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After the formal course ended, I headed down with the exiting group to spend a few days in Kathmandu. On the way back up, the bus got stuck in the mud for about 1.5 hours. It was amusing/ frustrating watching the Nepali passengers attempt various methods to free the bus. I had my own ideas, but they were shot down. When the men were tired and resting, the bus backed up to get a “running start”. I quickly leveled the ground with a stick and stomped down to compact the earth. The bus rushed up and made it. I can’t say that my efforts was what did it, as it was in combination with techniques others were using, but in any case, I was able to see once again the mental irritation that comes up when others reject my ideas, insisting their strategies being best.

Back at camp, a few volunteers remained. We got started with plastering the inside of the dome with earth. We used an angle grinder to cut holes in the earthbags to insert the skeleton of the electrical system. We also build a scaffold out of bamboo to reach the ceiling. The agriculture team, meanwhile, worked on inoculating chestnut logs with shitake mushroom spores.

Kamilo, Mariana’s and Orian’s son, had his first food tasting ceremony. Here, the local tradition is to have a priest offer and lead the father of the child into offering various blessings to the child. The community is invited to witness, offering their own blessings, eat, and celebrate.

The holidays were pretty special. We had a white elephant exchange. Oriol, a Catalonian volunteer, brought the “Tio” tradition of hitting a log, with a face, gently, and it then “pooping” out presents. We also had a Catalonian soup for dinner. On Christmas, the camp hosts a yearly pinata breaking for the children of the community.

One of the most exciting days was trash day. I was ecstatic to see that this community makes ecobricks! I have never encountered a community, and very rarely individuals, who take responsibility for what they consume. For years I’ve been advocating for people to consume less disposable plastic products and to make ecobricks from the waste they do use.

For more information on how you can become an environmentally responsible citizen of this planet who takes ownership for what they consume, make ecobricks, click here.

For the new year, we hiked 7 hours up some mountains to a place called Gobre. The journey was filled unique sites. I saw this one house with the Tibetan Bon tradition 4 dignities painted on the entrance: Tiger, Lion, Garuda, Dragon.

On the way up, we passed 3 stupas. Just before arriving at the destination, I came across a very simple school. It looked so bare, it was as though it were not in use, but I heard from the locals otherwise.

The nights and the morning were met with frost on the ground. The mornings were clear and offered spectacular views of distant snow capped Langtang mountains, one of which looked like the face of an old man staring back. On the way back down, I saw some artisans working on the intricate carvings of little stupas using cement.

After a magic and memorable New Years, work resumed. We plastered the outside of the dome with cement, perhaps my least favorite, however necessary part of the process. Cement is so much harsher on the skin than earth plaster. The dome top was easy, but the vertical parts had to be covered in wire mesh to catch the plaster. We applied about 3 coats on the outside, then returned to apply additional earth coats on the inside.

At the time the dome plastering was coming to an end, we began prepping bamboo for the next project, an outdoor shower. Bamboo was harvested, transported, cut, and treated. Of the 7 volunteers who stayed on after the dome workshop ended, only 2 of us remain now. The preciousness of time is evident daily here.

The dome was completed on Friday. I could hardly believe the daily grind of shoveling and mixing dirt, filling bags, tossing buckets, compass measuring, and barbed wire weaving were suddenly ended. With that, also a dispersion of a quickly formed tight-knit community. It was over in the blink of an eye. I made sure to document the details of the entire process.

The last week was full of ups and downs, with bouts of tired sore sluggishness and excitement for the dénouement to arrive. Learning was/is happening all the time at different levels. I recall reading two dharma passages. One is regarding the compassionate concern for others (intention not just action). The other was on how the ultimate mode of our existence is contrary to how it appears.

Just like the physics of building a dome, these subtle details are easily forgotten and hard to see. The last several rings of tamping earthbags on a dome seem to defy the laws of gravity. The fear is felt in the depths of the quads, hamstrings, and lower back as the detail oriented work continues.

After the dome was finished we celebrated with a certificate ceremony and drinks at the local tea shop. It was a surreal, glorious, and peaceful bliss.

The day after the dome was completed, most of the volunteers left to Kathmandu. I joined them to pick up some supplies and explore more of the city. Sanipa is the ex-pat part of the city with more of your western type goods: organic jams, gluten free pastries, and novelty flours.

Patan Durbar square is one of three UNESCO Durbar squares in the city. There is a medieval royal place there surrounded by various intricately carved stone temples.

I also visited an ayuverdic hospital. Its so incredible to see this kind of affordable health care available to the public.

