Over several months, my husband Kelly has been working with students at the nearby Ninos y Jovenes boarding school and with members of the Chapala Green group, along with other people who have turned up at times.
They’ve been creating a demonstration project for earthbag building, a method that Kelly used to build the house we had in Colorado. He and a friend of ours have a comprehensive website at: earthbagbuilding.com
Most of the students at this school are Huicholes, from poor rural areas, and the priest who runs this school was enthusiastic about the boys learning the method. The swine flu scare shut schools for weeks, and there have been some other events competing for the kids’ attention, but bit by bit the building is coming along:
To see all the pictures Kelly has put on flickr, go to:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/kellyhart/sets/72157617260502049/
There may well be photos there showing the project further along, as Kelly keeps updating that set.
The project has received good newspaper coverage. People are quite interested!
Posted in San Juan Cosala
I saw references and fotos of this at the ACA fair … but kinda primative living don’t ya think. Maybe for a hippie living on a mountain top … but for the average Mexican family. Circle up the heavy teepees ;)
.-= sparks´s last blog ..Lake Chapala =-.
We lived in a stunningly beautiful earthbag house which my husband built in Colorado… Kelly is the guy behind the project you saw at ACA too. Take a look at http://earthbagbuilding.com/projects/hart.htm and scroll down to the bottom of the page. The house has been in numerous books and television shows. People love it.
We ARE old hippies and that place IS in the mountains, but the hundreds of people who toured our home included many mainstream people who loved it. When we were thinking about selling it a few years ago, it sold before we could even list it with a realtor, and for top dollar.
Many Mexican people are intrigued by the idea. I was a little surprised how easily they take to the rounded shape.
Primitive living… hmph!
Rosana