Help us to build an amazing place near the Mantiqueira Mountains, São Paulo

Details

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  Description

  Olá, we are Ale and Tissy.
  In 2020, at the beginning of the pandemic, we left the bustling city of São Paulo in search of something more. The decision wasn’t random; we felt that there was something very special here. So we started building ever since our little piece of paradise, a permacultural and yoga retreat center, here in the Mantiqueira Mountains.
  
  At first it was a huge challenge because how can a meditation instructor and a psychologist build a retreat center? Well, we worked a lot, and we had a lot of help - specially from volunteers from around the globe.
  
  We fell in love with making things. Creating, drawing, envisioning and building. We have been on this journey for more than 4 years almost non-stop. Our main goal is to materialize places where people can connect with themselves, others and with nature.
  
  So throughout our projects we really connected with bio construction and building with wood. We builted two geodesic domes, one being a yoga hall, also a COB house, and we love doing green roofs.
  
  We choose this very special place in the Mantiqueira Mountains: there is all these amazing views, the civilization is distant, and we can appreciate the silence. We also choose here because we felt impelled to regrow the forest that once was here, but it was taken down to raise cattle in the 1990’s. So we have also been planting a lot of native trees, food forests, and gardens to bring back the biodiversity that belongs here.
  
  One of our many favorite activities here is to walk on the hikes inside the farm, bathe on the waterfalls, and be amazed by the flying toucans at sunset.
  
  We put our hearts and souls in this place everyday and welcome those who are open to joins us on this journey.

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  Types of help and learning opportunities

  DIY and building projects

  General Maintenance
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  UN sustainability goals this host is trying to achieve

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  Cultural exchange and learning opportunities

  Throughout the last years we accumulated knowledge and experience on buildings (specially bio construction), maintenance, electricity and water systems.
  
  Also restoring the land, planting trees, and food, identification of eatable plants. An ongoing challenge is to always test new preserving food techniques with our crops.
  
  We are currently focusing on improving our hosting skills. Creating welcoming experiences for our guests. Improving the accommodations, decorations, cooking and cleaning more effectively for larger groups.
  
  We love to cook, specially traditional Brazilian dishes for out volunteers to try.
  We are very interested in exchanging history, traditions and recipes.
  Tissy is passionate about Brazilian history and culture. So she will talk non stop if you let her. Ale is very good playing the pandeiro (Samba instrument) and he will gladly give you a lesson. We love to share traveling tips in Brazil, as well as in South America, because we are very proud Latinos and excited to share more of our amazing culture.

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  Help

  We've just finished building our yoga hall so we are entering a new phase of our project.
  
  Until June 2024 and after August 2024
  We are looking for volunteers with specific skills to help us improve out accommodations by building little furnitures and improvements. Someone that knows how to use power tools, work with wood and/or create furniture/ DIY projects for decoration etc..
  
  We're also looking for professional photographers and videographers to document as much as possible from the process. We love working with creative and committed people.
  
  If you have experience in hotels, refugios or shelters we would love to exchange practical informations to improve our routines.
  
  June - July 2024
  In June we will start out latest construction project, a COB house to host more volunteers. A little house for volunteers to stay longer and with more privacy here at the farm. The project is very simple and will use only materials that we already have or are abundant locally. There is no need of previous experience with any type of buildings. Bio construction is a lot of fun, and very empowering because we reconnect with the tradition of centuries of communities building their own houses. It will be extra special for the volunteers to build the house for the next volunteers.
  
  We'll start on the beginning of the month pf June and hopely finish the whole build by the middle of july.

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  Languages spoken

  English: Fluent
  Spanish: Fluent
  Portuguese: Fluent

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  Accommodation

  The volunteers are hosted at the same rooms that we host our retreat guests.
  We provide a room with an amazing hot shower, a lot of personal space and also a stunning view of the mountains. It's a great place to connect, rest and restore.
  
  Since we are in the mountains, the closest village is 40 minutes walking, the place is more suited for quiet and chilled activities such as reading, resting, writing and contemplating.
  
  Most of the time we do not have a lot of volunteers (we wish!), so it's possible that for periods of time, you would be with few people here. .:) We also have rooms for couples.
  
  If we have a weekend retreat during your stay and all the rooms are full, we would provide tents for you to stay during those few retreats days.

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  What else ...

  Some important rules are that we have a veggie space and no alcohol or drugs of any kind are allowed.
  
  We are currently 2h15 away from São Paulo center, and 1h45 away from Guarulhos International Airport (GRU). It's easy to get an UBER directly to our farm (we have some good contacts that we really recommend). Also, it's possible to come by bus, from the city of São José dos Campos to Monteiro Lobato center. From there we can pick you up in the bus station of Monteiro Lobato depending on the time you arrive (20 min from our land).
  
  Generally our volunteers work for 5 hours per day, 5 days a week.
  We prefer waking up early and working till lunch time.
  We'll provide all ingredients for you to take care of your meals.
  
  Let us know if you know good vegan recipes! :)
  Please don't use ChatGPT to write to us. We like real people.

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  A little more information

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    Internet access

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    Limited internet access

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    We have pets

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    We are smokers

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    Can host families

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  Can host digital nomads

  internet connection is good and easy to do conference calls. it may vary depending on the day, but it's mostly quite reliable.

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  Space for parking camper vans

  This host can provide space for campervans.

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  How many Workawayers can stay?

  More than two

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  Hours expected

  5 hours a day, 5 days a week

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