff and Community

* Our Community at Guaria de Osa
* International Staff and Liaison
* Visiting Professors and Cultural Masters

The Staff at Guaria de Osa

Jonathon Miller Weisberger

Jonathon is Guaria de Osa’s founder and steward. Jonathon, or Sparrow as his friends call him was born in Berkeley California and raised from a very young age in the country of Ecuador. Since 2000 he has been living 9 months a year in Costa Rica's Osa Peninsula overseeing all aspects of the construction of Guaria de Osa Centre. He is more than our “jefe” he is also Guaria’s principal rainforest guide, plant master, storyteller and much more!

He likes to consider himself a professional beach bum, but this is far from the truth, quite on the contrary, he is an intrepid and knowledgeable rainforest guide and ethnobotanist, with 15 years of ground level experience, having guided over 550 participants into remote regions of Ecuador, Peru and Costa Rica. He also practices and teaches: Tui Na massage, Foot reflexology, Tai Chi and Dao In (Taoist exercises for health), I Ching study, Herbology and is Guaria's on site Surf Instructor.

Jonathon is an enthusiastic storyteller who’s extensive and knowledgeable understanding of rainforest medicinal flora and indigenous life and world view is unique. He has collaborated as an ethnobotanist and as a rainforest conservation advocate, living for over 10 years (1990-2000) in the Upper Amazon among 5 distinct indigenous peoples communities and tribes.

Co-author of two ethnobotanical, bi-lingual educational books dedicated to indigenous youth in Amazonian Ecuador, Jonathon has published articles in Spanish and English. He has collected over 2500 herbarium specimens deposited in several herbariums in Ecuador and Peru. He has also collaborated on, initiated and overseen innovative rainforest conservation projects including the creation of biological reserves, de-colonization and the demarcation of indigenous territories, buffer zones around national parks, ancestral lands reclamation and cultural heritage revival. He has been influential in saving thousands of hectares of rainforest lands primarily in Ecuador on behalf of the projects.

Donations and volunteers are gratefully received for our ground-level work in Ecuador and in Costa Rica. Our committed, dedicated endeavors are posted at www.rainforestconservationprojects.org. Additional information is also posted in our website at: Grupo Osanimi Council for Cultural and Biological Diversity.

Monica Serrano
Monica Serrano is massage therapist-in-residence and Guaria's co-administrator since 2003. She is from the highlands of Ecuador where she was fortunate to study and train with Chinese doctor and Master Huang Chen Jin. Monica practices Tui Na Massage and her skill, strong fingers and sensitivity offers our visiting guests an unforgettable, therapeutic and relaxing massage. One that must not be missed!

Josep Rosas Calbó

Born in a small village near Barcelona Spain, I consider myself a passionate admirer of nature and the universe. In 2003, alongside some friends, I initiated a Permaculture project where we built a small cottage surrounded by organic gardens and with the necessary animals to form a small and sustainable ecosystem. This is where and when I began to cultivate my different passions - among those being carpentry, gardening and being an environmental educator. My passion in cooking also awoke within the Permaculture project. My skill in preparing food is based on an understanding of tradition as I come from a family of delicious wine-makers. I like to use basic ingredients to produce a mouthwatering gastronomy that supports one’s health, life and integral growth. Among my specialties are homemade cheeses, yogurt, and baking in brick ovens – which we have at Guaria de Osa. I am also an enthusiastic practitioner of Yoga and a great admirer of the Amazonian Rainforest where in 2006 I served as chef at a small ecological resort similar to Guaria de Osa. I look forward to being your chef when you come visit us and I'm sure my cooking will give you strength and pleasure and like this you will most enjoy our paradise surroundings!

Josep Rosas Calbó

Nacido en un pequeño pueblo cerca de Barcelona, España. Se considera un apasionado de la naturaleza y el Universo. En 2003, junto a unos amigos, inicia un proyecto de permacultura donde se gestiona una casa, con sus huertos organicos y los animales necessarios para iniciar un pequeño ecosistema sostenible. Es allí donde empieza a cultivar sus diferentes pasiones, entre las que destacan la carpinteria, la jardineria y la de educador ambiental. Dentro de este proyecto empieza a ejercer de cocinero. Su cocina esta basada en el conocimiento y el mimo de todos los ingredientes que se van a utilizar, haciendo que el resultado sea una comida sana, viva y que ayude al crecimiento integral de la persona. Destaca su habilidad como panadero y la de elaboración de quesos y yogur. Josep es un entusiasta del Yoga y un gran amante de la Amazonia Ecuatoriana, donde el año 2006 participo en un proyecto parecido al de Guaria de Osa.

Ronald Delgado

Ronald or “Carula” as he is known all our Guanacaste province is a master Marimba musician and horse trainer. His uplifiting, ever present and colaborative energy comes forth from the true spirit of Pura Vida, the Pure Life, as said in Costa Rica.

