The Next Steps

For the next chapter of our voyage, we are seeking an Intentional Community to live in, participate with and contribute to. The desire to find an Intentional Community has become a very strong impulse for me and as I desire for Miro and myself the opportunity to live in a village and give back. If there’s one thing I’ve learned from our travels so far is that feelings have always been the most reliable compass for us. I am finding it’s less about the places we go to, but the people we meet and the inspiration for this intention is the people.

Conscious Communities, Intentional Villages, Eco- Farms, Sustainable Communities & Volunteer Opportunities

Before we entered South America, I researched via the web to find the name of as many intentional communities I could find. Additionally, I have reached out to all of our contacts and asking for references for conscious communities, eco- villages, sustainable farms and volunteer opportunities.

We are open to trying something new, but we know from past experience, I love working with children, Miro (and I too) love working with animals. Neither of us have ever worked on a farm, but I think working with our hands would be a great experience for us.
I think the greatest desire it to be part of an intentional community for a few months, one that practices mediation, lives consciously and gives back to the surrounding community which includes help making the lives of locals a little easier.

Here are the organizations we have reached out to and are considering. We have posted them here so that you can help participate in our decision making process. Additionally, if you have any suggestions or contacts for us in South America, please don’t hesitate to send us an introduction.

Columbia

Aldea Feliz

Aldeafeliz is an Ecovillage, a community that shares the principles and is registered in the Global Ecovillage Network (Global Ecovillage Network), seeking the spiritual, ecological and social development in an integrated and actively creating networks with similar organizations.

MISSION: “To be a school of community life to the full development, where volunteer work, sharing love with nature and facilitates contact various people and express our inner source of peace, love and creativity”

Main Objective: The promotion, creation and development of Ecovillage to improve the quality of life of its members and the community. The promotion, creation and development of Ecovillage to improve the quality of life of its members and the community.

The Ecovillage is understood as sustainable human settlements, working simultaneously and integral to the socio-cultural, spiritual, economic and environmental.

The Ecovillage is understood as sustainable human settlements, working simultaneously and integral to the socio-cultural, spiritual, economic and environmental.

Ecovillage project themselves as ethical communities and actors that promote community life, caring for the environment, social development, human and productive in their bio-region with global awareness, nurturing and sharing knowledge with the Global Ecovillage which make part.

Friends of Gaviotas

Gaviotas is a village of about 200 people in Colombia, South America. For three decades, Gaviotans – peasants, scientists, artists, and former street kids – have struggled to build an oasis of imagination and sustainability in the remote, barren savannas of eastern Colombia, an area ravaged by political terror. They have planted millions of trees, thus regenerating an indigenous rainforest. They farm organically and use wind and solar power. Every family enjoys free housing, community meals, and schooling. There are no weapons, no police, no jail. There is no mayor. The United Nations named the village a model of sustainable development. Gabriel Garcia Marquez has called founder Paolo Lugari the “inventor of the world.”

Atlantis Community

Our therapeutic, ecological and self-sufficiency community, called ‘Atlantis’. There isn’t much information on them on their web site, but I have had a few correspondences from them and what I know so far is they are self contained, a family created project and have been living in a remote part of Colombia for many years. They are originally from Ireland and have received several volunteers in the past.

I’ll post more as I learn more.

Jaguar Tribe

I corresponded with these folks many times and am actually very excited about this possibility! They do not yet have a web site, but here’s how they described their mission through our emails:

We mainly dedicate to the teaching and study of the Mayan calendar, but we also focus development other activities such as raising food and animals, doing handcrafts and clothing.

The project is located in the mountains, south west Colombia, close to the source of the Magdalena River. The Jaguar Tribe’s intention is to become sustainable, harvest our own food and raise cows and horses. We are just beginning our project and are not currently living there full time, because we are still in the process of creating the conditions to become sustainable.

For that reason, we are actually living in the nearby village of San Agustin, a world heritage site, which is a very special place because of the archaeological sites they found here. We are currently living in an eco-house, which we use as a base camp, to work and to use it like a bridge between the city and the mountains.

Our main goal is study, share and practice the wisdom from within Mayan Calendar. Our intention is to become sustainable for living and working and provide a service to the surrounding community. One of our current projects to make clothing, at this point, mainly underwear for women. We manufacture and distribute them as a way to sponsor the project by ourselves as a community. Currently our project consists of seven people, and we divide the work among us as we build the vision, in the meanwhile, we study the calendar, we meditate, and we create…..

Bolivia

Sustainable Bolivia

This group provides volunteer placement in Bolivia for a fee.
Sustainable Bolivia is a non-profit organization with its main office in Cochabamba, Bolivia. With projects in the Andean highlands, our primary objective is to provide Bolivian organizations much needed human and financial resources while providing international students and professionals the opportunity to gain practical work experience through internships and volunteer opportunities in Bolivia.

Ecuador

Yanapuma Foundation

Yanapuma Foundation is a non-profit foundation in Ecuador, driven by the enthusiasm of its national and international staff and volunteers to work towards the realization of its vision of marginalized communities achieving equity and well-being, ecological, social and economic sustainability, and developing a sense of the uniqueness of their culture and place in the global context.

Peru

Eco Truly Park

I had a great conversation with their volunteer director and they seem very organized and on top of things.

Eco Truly Park – Eco-village Eco Truly Park is a beautiful Peruvian Pacific coast ecological, artistic community founded on Vaisnava principles, strategically located on Chacra y Mar beach, a district of Aucallama, in the province of Huaral, one hour by bus or car (63 km) north of the capital city, Lima. We live together according to principles of non-violence, simple living and elevated thinking, and visitors can learn and experience how it is possible to live happily in harmony with nature, others, and themselves.

We are looking for people that are basically open-minded and want to practice tolerance, compassion and patience. The architecture and values of the community is in part inspired by Indian traditional teachings and lifestyle. We are the first lively ecological educational center in Peru and have inspired similar successful projects in neighboring countries such as Chile, Ecuador, Colombia and Bolivia.

The community is located at 2.5 m above sea level and consisted previously of completely sandy, unworkable land, but in the last 18 years we have developed a unique organic awareness cultivation and ecological program run by an increasing number of residents and volunteers, with the goal of becoming fully sustainable and self-sufficient. Today our community is visited by the people from Lima and all over the world, who are able to experience an alternative way of life. The surrounding area of Huaral has thus been positively influenced in terms of the development of ecological consciousness. According to recent professional studies, Eco Truly Park programs have become a model of sustainable alternative solutions for the extreme poverty that impacts more than half of Peruvian citizens (over 14 million people) living in rural and urban marginalized villages. Nowadays, Eco Truly Park is also recognized as an important tourist destination by local government and the Peruvian media, receiving over 75,000 visitors since its inception.

Rhiannon Community

I had several inspiring email interactions with this group and are leaning towards participating with them the most. I am basing this on my intuition but my impression is that they are authentic, their energy is positive and I am very excited about participating in their vision.
We are a working farming community seeking to live simply, sustainably, and close to nature. We are a small organic farm following permaculture methodology, endeavoring to be as self-sufficient as possible. We are a vegetarian/ vegan community and we ask everyone who stays with us to adopt this lifestyle whilst living in the community. We practice yoga and meditation. We hope to offer people a supportive environment in which to develop their skills and rediscover their dreams. We hope to offer a place of peace and healing, and inspire people to take this spirit of healing for the earth and other humanity wherever they go.