[Sdpg] Natural Building and Traditional Architecture November 22 - December 3, 2004 Tlaxco, Mexico

[Wesley Roe and Marjorie Lakin Erickson]

Natural Building and Traditional Architecture
November 22 - December 3, 2004, Tlaxco, Mexico
Practical Hands on Learning In Highland Mexico
Cost $1200

Sponsored by Zopilote Association, Cob Cottage Company, and Proyecto San 
Isidro Educacion Permanente (17th/18th years)


Topics to include:
Mexico's traditional buildings
Understanding local ecology and culture
Local economics and building techniques
The natural house, using local resources
Climate-responsive building
Practice and explanation of cob, strawbale, lightclay, thatch, natural 
floors, natural plasters, roundwood and wastewood
Design of natural buildings
		
	
Why Mexico?

By simply crossing a frontier line you can pass directly from the 
post-industrial affluent world to a relatively intact traditional 
culture.  What a resource!  Mexico was a mature, cultured, stable society 
centuries before Plymouth Rock.  Her traditions and techniques 
persist.  Most tourists are carefully isolated from Real Mexico, yet we 
have infinite amounts to learn from Mexicans.  Zopilote's programs have 
evolved over 15 years of North-South cooperation, to allow Europeans and 
North Americans direct access to the heart of Mexican daily life.  Tlaxco 
is uniquely suited for it's diversity of culture, architecture and 
ecological life-zones, from subtropics to snowline. Two thousand years of 
architecture is visible within a short drive and dozens of traditional 
crops are grown nearby.

Workshop Location

Inspired by the Caballero family's 40 years of pioneering work in rural 
development, we are based on their 300-acre forest-farm in the mountains 
East of Mexico City.  In the 1950's Carlos and Magdalena Caballero began 
their pioneering work in landscape restoration, rural education and organic 
agriculture.  They took 300 acres of dreadfully gullied errosion and 
without chemicals or foreign capital, have transformed 90% of it to 
productive farmland and forest/wildlife.  Now their children and 
grandchildren are beginning restoration of a further 50 acres (through the 
newly launched San Isidro project).  The environmental grade school they 
founded is thriving.  It offers the only healthy alternative schooling for 
miles.  Your program fees assure funding for this remarkable school, which 
runs without government or institutional funds, completely by donations and 
parental involvement.  The project's buildings now include demonstrations 
of strawbale, cob, light-clay, rammed earth, thatching, stone masonry, 
local brick, adobe, natural floors and plasters, and local waste-wood.  You 
can help build a permanent campus and experiment center.
Accommodations

You will sleep in a comfortable cabin by a stream in a peaceful forested 
mountain valley.  We are 3 miles to town and 1.5 miles to the teaching 
center, down a safe, quiet country lane.  Tlaxco is a small busy market 
town where you can buy most things.  There's a hotel and a small hospital 
which we have never yet needed.  You can see the snowcaps of the giant 
volcanoes, Popo and Ixta, in the distance.  We eat lavishly, Mexican 
traditional, vegetarian, local, mostly organic.  You will meet fruits, 
vegetables and delicious dishes you have never heard of before.  While we 
can't cater to special diets, there is enough variety at every meal to 
satisfy most people's dietary needs.  The water from our own spring, is 
crystal clear and delicious.  There is no endemic disease so you don't need 
shots.  The site is at 9000' so it's cool, with frost sometimes.  Bundle 
up!  While we have a van available, you can walk up and down the valley 
everyday, getting plenty of exercise.  You may be a little short of breath 
at first if you come from a low altitude.


How We Teach

Much of the work and discussions is in small multicultural teams of Latin 
Americans, Europeans and North Americans.  All formal sessions are 
translated so you can learn a lot of Spanish by immersion and constant 
use.  In the evenings we often have campfires under the stars.  Students 
can make invaluable contacts and friendships, which in the past have led to 
North-South partnerships, working associates and lifelong friends.  Lead 
instructores are Alejandra Caballero and Paco Gomez, supported by an 
international team having a wide range of experience (agronomy, land 
restoration, silviculture, rural community development, alternative 
architecture, environmental education, etc.).  Three generations of the 
Caballero family typically participate.  Workshops operate under the 
principle that "everyone is a teacher, everyone a student", and integrate 
the life experiences and skills of participants.
Bringing Children

We encourage families to travel together; it can be inspiring and 
bonding.  After returning home everone can discuss, use and learn from the 
experience.  We now offer a special program for children who don't want to 
fully participate in the adult program (children could flow between the two 
programs if they can be there without distracting others).

Benefits: Children learn language quickly as everthing is bilingual.  Often 
they are speaking quite a lot of Spanish after two weeks.  The project 
operates a local alternative environmental grade school in the village.  We 
will share activities with them.  The ecology is rich and varied, with many 
opportunities for making forts from local materials, campfire cooking, 
discovery hikes, watching wildlife, together with play acting, costume play 
and local crafts.  Children see another culture first-hand, are absorbed 
into it, learn racial and cultural tolerance and see that a simple life can 
be exciting and rich.

Cost for children: Half the adult rate ($480).
Cost:

$1200 includes tuition, 3 delicious vegetarian meals per day, lodging, and 
field trips.  A $300 non-refundable deposit insures a place (limited to 12 
non-Mexicans).  10% discount for full payment at least 60 days in 
advance.  10% discount for families and friends together (couples and 
families are encouraged); children under 14 pay half price and are 
encouraged to participate (see above for details).  Tuition supports the 
alternative grade school run by the Caballero family and pays for 
scholarships for needy Latin Americans.  Partial work-trades available to 
skilled interpreters.  Checks payable to Alejandra Caballero.
To Register, or for More Information, Contact:
Ianto Evans
Cob Cottage Company
P.O. Box 123
Cottage Grove, Oregon 97424
USA
http://www.cobcottage.com/

Telephone/FAX (541) 942-2005