Custody of MAGÓN

It is truly providential that MAGÓN, with its extraordinary size and age, managed to survive the intense logging of precious hardwoods that swept through the Bahía Salinas region during the 20th century. Real guayacán trees (Guaiacum sanctum), in particular, were decimated—felled and exported to distant lands due to their high market value and international demand.

We consider it a unique opportunity to safeguard and preserve this extraordinary real guayacán as a treasured ancestral legacy—for this and future generations.

In addition to caring for this celebrated tree, it has been deeply gratifying to take its offspring—seedlings born beneath its branches—and incorporate them into the real guayacán planting program launched at Finca San Lorenzo in 1993, thereby expanding the legacy of this extraordinary and iconic tree.

MAGÓN receiving the visit of Ing. Antonio Leigh (standing on the left), distinguished promoter of the real guayacán species in Guanacaste. Seated beside MAGÓN, Ing. Rodolfo González Suárez, Director of the Proyecto Guayacán Real.

MAGÓN receiving a visit from Toñito, who has led fieldwork for the project for over three decades.

MAGÓN in bloom! Centuries have passed, and yet this majestic real guayacán (Guaiacum sanctum) continues to flourish—offering flowers, fruits, and seeds that ensure the perpetuation of its species.

Aerial View of MAGÓN from a Drone

MAGÓN receiving visitors who marvel at the thickness of its trunk

MAGÓN recibiendo visitas.

View of Bahía Salinas from the Hill Where MAGÓN Stands A privileged vantage point for the centennial sentinel.

MAGÓN Receiving a Visit from the “Forest Custodians” Group

MAGÓN

On the left, standing: Rodolfo González Volio, visionary and mentor of the Proyecto Guayacán Real, and longtime custodian of MAGÓN— a role he faithfully fulfilled before entrusting it to the project he helped inspire. The name MAGÓN, given to this extraordinary real guayacán, is a tribute of love and gratitude to the individual it honors—known by this affectionate nickname throughout the region.

Gaining Recognition: MAGÓN Featured as the Iconic Guayacán Real in the Book Árboles Mágicos Published by Fundación Árboles Mágicos (Pucci)

In the chapter dedicated to the Guaiacum sanctum species, renowned Costa Rican writer, musician, and composer Jaime Gamboa Goldenberg pays tribute to MAGÓN with evocative words that highlight its majesty and symbolic power. He refers to MAGÓN in the

following terms:

“There is little that words can convey about a tree whose roots reach far beyond this land and traverse the territory of centuries. The place of the real guayacán is not in space, but in time.”

The author continues: “The real guayacán was on the brink of total extinction. That is why the existence of an ancient specimen—a true survivor named MAGÓN, rooted near Puerto Soley in northern Guanacaste—is so astonishing. MAGÓN, standing 15 meters tall with a millennial trunk measuring 80 centimeters in diameter, is undoubtedly the oldest living inhabitant of this country. Fortunately, its offspring are now repopulating dozens of farms and homesteads. It is our responsibility to leave them a future unlike that of their ancestors.”

Libro “Árboles Mágicos”