Isolated eco-jungle project at the shore of Lake Atitlan, Guatemala

Details

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  Description

  We live on the slopes of the San Pedro volcano, in a wild isolated area of Lake Atitlan that can only be accessed by water. No roads, no close neighbours, no noise. Just nature, birds and a very beautiful beach. We want to build a home in this paradise.
  At the moment we are some humans, some chickens, 2 dogs, 1 cat and lots of hopes.
  Since we arrived 2 years ago, we have been working on many different projects in the land, that help us becoming more and more sustainable every day:
  
  -Beach: we built two huge natural retaining walls that are helping us collecting a lot of sand for construction and at the same time creating our own beach.
  
  -Tul: we stuffed part of our lake shore with this great aquatic plant which roots reduce water contamination while its dried leafs serve to craft mats and pillows.
  
  -Multigrafted trees: we are getting the rootstocks ready for 10 different fruit tree genus (citrus, prunus, persea, mangifera, malus, pyrus, solanum, morus, ficus and annona) that will potentially produce 50+ different fruits in some years time.
  
  -Vermicomposting: we manage a large population of over two million Eisenia fetida (red wigglers/californian red worms) that process 100% of our food waste.
  
  -Dry toilet composting: thanks to wild Hermetia illucens (black soldier fly larvae) we are succesfully processing 100% of our feces.
  
  -Chickens: we are breeding an autonomous and super resistant spieces of chicken. At the moment 12 of them live freely and independent in the land, self-resourcing their own food and water and sleeping in caves.
  
  -Living mulch: we use 4 different spieces as cover crops: white clover, comfrey, baby sun rose and asthma-plant.
  
  -Plant diversity: matching all the native species that are found in the area, we have included a big variety of other plants (cactus, palms, suculents, orchids, medicinals, aromatics...) that we resourced from friends, local nurseries and places we've visited.
  
  -Nursery: we created a space dedicated to babysit 5000+ small seedlings and replicate numerous spieces of plants.
  
  -Tree forest: half of the land is being reforested with pine, cipress, cedar, teak, fir, eucalyptus, jacaranda, matilisguate, mango, lychee, jackfruit, papaya, lemon and other firewood/fruit/medicinal trees.
  
  -Living fence: to enclose this tree forest, we are growing a massive living fence (lemongrass and sugarcane) that one day will allow goats, sheeps and pigs to thrive in).
  
  -Transforming raw materials: jams, tinctures, glycerates, syrups, soaps, shampoos, toothpastes, lipsticks, balms, wines, vinegars, incenses, oils... We try our best to profit from the abundance we've been gifted.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  Art Projects

  Help with Eco Projects

  Gardening

  DIY and building projects

  Animal Care

  Creating/ Cooking family meals

  Help around the house

  General Maintenance
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  UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve

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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  The volunteers who visit us will be in contact with our local friends, from whom they will be able to learn various skills and knowledge related to the ancient Mayan culture. Local stories (La Llorona, Xocomil...), tools (machete, piocha, azadon...), traditions (Maximon, easter...) or plant based medicines (milenrama, apazote, ruda...) are just a small portion of what you can expect.
  
  The local language of this region of the lake is Tz'utujil and the inhabitants of Santiago Atitlán, the nearest town, practice and preserve it. The town can be reached by cayuco, which takes approximately 45 minutes paddling. There you can visit the various shops and markets of the town, get money, eat in a restaurant, buy SIM chip or take a boat to visit other towns on the lake. The average cost of the trip from Santiago Atitlan 30Q (4$).
  
  During your free time there are multiple things you can do.
  
  Trekking/walking:
  -San Pedro volcano (4h 10km 1500m+)
  -Toliman volcano (8h 19km 1600m+)
  -Atitlan volcano (6h 13km 1600m+)
  -Tepepul waterfalls (4h 12km 900m+)
  -Chuitinamit (2h 5km 200m+)
  -Walk to San Pedro village (3h 7km 300m+)
  -Walk to Santiago village: (8h 20km 300m+)
  
  Tourism/relaxing:
  -Visit Santiago Atitlan village (2h)
  -Visit San Lucas and Cerro de Oro (4h)
  -Visit San Juan and San Pedro (4h)
  -Visit San Marcos and Tzununa (8h)
  -Visit Panajachel and Sololá (8h)
  -Visit Fuentes Georginas termal baths (1 day)

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  Help

  Volunteers work 4h/day Monday to Friday. Working hours are always scheduled from 7:00 to 9:00 and 10:00 to 12:00.
  
  At this moment the work to be done can be very rutinary or boring (move rocks, weeding, collecting dry leafs...) and the same thing might be needed to be done many days in a row sometimes.

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  Languages

  Languages spoken
  Catalan: Fluent
  English: Fluent
  Spanish: Fluent
  French: Fluent

  This host offers a language exchange
  You can improve a lot your Español here! We've had many people speaking basic Spanish after just 1 month.
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  Accommodation

  In our outdoor kitchen we have a solar oven, a rocket stove, a gas stove and boiling pan, iron casted pan, plates, glasses, cutlery, well the basics are covered. The same goes for the meals. The use of the kitchen includes drinking water, vegetables, fruits, rice, oats, eggs, beans, lentils, oil, salt... the basics are covered for all the meals of the day, every day of the week.
  
  The cooking, the cleaning and the tidying of the common areas are things we don't considerate in the working hours and as a community we expect everybody to participate on those tasks equally. Breakfast is mostly freestyle and lunch and dinner are shared meals.
  
  We have a dry toilet and for the moment we take baths in the lake. Often people use their swim suit when they feel shy to shower because it's exposed. We dont have a biodigestor yet so it is very important that you bring your own hygene eco products (shampoo/soap/toothpaste). If you don't have any and you tell us in advance, we can get some for you for 35Q/piece (4.5$)

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  What else ...

  We can't leave the property alone and we always coordinate so that at least one of us stays behind.
  
  We share our home with a big variety of spieces, some poisonouss like the coral snake, black widdow, rattlesnake, scorpions... Fortunately these animals are rarely seen during daylight, therefore having a day life is very helpful.
  
  We are isolated. That is something important to think about. There isn't any store near us which you could access by foot so you shold be organized for buying anything you may want, tobaco or other personal needs. There is no electricity here either, so if you need to charge your phone or powerbank, you will need to make your way to town through the lake.
  
  At Santiago Atitlan's dock you can rent a local paddling boat for 5Q (0.65$) a day. That will let you be independent during your stay. There is also the possibility to hire a private boat from the land to Santiago for 50Q (6.5$).
  
  About the weather: it can change from one year to the next (it surely does) but the usual is November to May dry season: no rain or max once a month. May to November wet season: rains mainly in the afternoon 3/4 days a week.

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  A little more information

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    Internet access

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    Limited internet access

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    We have pets

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    We are smokers

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    Can host families

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

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  Hours expected

  4 hours a day, 5 days a week

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