During the Study Visit, the CMT team visited the Aloha project, where an international community lives by the principles of permaculture, being an example of what they want to promote in the world.
Max is originally from the UK, but six years ago he decided to buy a one-way flight to Colombia to pursue his dreams. His initial desire to find a place to live sustainably in nature, over time evolved much further than a farm and today shapes the integral environment and the community of people that Aloha is.
Aloha is “a school where people can learn about living alongside nature, growing their food, living in a community, healing their problems and finding medicine from nature. A place to learn the spiritual and physical tools to create a different way of living in the world”.
“To leave the world in a better place than we find it, that’s my main life goal”.
Max, one of the driving forces behind the Aloha project
The place, where we spent a night, is in the Sierra Nevada itself, but this time, heading for the heights. The girls of the team took their hardest hike since they arrived in Colombia to get there. It was noticeable in their faces and soaked clothes when they arrived in Aloha.
After a shower, which they could choose from solar-heated water -although at that moment it was the last option they needed, not a trivial detail as it is something difficult to find in Minca-, Max showed us the large number of plants they harvest and the different techniques they use throughout the land.
Of the areas you can find in Aloha, there is a big exterior kitchen, dry bathrooms -with its entire treatment and composting system-, huts with dreamlike views for the guests, outdoor spaces for meetings and the most important structure on the site: the temple. A ten meters diameter wooden structure with a fire pit in the center represents the central space for ceremonies and workshops.
Although six years of work make the results visible, as Max explained, the beginnings when you are alone, are not an easy affair.
Max came first to Medellin on his own, searching for people who wanted to join his motivation. After four months, he was told about this newly started project in the mountains of Sierra Nevada and driven by his heart, he stand on the spot and offer his effort. Aloha had already started on the mind of another dreamer but was through the collective work that it started to take shape and soon after Max was offered to stay and be part of it.
The original purchaser of the land was a man who arrived from the US named Ryan. “He was saved by this medicine, Ayahuasca, from being lost and suffering from depression and sadness. He was very inspired to share this medicine with people, so Aloha bornt originally from this idea of helping people to work on themselves and clear de pain and suffering, also the past lives trauma of our grand ancestors who couldn’t fix these problems and have given them to us”, Max explained. Although Ryan had to leave the project behind to continue on his way, that powerful mission evolved and lives in all Aloha people until today.
Of the core values that Aloha has is the importance of “taking responsibility for thoughts, words and actions and always be working towards something bigger than oneself”. In previous articles, we talked about the ancestral indigenous culture that inhabits these mountains. Not far from their experience, finding abundance in earth and community for Aloha “includes bringing in indigenous society and knowledge to learn from them and create a middle way bridge between our world and their world”. As Max says: “Aloha is here to help people to find themselves and we want to be generous with our attention, knowledge and experience because this is not just for us. We want the whole world to start living differently and see a lot of alohas places all over the world”.
You can go there for staying as a guest for a few days, volunteer for a time, participate in a retreat or propose some event. Find more information and contact in their webpage. On our side, we will continue on our way to discover more inspiring places like this one. Stay tuned!
