The project began in 2002 with a group of young friends who wanted to make real that dream of living a self-sufficient life in harmony with nature, in a place with abundant clean water.
One November morning we walked down a path that begins at the end of the village of Mon. Among centuries-old chestnut trees, descending further and further, Mazo de Mon suddenly appeared. It looked like something from a storybook, with the river running through it. So many people must have worked to create a place like this at the bottom of the valley, in the middle of the forest. We thought it would be a good place to live.
When we arrived, the settlement still had all its stone and wooden buildings, some in better condition, others in ruins. There were also hundreds of dry-stone walls forming terraces, or zapatas as they are called here, where people once cultivated vineyards. There was an abundance of water and forests, but no road access for vehicles, no running water, and no electricity.
We have fulfilled part of that dream and continue in the process, learning every day. More than twenty years have now passed. Times change, needs change, and new dreams grow from the same roots. Self-sufficiency can be very solitary and requires a great deal of work, and we still find ourselves buying gasoline. Now we would like to depend more on community, in other words, to live with more people, to share both the pleasures and the tasks of this way of life, and to stay connected with the local community.
