Aldeafeliz Ecovillage
ALDEAFELIZ ECOVILLAGE:
Finding happy ways to live sustainably
Why an ecovillage?
You might have dreamed of a lifestyle where you are closer to nature, and live as a community, where the values of respect for people, nature, and self are promoted. You might also want to live in an innovative place, where new technologies and new ways of living sustainably and happily are explored. If so, ecovillages are for you. Ecovillages are sustainable human settlements that work simultaneously in the socio-cultural, spiritual, environmental and economic dimensions.
There are numerous ecovillages around the world to inspire you. You have ecovillages in rural areas (Sirius Community www.siriuscommunity.org), urban areas (Los Angeles Urban Ecovillage- www.ic.org/laev), and entire eco-cities (Auroville in India www.auroville.org). Ecovillages are linked globally by the Global Ecovillage Network (http://gen.ecovillage.org/ ), who looks to promote exchanges and joint work between them. At Aldeafeliz (www.aldeafeliz.org ), we were inspired by those ecovillages as well as wanted to create something unique in a beautiful region: the tropical mountainous savanna near Bogota, Colombia.
Aldeafeliz Ecovillage
After many meetings and conversations among a large group of people interested in ecovillages, Aldeafeliz materialized. A group of 25 people of different ages (from 24 to 62), backgrounds, and philosophies, got together, united by the dream of a community that would inspire and redefine a sustainable way of living. We were also joined by the concern of protecting Colombia’s precious environmental resources, as well as provide an oasis of peace, and a global center for sustainability, personal development, and wellness for a war torn country. At the same time, hopeful for the future of our country and the world, we wanted to provide a positive model for others to visit, learn from, and perhaps emulate.
We bought a piece of land an hour away from Bogota, accessible through public transportation. As of now, 10 people have been living there for 10 months. We have a common house with a good kitchen, study and guest room, a number of bathrooms, and a large area to eat and do workshops. We have a beautiful pond, streams, waterfalls, a river, and diverse flora and fauna, including coffee, orange, banana, and avocados trees, and hundreds of bird species.
This basic infrastructure has allowed us to start providing services to a number of groups in Colombia. We have received school groups of more than 40 children; we have organized a variety of workshops ranging from conflict resolution and consensus building with world ecovillage expert Beatrice Briggs, to Permaculture (a method of sustainable design), organic farming, sacred circle dances, and many more. We have organized national ecovillage and alternative community gatherings with close to one hundred people, creating a yearly event, and a declaration of joint initiatives. Our doors are open for guests to attend our workshops and stay for periods of time. We provide a very special kind of tourism, where our guests are encouraged to participate in our community activities and workdays. This provides a learning opportunity in the areas of team work, leadership, organic gardening, ecological construction, and outdoor education.
Ecovillages strive to be sustainable in four dimensions: ecological, socio-cultural, economic, and spiritual. Aldeafeliz’s development encompasses each of these dimensions. At ecological level, our designs and infrastructure projects are all done with the ecology in mind. We are also producing and distributing organic coffee, guavas, and oranges. At socio-cultural level, we strive to create a space of diversity, where people come into contact with the varied and rich elements of our culture and our people. We also provide educational experiences for people, including disadvantaged youths, who hardly have access to neither natural surroundings nor a community organized activity. At economic level, we are in the process of generating a number of small enterprises, including educational and personal development workshops, green products, and experiential education initiatives. At spiritual level, we strive to act from our inner selves as opposed to our ego, and give out of love and not obligation. Various ecovillagers offer services such as meditation classes, yoga lessons, sacred circle dances, and a variety of therapies for body and mind.
How can you get involved?
We are working for Aldeafeliz Ecovillage to be a global community. We have already received many visitors from different parts of the world, including a journalist from Germany who will feature us in a documentary about utopian communities. We are receiving on average 50 guests per month. To keep growing and fulfilling our potential, we would love for you to be involved. There a number of ways you can do so, namely:
- Come visit and participate in our daily ecovillage activities
- Visit us and volunteer in our varied infrastructure projects
- Do your thesis or study at Aldeafeliz.
- Donate money for our infrastructure projects: We plan to build a guest house to host people from around the world for our retreats and workshops, for which we hope to raise US $50,000. We are setting up a partnership with a US non profit called “Give to Colombia” through which you can make a tax deductible donation, as it has 501c3 status in the US. Please pledge your donation today to anamaria@aristizabal.net. This ecovillage is for you.
- Choose Aldeafeliz as a site for your workshop or retreat
- Come practice your Spanish at Aldeafeliz and take individual tutoring
- Offer your skills and interests to the community: finance, marketing, community organizing, etc.
- Come take one of our workshops or activities: sacred circle dances, eco-construction workshops, healthy cooking classes, transformation game, yoga, Spanish tutoring/conversation, labyrinth path walking, reek or deekshas, artistic workshops, among other fun things.