House Cleaning and Maintenance Staff:
Carmen, Mirtha, Laura and Ronald
keeping the rooms and campus looking spotless, tidy, and airy

Don Victorio Villareal Villareal “Cascarilla”

Don Victorio is Guaria's part time plant teacher and guide. Don Victorio is a Costa Rican native, he is an Herbologist and Natural healer. At Guaria he leads shorter nature walks and identifies the local medicinal and useful plants, he will help you identify the birds, spot well-camouflaged creatures, and share his insightful knowledge of plants and pre-Columbian archeology. Don Victorio's other gifts, talents, and passions include plant healing, story-telling of the region, predicting the weather and serenading Latin American guitar music of yester-yore. He brings Guaria to life with his all star marimba band and will challenge you to an unforgettable game of dominoes!

Don Adam Navarro
Don Adam is our local beach neighbor, an old-timer and true friend. He has lived on our beach for over 20 years and is Guaria’s grounds keeper and gardener. He is a calm and sagacious elder who you’ll see casually up-keeping the gardens. Don Adam is the only person that knows were all the plants in Guaria’s garden can be found and his green thumb and original nature has helped everything thrive!

Boat Captain
Olman Zuñiga is our primary boat captain. He is a native of the Osa Peninsula, an experienced boat captain having been raised on our beach. Olman’s calm disposition and love of his profession make each of his ocean bound adventures and unforgettable and grand experience.

Note on boat captains: Guaria de Osa contracts all ocean bound voyages and transfers to and from the lodge to local boat captains, such as Olman and others like Asdrual Mora and occasionally the boats from other neighboring lodges. So you may meet other boat captains, though Olman is our main captain.

International Staff and Liaison

Ladna Miller Weisberger

Ladna is completing her degree in applied Ecology/Biology at La Universidad de San Francisco in Quito, Ecuador. She is Guaria de Osa’s assistant International Liaison and, about 2 – 3 times a year,
she comes to Guaria de Osa to work with her brother, Jonathon, to be our rainforest and ocean field guide.
Her skills and passions also include scuba diving, rainforest ecology, photography, and she is an avid practitioner of Capoeira. Since 1995 Ladna has been an active member of our ground level rainforest conservation projects and in 2002 became project coordinator for Grupo Osanimi’s Rainforest Conservation and Cultural Heritage Projects in the Ecuadorian Amazonian and Andes. Please read: Grupo Osanimi: Council for Cultural and Biological Diversity.

Donations to our ground-level projects in Ecuador and/or volunteers interested in supporting our undertakings – please contact Ladna at:

Dahlia Kresch Miller

Dahlia, born and raised in Panama [as Esther Miller] by Polish-Jewish immigrants, has spent most of her life in Latin America. She lived in Ecuador from 1968 – 1985 where she raised two graceful children. Her daughter Ladna Yanara is an ecologist/biologist, coordinator of Grupo Osanimi's Rainforest Conservation and Cultural Heritage Projects in Ecuador, a photographer and an avid practitioner of Capoeira. Her son, Jonathon Sparrow is an ethnobotanist, founder and steward of Guaria de Osa, the director of Grupo Osanimi & The Council for Cultural and Biological Diversity (CCBD), photographer, an avid practitioner of Chinese Medicine and its philosophy and Martial Arts.

While raising her family in Ecuador, Dahlia taught high school in Quito. In her home, she gave piano lessons and taught vegetarian cooking classes (an original concept in those days in Ecuador). In 1974, with Gilad Zamir from Kibbutz Ein Dor in Israel, Dahlia co-founded "Hojas de Hierba" a cultural centre named after Walt Whitman's "Leaves of Grass." She programmed live cultural and educational events like Ecuador had not seen before, alongside a restaurant that served the first vegetarian dishes in Ecuador, together with other 'firsts' in this beloved country of hers.

Dahlia is a founding member of Guaria de Osa since its beginning in 2001 and is Sentient Experientials' international Liaison. She studied piano at Juilliard Conservatory of Music in New York, received her Masters Degree in the Interdisciplinary Studies of Consciousness at John F. Kennedy University in California and began a Ph.D. degree in Social and Cultural Anthropology at the California Institute of Integral Studies – with a focus on Living Systems Theory. Dahlia turns her personal, professional, and passionate attention to the wellbeing and lessons of the Rainforest and her gardeners and stewards.

Visiting Professors and Guest Cultural Masters:
Click here for our Calendar of Events

Don Pablo Amaringo
Don Pablo Amaringo is a legendary, world-class Amazonian painter, from Peru and Director of the USKO AYAR School of Amazonian Painting in Pucallpa. His paintings are featured in the book Ayahuasca Visions, The Religious Iconography of a Peruvian Shaman, of which he is co-author. In 1992, he was elected to the Global 500 Roll of Honor of the United Nations Environment Program in recognition of his work to protect and improve the environment through the USKO-AYAR school.
Come and be enraptured in learning, painting, or just hang out with this acclaimed Peruvian Amazon artist, master teacher, and spiritual healer. Be in his presence, listen to his stories, and dialogue with him. Pablo Amaringo is globally recognized for his visionary, mystical paintings inspired by shamanic practice and plant medicine traditions of Peru. He is a humble, cosmic, sagacious teacher! Don Pablo will hold painting sessions; talk about his unbelievable life experiences as a shaman/healer in the Amazon, hold dialogue on indigenous world view and upon requests, interpret your dreams. He visited Guaria from December to February 2005.

Pestañas / “Eyebrows” and Ana

Our horse, Pestañas, and Ana our scarlet macaw is part of Our Community.

Read some of our guests comments here >>