After Tihar, we started working on the foundation. Much of the mountainous land here is divided into terraces. The terrace was chosen and we began by clearing away the top soil. The earthbags must not have any organic matter in them, otherwise it could affect the structural integrity.

The terrace was not even. We dug several centimeters to harvest the calculated amount soil needed, leveling the earth as we worked. Once that was done, we stuck a piece of rebar in at the center of the future dome. We drew out the diameters of the inner and outer walls and marked them with flour. We also tested the soil to figure out how much cement was needed to add to the earth. (Yes, even with this natural technique, you will still need cement for reinforcement, but it will likely be between 5% and 10%, far less than a conventional building.) We also added flour lines to mark the entrance buttresses.

Once lines were marked to outline the earthbags, we dug down 70cm. After being dug we needed to add 30cm of gravel. The gravel was at a higher elevation. There are no roads from the gravel to the construction site, so we had to carry the gravel manually. The locals here carry loads on their backs with a head support. I tried that once and felt pretty uncomfortable. I hate compromising good posture; efficiency is always compromised. I emptied out my backpack, stuffed the polyester sack into it, and transported gravel that way. I was able to carry more gravel, travel faster, and take less breaks.

Life is good here. The labor is arduous but rewarding and habit-forming. I love living in community again. Once a week we will go out to have dinner at a local community member’s home. This past week, after community dinner, we stop in at a home that was also a shop. The shop owner invited us in for a drink of home brewed millet alcohol.

Yesterday we made pizza in the cob oven. 🙂

I continue to delight in finding the novelties in living here. One day, I walked to Nawalpur to get some rice flour. I found this plate made of leaves and sticks. I have such an appreciation for well made things using natural products. I went to a mill to get my rice flour. The entire little shack was covered in flour.

Monkeys are big nuisance to the farmers here. They travel in groups of 20 -30, sometimes up to 100, destroying crops and gardens. It’s important that around dusk time, not to allow them to be near your crops, otherwise they’ll stay overnight and eat them early in the morning. For 3 days we had monkeys near our garden. A variety of tactics were used by a number of volunteers and staff to scare them off. For those 3 days, I did my morning meditation in the garden. I noticed that they got close but wouldn’t come down to the ground if I was there.

Some tea time snacks are unusual, many times including raw flat rice, roasted soy beans, and raw onion.

After Kathmandu, I headed to the Conscious Impact campsite in Takure. I met up with four other volunteers at the bus station. The bus ride was kind of alarming but also interesting. It was about 4 hours of an up hill ride. At times, I could see the ledge just a few inches from bus tires.

The village is marked by a single tea shop that sells convenience store type products. We were greeted by the founder, Orion, his wife Marianna, and newborn, Camillo. We were shown the premises which include an open air kitchen, a lounge space, a tipi, a brick making station, a bamboo treatment station, a dorm, some compost toilets, a green house, a garden, an orchard, a cob oven, and 2 earthbag homes.

The first week was eventful. I arrived at the beginning of one of the most celebrated holidays here, Tihar. It is a 5 day holiday that includes blessing various animals then concluding with people blessing each other.

I was guided around the village by a man nicknamed “mama” (uncle). He showed us the various projects Conscious Impact had accomplished. He showed the volunteer group a bus stop made of bamboo, cob, and eco-bricks! I was happy to see that they advocate for eco-bricks here. We saw houses made of cob, earthbags, and earth bricks.

Coffee is a major crop that Conscious Impact has introduced to the area. The biggest contribution CI has made here though, was after the major 2015 earthquake. After, CI found a way to install individual water taps at each house. Prior to this, there were communal water taps spread around the village.

We saw the next town over, Nawalpur, which has a few more shops than Takure.

One day we took a straw weaving class. Another day we harvested rice, a major crop in the area.

Some days during this festival we would get carolers of kids singing for tips of food and money. One morning a man with a big horn came.

The final day of Tihar is called Bhai Tika. This is where women go to their family home and offer blessing of snacks, flowers, and forehead paints to their brothers. The brothers then offer money blessings to each of their sisters.

I feel so fortunate to have been invited to a local’s home to part take in this intimate family gathering! It was so nice to see the various generations of siblings offering blessings to each other. There is a kind of gentleness and love amongst siblings I see here that I don’t see in the US often. It’s heart warming.

The people here have enduring nick names for each other here like “brother” and “deedee” (aunt). Using this language creates a kind of friendliness in the culture. It’s easy to smile at and greet strangers here.

After Colorado, I decided to look into earthbag home workshops. Eventually, I decided on a program in Takure, Nepal called Conscious Impact. For the past 2 months I have been preparing for my trip. I arrived in Kathmandu last week. 