For more information and pictures please visit www.aldeafeliz.org or email anamaria@aristizabal.net
Finding happy ways to live sustainably
Why an ecovillage?
You might have dreamed of a lifestyle where you are closer to nature, and live as a community, where the values of respect for people, nature, and self are promoted. You might also want to live in an innovative place, where new technologies and new ways of living sustainably and happily are explored. If so, ecovillages are for you. Ecovillages are sustainable human settlements that work simultaneously in the socio-cultural, spiritual, environmental and economic dimensions.
There are numerous ecovillages around the world to inspire you. You have ecovillages in rural areas (Sirius Community www.siriuscommunity.org), urban areas (Los Angeles Urban Ecovillage- www.ic.org/laev), and entire eco-cities (Auroville in India www.auroville.org). Ecovillages are linked globally by the Global Ecovillage Network (http://gen.ecovillage.org/ ), who looks to promote exchanges and joint work between them. At Aldeafeliz (www.aldeafeliz.org ), we were inspired by those ecovillages as well as wanted to create something unique in a beautiful region: the tropical mountainous savanna near Bogota, Colombia.
Aldeafeliz Ecovillage
After many meetings and conversations among a large group of people interested in ecovillages, Aldeafeliz materialized. A group of 25 people of different ages (from 24 to 62), backgrounds, and philosophies, got together, united by the dream of a community that would inspire and redefine a sustainable way of living. We were also joined by the concern of protecting Colombia’s precious environmental resources, as well as provide an oasis of peace, and a global center for sustainability, personal development, and wellness for a war torn country. At the same time, hopeful for the future of our country and the world, we wanted to provide a positive model for others to visit, learn from, and perhaps emulate.
We bought a piece of land an hour away from Bogota, accessible through public transportation. As of now, 10 people have been living there for 10 months. We have a common house with a good kitchen, study and guest room, a number of bathrooms, and a large area to eat and do workshops. We have a beautiful pond, streams, waterfalls, a river, and diverse flora and fauna, including coffee, orange, banana, and avocados trees, and hundreds of bird species.
This basic infrastructure has allowed us to start providing services to a number of groups in Colombia. We have received school groups of more than 40 children; we have organized a variety of workshops ranging from conflict resolution and consensus building with world ecovillage expert Beatrice Briggs, to Permaculture (a method of sustainable design), organic farming, sacred circle dances, and many more. We have organized national ecovillage and alternative community gatherings with close to one hundred people, creating a yearly event, and a declaration of joint initiatives. Our doors are open for guests to attend our workshops and stay for periods of time. We provide a very special kind of tourism, where our guests are encouraged to participate in our community activities and workdays. This provides a learning opportunity in the areas of team work, leadership, organic gardening, ecological construction, and outdoor education.
Ecovillages strive to be sustainable in four dimensions: ecological, socio-cultural, economic, and spiritual. Aldeafeliz’s development encompasses each of these dimensions. At ecological level, our designs and infrastructure projects are all done with the ecology in mind. We are also producing and distributing organic coffee, guavas, and oranges. At socio-cultural level, we strive to create a space of diversity, where people come into contact with the varied and rich elements of our culture and our people. We also provide educational experiences for people, including disadvantaged youths, who hardly have access to neither natural surroundings nor a community organized activity. At economic level, we are in the process of generating a number of small enterprises, including educational and personal development workshops, green products, and experiential education initiatives. At spiritual level, we strive to act from our inner selves as opposed to our ego, and give out of love and not obligation. Various ecovillagers offer services such as meditation classes, yoga lessons, sacred circle dances, and a variety of therapies for body and mind.
How can you get involved?
We are working for Aldeafeliz Ecovillage to be a global community. We have already received many visitors from different parts of the world, including a journalist from Germany who will feature us in a documentary about utopian communities. We are receiving on average 50 guests per month. To keep growing and fulfilling our potential, we would love for you to be involved. There a number of ways you can do so, namely:
- Come visit and participate in our daily ecovillage activities
- Visit us and volunteer in our varied infrastructure projects
- Do your thesis or study at Aldeafeliz.
- Donate money for our infrastructure projects: We plan to build a guest house to host people from around the world for our retreats and workshops, for which we hope to raise US $50,000. We are setting up a partnership with a US non profit called “Give to Colombia” through which you can make a tax deductible donation, as it has 501c3 status in the US. Please pledge your donation today to anamaria@aristizabal.net. This ecovillage is for you.
- Choose Aldeafeliz as a site for your workshop or retreat
- Come practice your Spanish at Aldeafeliz and take individual tutoring
- Offer your skills and interests to the community: finance, marketing, community organizing, etc.
- Come take one of our workshops or activities: sacred circle dances, eco-construction workshops, healthy cooking classes, transformation game, yoga, Spanish tutoring/conversation, labyrinth path walking, reek or deekshas, artistic workshops, among other fun things.
For more information and pictures please visit www.aldeafeliz.org or email anamaria@aristizabal.net
