The main gate sign- Art and Love

Alberto and Benjamin painting letters, love, care, art
and soul have contributed in the spark and light of every single one!

An art gallery with oodles of style!!

Signs being prepared for many locations- some of them still secret

While we were kept away from TierraMitica by the heavy rains (click to see story) Benjamin and Alberto made themselves joyfully busy by creating signs for the main gate, OkOpua (click to see story), el Ojo (click to see story) and other places.

While designing the main gate, loads of signs around TierraMitica, drawing ideas that take Tierra directly into the Mythic as our imagination turns into vision, then into project and then into reality in our endless canvas that is TierraMitica they started to hand create every sign with computer precision and playfulness.

Alberto tirelesly cut endless letters of various
sizes in our makeshift workshop at the back of the
 Casa at Tarapoto. At the back you can see the wood
 for the main gate drying out. The smile never leaves his face.

They drew each letter, cut them carefully and artfully and painted them as if they were going to hang in the Metropolitan.

The first result of their work, the sign on the main gate is awaiting the gate!!! Gate story to follow soon- stay tuned!
                                                                                                           

Daniel and Theo proudly displaying our handcrafted sign, soon to hang over the 14 foot main gate!!

The magical stalactite cave at TierraMitica

The magical cave behind TierraMitica's waterfall- ancient gods patiently observe

Facing torrential rains, our road was cut off because a bridge had to be replaced when it started sinking into the mud. Under a cycle of 25-30 years, as people say, comes a year when the rain is so much that the earth can no longer absorb it. This is such a year and a lot of destruction has happened in Peru and the San Martin region.

Thus, we were forced to stay in Tarapoto and instead of getting frustrated we decided to become creative. We started work on the TierraMitica main gate and it's welcoming sign, we experimented on home made breads so that the smell of fresh bread baking wakes us up every morning at TierraMitica, we expanded our vegetable planting and germination projects, we started building the center altar and much much more.
We also took a day for a treasure hunt- true Indiana Jones style. We drove and then crossed Rio Mayo on a canoe to reach San Fransisco de Rio Mayo, a lazy peaceful village where the discoverer of the prehistoric stalactite cave behind our middle waterfall - a very inaccessible place right now as it flows from El Ojo, the Eye, our temple in nature (click here for story)- lives and practices his art. The waterfall and the cave will be made accessible soon by the staircase Alberto is building (click here for story).


Treasures in the workshop of Demosthenes

Our Indiana Jones is called Demosthenes Rios and is an an artist and collector working with objects he finds in nature and in sacred places of the region. He heard of the cave and with the aid of the owners around the land, his cousin Jorge Torres on one side and Vidal Dias on the other side (the farmers who sold us TierraMitica they descended with ropes and photographed the cave, unfortunately cutting of and taking with them (with good intention but limited understanding of the destruction caused) several sculpted stalactite formations created by nature and used many years ago as natural canvasses of the dwellers.

Demosthenes drinking from the Angel's spring



The cave at TierraMitica when it was explored

We managed to recover the head seen in the picture after buying several of his artifacts but had no wish to recover the sculpture changed into a madonna or the one changed into a church by his artistic fervor. Nonetheless he is a splendid good intentioned fellow who wishes to help us restore the cave as much as possible. We plan to return the head there, to clear the cave and offer flowers and our respect to this amazing, magical place that we have been blessed with being encharged to protect.

TierraMitica's 2012 Schedule is online and the Registration system Works!!!! Go to page http://www.tierramitica.com/en/ayahuasca-retreats-peru/2012-schedule.html to see the schedule and register for something!!! The Dietas are not yet published but most other things are in!! 

Accomodation for a while will consist only of Okopua, so for every peogram where there is choice of Lodging the 3-4 people sharing price will apply for all registrations until further notice. Cabana accomodation will start when we have at least one built!!!

The Opening date is June 29th 2012 and the first Mythic Voyage on TierraMitica will begin on the 30th of June. We are sure it will be an epic voyage, register to come on board!!!

Help TierraMitica by spreading the news to your friends and on Facebook etc...

The Staircase to Heaven

The Staircase to Heaven...

Alberto

Alberto is our master craftsman from San Augustin, Colombia that Steven has sent to us. He is going to build the great maloca for us, our temple for our ceremonies (and is building an amazing wooden model), but he is in the mean time working in the Eye, our temple in nature.

He is building the wooden path and staircase down into the Eye all the way to the waterfall's edge (where a wooden viewing and meditation platform will be built overlooking the two waterfalls) and from there down to the natural pool level forming a wooden sunbathing and relaxing platform.

 From there, it will go down to the second waterfall so one can enjoy the majesty of the place fully.

spending hours patiently constructing the model of the Temple

He has been working diligently with Bruce and sometimes Browlie and is immersed in his projects with a smile, a patience and love for what he is accomplishing.

Lots and lots of hard work

We need steady concrete anchoring points to be able to go down into the waterfalls

Thank you!!

Mikis

TierraMitica's first two employees

TierraMitica's first two employees..
There are many workers and builders at TierraMitica right now, and they all work with a smile in creating this great dream and manifesting our visions.

Bruce (left) and Browlie, always with a smile!!

Bruce and Browlie are different- they do not work for any contractor, they are the first employees of TierraMitica. They are brothers and they were living on the land when we bought it. They work with amazing endurance, they do much more than we even ask them to do, and always with a smile!!!!
We and they already know that our lives are inextricably woven together....

