So yesterday was great day. One of the students from last month has a daughter who bought an ex-hacienda 25 minutes outside of San Miguel two years ago. They have been fixing it up ever since. The student’s son took 5 of us on a tour yesterday. First we stopped by a work site to drop in on a class in making adobe building. People from all around the world had some to take the class. It’s pretty early to make the block once you have the right mix and they are much more environmentally friendly than concrete blocks. My favorite guy was a Haitian guy living in Canada, but preparing to help build permanent adobe structure back in Haiti. He had already bought himself a little brick making machine. They cost around $4500 USD and he got his from India, shipping included. It seemed like a great project. They people running the course were Jeff and Jim from http://www.tierraycal.com
Then we went to the hacienda. http://www.cantosdelossantos.com/us.html That family certainly has taken on a large project. The place was started in the 1770s, another part added in 1861 and then a 16 room hotel was started in 1980. Then the Mexican general who owned it fell out of power and could no longer us army funds and soldiers to finish his project. It went into ruin until this family of property managers from DC bought it two years ago. They are using looks of sustainable building materials and methods. It was good to spend a day talking about something I used to be so passionate about.
Then we sat down to a home cooking feast at the Hacienda with chef Ananda. Fresh- baked rosemary bread with olive oil, the best salad I’ve had in months, eggplant parmesan and then apple crisp with whip cream and lemonade. You would think I would try to loose weight before hiking in Peru, but apparently that is not my strategy. It was a wonderful day and I am back in the saddle with green building. Thursday I have dinner with three women who are working to bring more adobe projects to casita Linda. http://www.casitalinda.org All about the web links today.
