A journey to Teopisca and a day in relationship building

People come in all different colours, shapes and sizes, each with their own unique qualities and contributions to life. Similar to human diversity, within nature there is biodiversity, with each plant a different colour, shape and size contributing to the natural cycle of life in it's own unique way.

Today we traveled by combi to a village called Teopisca a small city a little more than an hour outside of San Cristobal. The group then split into the backs of two pick up trucks and drove higher into the surrounding mountains where we would meet with a group of international volunteers hosted by non-profit organization Natate, where we would be introduced to the projects we would be working on for the remainder of the day. The journey to the project was a adventure within itself, bouncing around on uneven terrain, getting stuck in potholes and having to get out and push the truck back onto the placed concrete tracks.

Once we arrived we were greeted and began our introductions by playing a game. We were to share our name, favourite hobby and food with the group (in Spanish of course) and then chose the person to follow by shooting that energy across the circle and towards the new person with your hands.

The camp was a piece of land donated by a married Mexican man and German women who say the land does not belong to them but to all visitors and volunteers who choose to come and work, learn and engage in relationship with one another and the the land.

We received a tour of the property where they are working to create a self-sustainable community. They live without electricity and have built a home out of Adobe bricks, with counters and accessories made from the trees. They have built a water collector, chicken coop, natural compost and fertilizers, organic gardens, green houses and dry toilets.

Our host Juan, introduced us to the concepts of universal relationships and shared how all objects play a role in the natural cycle of life. When understood, all beings can work together to support and sustain one another. He spoke of the importance of understanding ones worth and says it is important for things to have more than only one purpose, for when they do they only have two options, either they fail or succeed. When things are complex they are multifunctional, they create options and it is our responsibility to explore and discover these options for the most effective and efficient uses.

Juan asked us about our scent. As individuals, or as Canadians, what was it. We were asked to think about what that meant to us and to think of how humans use their senses and the extent of their purposes; sense of smell, sight, taste, touch. Animals, for example, rely on the strength of their sense of smell for survival where as people have minimized this purpose and worth. He passed around small pieces of different flowers, plants and herbs, as he explained how each of them has their own scent and how each person has their own scent and if we were to consider these scents as different species, how many species there would be in one city, one country and in the world.

Today we learned a new concept of waste, and what waste is or what it is not. We learned how things can be used for different purposes and what we take from the land can eventually be returned to the land and befit other types of existence. We learned how feces could simply be considered as ‘crap’ or how it could be considered as a fertilizer, and nurturer of the plants and animals in which we will then feed. We were challenged to consider the effects of why our feces sometimes does not nurture plants and support the land to consider the things in which we are putting into our body and to find healthy alternatives.

Once we were introduced to the system in which this community had created, we split into three smaller groups and got to work on different projects. One consisting of creating a house of sticks for the chickens, the other cultivating and planting an organic onion garden and the third building abode blocks from scratch.

I joined the group of adobe and was soon up to my knees in a learning experience I will never forget. The process consisted of collecting pine needles from the near by woods, grabbing mud from a pond created by a flood the previous year, adding small pieces of raked dirt to the pile and blending it with our feet. The mud consisted of many natural nutrients including iron and once dried, acts as a strong building block.

Once we gathered materials, blended them together with our feet and threw clay at each other, we shoveled and cupped the clay into a wheel barrow, put it into molds, added designs and left it to dry. It usually takes one to two full days before the adobe is dry and strong enough to build with.

The process may sound simple but after more than two hours of work we had created only 18 adobe blocks, which in the big picture was nearly nothing. It helped us appreciate the value of the work and understand how hard people must work to accomplish things. It was rewarding to have done it as a team and empowering to have gained a new tangible skill.

Once our project was finished, I joined the other group in the onion garden, planting pieces of life within the ground. Two classmates and I reminisced over the tranquility and therapeutic advantages of working within nature. A friend of mine who grew up in Africa said it reminded her of being home, and of how her Grandmother always used to make her water their garden at home and how she had never enjoyed it as much as she did now, now that she had learned to appreciate it. We crouched close to the ground and discussed relationships, friends, family and our futures as we planted what would with time be the food of our new friends who lived in this community.

Next we washed our hands, faces and feet in the natural spring river as others prepared our lunch over the fire stove. Each person having a role, even if it was just good company or 'supervising'.

Some of the volunteers had traveled from France, Germany, Spain, Japan, Canada and other provinces within Mexico to learn about the relationship between humans and nature and how our actions impact the land. We were again privileged to experience a way of life in which was unique and rich in so many ways. We were able to meet with people from all corners of the world and work with them as a team and to build relationships with others who are interested in creating positive change.

I think of all days, this has been my highlight thus far.

One day I hope to return.