Saturday, March 7, 2026
Ninety-Seven Liters at Dawn
By Alejandro Rigatuso, Fundador y Director de Fundación Loros
It was still the small hours of the morning when Eder, Nilson, and Jender arrived at the corral in the Guardianes sector of the reserve. The damp earth underfoot still held the cold of the night, and the cows — white Brahmans, high-backed Gyrs, and a few that might have been Girolandas — moved slowly between the wooden fences while the brown calves pressed their muzzles forward, searching for their share. The three farmhands of Fundación Loros set to work: bucket in hand, the same hand-milking as always, the same as every morning.
By the end of the day, the tally was plain: 97 liters of milk. All of it went to Juancho, an outside buyer, with nothing left over for public sale that Saturday. There was no fanfare, no special record made — just three men, a herd, and the quiet labor that holds life together in the reserve before the rest of the world stirs awake.
About the author
Alejandro Rigatuso · Fundador y Director de Fundación Loros
Alejandro Rigatuso arrived at Fundación Loros after years as Vice President of Growth Marketing at Toptal, bringing with him an unconventional perspective: he knows an animal is well by its eyes, "bright, wide open." Lorenzo, the first parrot released, recaptured several times and always set free to fly again, marked him forever. At dusk, around five-thirty, you'll find him at the Mirador de las Ciénagas or wandering around Cerro El Peligro, envisioning observation towers and hundreds of native parrots soaring over a reserve that an entire community calls their own.