My trip began in Houston. I was fortunate to be able to get hosted and hangout with a long time friend, Oliver. It was good to catch up! While in Houston, I visited the Rothko chapel, a chapel dedicated to peace amongst all people and religious traditions. It’s a silent space with a skylight in an octagonal building. There are black murals on every wall of the large room. In my experience, there is a sense of peace that starts to open up and percolate through the brain when meditating in these kinds of spaces. It is as though the pineal gland grows up and out like a tree. Before I left Houston, I had amazing GF pancakes at Snooze.

I can’t figure out exactly how long my 2 flights were, but they began at 5pm on a Wednesday and I arrived in Kathmandu at 2am on Friday. It was probably the longest flight I’ve ever taken.

At the taxi stand, after landing, a fellow traveler, Jack, overheard my destination and asked to split the ride. Jack is a young guy from DC who works for Amazon and was taking a 2 week holiday to trek the Annapurna circuit. When we arrived at the hostel, we were greeted by a sleepy doorman who checked us off a list and gave us a double room, telling us to pay later. The Nepali vibe is quite relaxed.

I spent 2 days in Kathmandu. It was fun to revisit this place. Thamel, the touristic downtown area, offers lots to do.

While looking at a Hindu site, I was approached by a man, La Lama, who chatted me up and told me he was a cultural tour guide. He offered to take me to a stupa down the road. He introduced me to different store owners and encouraged me to buy products. I wasn’t interested in accumulating stuff, but I was happy to discuss the rich symbolism in the tanka paintings with him and the shop owners. After looking around the stupa and the shops, he offered to take me to more places, but I declined. I offered him a tip but he refused. He said he wanted more money than I was offering. I didn’t feel like that was justified as most of our interaction was going into shops and asking me questions. He tried a variety of tactics to try to cajole the money out of me. I held my ground and rebutted his arguments on premises of ethics and sale effectiveness. In the end he left angrily.

It’s important to hold your ground and stay cordial.

The rest of the time in Kathmandu was relatively pleasant. I had some nice Thai food; not in any rush to try the local spicy cuisine. There was a sense of familiarity being in culture that encompassed Tibetan Buddhism.

This summer I headed out to Colorado after the school year. Being a teacher was more difficult than I expected. There was a feeling of elation and relief when it was over.

My friend Alexis had asked me to go visit her. Alexis defies description. The best I can do is say she is a mix of wild fire, Buddhist nun, fearlessness, love, generosity, intense focus and playfulness (and she loves to touch her food before eating it). At first I was unsure, as what I wanted more than anything was to do nothing, but I decided it would be good to connect with old friends and see the new face of the Shambhala Mountain Center.

Arriving in Colorado was like a dream. Things were novel and beautiful. I stayed in Boulder my first night. I got to see Naropa University for the first time. What a charming campus! I loved that they had drag race gatherings and EDM festival flyers on their community boards. They also had a cob bench in one of their gardens!

Boulder is lovely. I remember not thinking that when I lived in Colorado a few years back, but I think the contrast of coming from Texas and still riding the elation high of not working, skewed my perspective. I got to see my inscrutable meditation instructor, Agness. She has been such a beacon of wisdom in my life.

I spent a fair amount of time in Longmont staying with Alexis. Longmont kind of reminds of Fort Collins, but with less diversity and no college scene. Its like where people in the area move when they’re middle aged, having children, and don’t want to pay the outrageous real estate to live in Boulder. I just so happened to run into some old colleagues, Marsha and Jon, while wandering into a local summer music event downtown.

One day, Alexis and I headed over to a Shambhala gathering over on the outskirts of Boulder. The event was hosted by some mushroom farmers, Nicole and Benjamin Wolf, owners of West Wolf Medicinals mushroom powders. Later that evening, we headed over to see our friend Hazel and then to Tracks club. It was a captivating crowd and a lively evening!

I headed out to volunteer at the Drala mountain center (formerly Shambhala mountain center) for two weeks. It was so stimulating to be back on the land! There was a double rainbow on the arrival day of two long retreats.

The land had been through a difficult few years, but seemed like it was a time for new beginnings. There was a new CEO recently selected. I got to meet up with old colleagues and meet new faces. This is a special place.

I spent my birthday here! That was exciting. We had an epic fire by a river at Elkhorn state park right next door.

