The Project for the First Three Months of 2018
Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all got well through the holidays, and are still going strong keeping your new year’s resolutions. As for me, I opted for making plans instead, which just happen to get started in January. This, however, has less to do with the new calendar and more with the pleasant weather in the region where I’m going to be active: the beautiful coast of Oaxaca, not too far from the famous hippie-ish beach town of Oaxaca.
A Theater on the Beach: A Little Recap
Almost two years ago, I had the pleasure and privilege to participate in an amazing project I wrote about in my previous blog. (Please feel free to check it out, though I’m sure I’ll be recycling parts of it here as well.) Together with some friends from the Earthship Academy and a group of artists, we started building a sustainable theater. Okay, before the actual main building, we set out building a garage. Unfortunately even that we had to leave unfinished (for now) as the local red-tape is in need of some official business, which we still need to wait for. But never mind, this is the cooler season without rain, so we should be able to do something, even if it’s not on the theater property in Mazunte.
Alternative Plan: Bahía de la Luna
So while we are still waiting for the paperwork to be processed, my friends have decided to work on another nearby property instead. A couple of towns past Mazunte lies Bahía de la Luna, where one of my friends from the theater group has purchased a small plot of land for her private use. To describe the village, the words “sleepy” and “little” are gross understatements. Bahía de la Luna makes Mazunte look like Acapulco! Apart from a few houses, there is a hotel… and not much else. There is, however, a gorgeous crescent shaped bay, and an incredibly steep hill overlooking it, where the property is located.
The Goal for This Season: Retaining Walls and Terraces
The idea is to use the land for various purposes: a mix of trees, shrubs, gardens, and cabins for habitation, water catchment obviously, access pathways, etc. But before anything can be built, we have to make sure the hillside is stable enough to support it. This will be especially important during the rainy season, when the land is most prone to sudden erosion. The solution is building terraces and supporting the hill with well built retaining walls. Or at least, this is how I’ve come to understand this season’s goals. I haven’t spent too much time on the property myself, other than a relaxing afternoon, where our attention was centered on the bay.
Waiting for the Bus
At the moment though, I’m still at home, waiting for my friends to arrive in Oaxaca, so we can get started. They spent the end of the year in California, where they bought an old school-bus they are driving down the coast to Mazunte. Originally they were gonna pick me up in Mexico City, but after realizing that the slow and heavy vehicle had a mind of its own, which was heavily partial to flat surfaces, and greatly despising windy mountain roads and changing elevations, they kindly advised me to look for a way to the coast myself.
Being somewhat reminded of the Furthur bus of Ken Kessey and the Merry Band of Pranksters, I have set my mind to get down to Acapulco or Puerto Escondido to meet up with them before they pass through, between January 12 and 15, and ride down with them over the last leg of the journey. We’ll see how things come together. In any case, you can look forward to more detailed posts about this exciting project.