After DMC, I headed back to stay with Alexis for another week. I met up with old friends, Heather, Dan, Eric, and Kambrie and explored more of Boulder. I love that many homes in Boulder are wildscaping their lawns. Before I left the area, Alexis and I headed over to Estes Park to hike over to Sky Pond. The views were stunning. The water at Sky Pond was so cold, my legs went numb. We had to run almost 5 miles back downhill to make sure we didn’t miss the last shuttle back to our car. It was kind of an intense day.

Next, I headed over to Silt, west of Glenwood Springs to visit Rachel. The ride over through the Clear Creek Canyon was amazing! I loved Rachel’s house. It was so quaint and peaceful, in the middle of nowhere. We went rock climbing with her partner Takeo. That was exciting! Later, I helped her set up at the farmer’s market. Rachel is a death doula.

After Silt, I headed to Buena Vista to visit Pam. Pam is fun. We jumped in the Arkansas River daily, worked at our friend’s (Kevin) farm, and walked around the pedestrianized cute downtown. Pam “saved” a girl who could’ve been swept away by the river’s current.

After Buena Vista, I met up with my friends Inge and Josh at Crestone. Crestone is a special place. Its like a hidden spiritual haven. Josh had just bought some land there sandwiched between an ashram and a Tibetan Buddhist retreat center. Inge and I explored the forest and the town center. The town center is just a square but the greater Crestone area extends for miles across a range of mountains.

My final stop was Salida. Salida is just lovely. Another quaint mountain town with a river that runs through the center of it. It’s a bit bigger than Buenva Vista. I stayed at a mountaineer hostel (Simple lodge) while there and learned about this special subculture of extraordinary people.

This five week trip was so rich. It was nice to look on this place with fresh eyes again. At the end I felt rejuvenated and love. I felt the nourishment of cooperation, nature, generosity, and friendship. I feel so grateful to everyone I met on the trip. I’m inspired to begin my next chapter!

I headed back to Madrid after Toulouse. I spent my last days in Europe hanging out with Alejandro and slowly getting back to my daily routine.

I’m so thankful to have had this intermediary space as a transition point before going back to Texas. 

This time had me reflecting on how to spend the final days before a big transition. I’ve been here many times. I usually prioritize cleaning and planning, then spending time with loved ones. 

I feel lighter. I feel like I’m leaving with fewer desires than I started. There is a tinge of groundlessness, but it’s only because of the newly cleared space, where once there was a sense of heavy obligatory attainment for the sake of “happiness” and “purpose”. 

I had a 14 hour lay over in Amsterdam. I stayed in this crappy hostel. I thought for almost $40 I’d get a decent hostel. I walked into my room at around 11pm. There were 15 beds in one room! 3 stacker bunk beds. Most of the floor was covered with luggage and clothes. There was one guy in the dark room in his bed. I could only hear the rhythmic breathing from some kind of bong contraption, like Darth Vader was slowly drowning, coming from his direction as I was falling asleep. Later that evening, I was awaken by 3 young Germans who wouldn’t stop giggling as they made their way to bed.

I’d been to Amsterdam many years ago, but it was good to see it again. I would like revisit soon.

The rest of my flight went well, although my luggage didn’t arrive, AGAIN! Iberia failed to make a timely delivery, AGAIN.

Other than that, it was good. I went back to Texas and started my new teaching job training the next day.

Drifting from one reality to another is seamless. Its like picking up where I left off. Its like a dream that sometimes repeats itself, but there is something subtly different.

Gearing up to head back home, I decided to stop in Toulouse again. I needed a place to stop on my way back to Madrid, so I decided to come back here. I really enjoyed this city and logistically it was the easiest spot to leave from. 

Upon arriving I got a quiche from a local bakery and ate it at a nearby city park/ plaza. I can recall the serene moment of the breeze in the air, the salty salmon in the quiche, and the crying child on the playground calling for his dad because he was afraid to climb higher on a passage of netting. 

After, I went to the jardin des plantes, my favorite napping spot in the city. There were chickens running about this time. 
My first host was Eric. He was great. He made a good “rice salad”, which I’d never heard of. 
My second host was Raul from Mexico. He was also great. We shared some good chats about meditation and the nature of reality. 

I spent my days visiting my favorite spots and exploring new places around the city.

One day I met up with Dominique who I had met on my previous trip to Toulouse. He took me to a spot on the Garonne river south of Toulouse. We swam and had an improv bbq. 
Later that evening we went to a nearby town that was having a local music festival. 

On another occasion, I met up with Kehli, a girl that I had met in Marseille a few weeks earlier. We spent the day walking around the city and shopping for shoes. She was fun and a little chaotic. 

In summary, what I can say about my time in France and the big lesson learned:

My heart is full. I’m glad to have come and I am glad to return.