Benjamin Comes

Feeling completed!!

Benjamin is here!!!
He brings his unending energy, love, hard work, laughter and Art!!!
He came in from California right after his exhibition of the freed slaves' paintings was complete. We feel completed by his presence and everything is as it should be. We started doing reiki and yoga in the morning with his "enducement" and everybody is already working at least twice as much as we were before he arrived!!

Mikis

Benji is a monster at work!!   

What a blessing it has been to arrive! It is an honor to plant in the heart of mother nature beside those with the purest intentions bringing more beauty into this spectacular life. We are all in this together. The foundation is being laid with integrity and love, paving the road for all of you to join this mythic land when the wind blows, the trust thrives, and you say "YES".

Thank you and so much love! Benjamin

Ferd's Horticultural Extravaganza - Part 1

Ferd's Horticultural Extravaganza - Part 1 (Planting the seeds)

From Tomatoes....

While everything else is happening, Ferd has been carrying out an extravaganza of experiments- trying (and for the most succeeding) to germinate tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, chillies and more.

Harvesting seeds...

The house feels like in preparation for a Noah's Ark voyage where we are preparing ourselves to be able to reproduce all life on Earth.

Carefully planting and nurturing...

Voila!!!new life growing!!!

His persistance is amazing and he tries different aproaches to learn which works best... soon we will create the TierraMitica vegetable garden and transplant all his fledgling children there!!!More news will follow as progress beckons...









From the mouth of the exploring scientist himself:

Our valiant Horticulturalist

"At TierraMitica, we plan to organically grow as much of our own food as possible. And like all journeys, they all begin with the first step.

We've taken some locally grown vegetables and have germinated their seeds in our make-shift pool-side nursery.

We now have 6 tomatoes , 8 red hot peppers and 1 cucumber growing and they should be ready for planting once we move into TierraMitica."

Ferd

Our new road..

Well, last week we had a couple of tractors open up a road into TierraMitica, flattening the old path, making rainwater ditches for the water to escape during hard rain, compacting the road and much more. We now have a veritable highway all the way to Okopua and further, to the bridge to the main maloca, the temple.

The way the "road" was

It has made the way into the land so much easier, especially carrying materials. It is still just a dirt road that can get really muddy these days that are still in the rainy season.

an offroad adventure

and now a Highway!!

The land looks scarred by the violence of the tractors but soon we will soften and plant all around the edges of the road and the earth will recover its balance, albeit in a new configuration.

SHREK

SHREK

The one common thing communities develop is a shared language- a slang with special meaning for the community and that all of the community understand. We chose to create this slang consciously by giving a name that we choose to anything that needs more than one word to explain it.
So far we have the Eye (the magical area above the waterfalls), Okopua (our first building in TierraMitica and our home to be for many months) and, now, SHREK: Our trusted Mitsubishi Montero 4WD 7 seater that carries us, materials, cement, tools and equipment to TierraMitica each day through mud, difficult roads and conditions without complaint.

Theo with SHREK and the new road

He is gruf, rough, he smells bad and is always incredibly dirty ,  is all powerful and kinda greenish!! We love him!!

La Casa - TierraMitica's Home In Tarapoto

The Pool

Hi everybody!! This is TierraMitica's home in Tarapoto. It is where we all live while Okopua, our home in TierraMitica is being finished. We all took part in giving love to the house at Jr.Sachapuquio 385 and turn it into a true home for us and all that will pass by and find haven. We cleaned up, decorated, made functional, repaired, planted plants and flowers and fixed up the lights and the pool.

Lounge and Low Seat Dining (Benjamin)

We cook, we work, we clean and maintain, we do horticultural experiments (Ferd), watch movies and have fun. Our home will serve as a home for everyone of us that needs to be in the city, for the rain season, for all coming guests and participants, future Argonauts that arrive late or in rain and that wish to spend some days in Tarapoto on the way out.

Hammock on the Terrace
(Overlooking the Sky and Mountains)

It has a small pool, four  bedrooms, a back yard, space to park Shrek and various other spaces for yoga, reading, relaxing, being alone and being together.

Mikis

 

 Upper Lounge and Dining (Mikis and Daniel)
 

The Kitchen

Hammock on the Terrace
(Overlooking the Sky and Mountains)

Cleaning and loving the Eye..

The Eye

The Eye is our other temple, a temple in nature. It stands above the two biggest waterfalls, within which is the cave of prehistoric cave paintings, petroglyphs and sculpture (probably neolithic). The ferocity of the river during the rainy season (February to first weeks of April) brings much driftwood and earth washed downriver.

We cleaned and loved the beautiful clearing, even going so far as washing the huge megalithic rocks peppering the site!! What is next? Toothbrushes?

Literally even washing the big rocks!!

Cleaning the Eye with a smile (Ferd)

We cleaned the whole Eye from driftwood and by next week we will have planted 100 exquisite jungle plants, all with white flowers. The Eye is the womb of TierraMitica, the heart of the protectress Mother Earth.

Mikis

People of TierraMitica (Theodosia, Daniel, Ferd)

Trees Fallen in River at the Eye

Watch out for machetes!!!

Walking with the Rushing River

Rapids in the Rain Season

The Majestic Waterfall in TierraMitica

Planting 100 White Flowers in a Natural Temple

Placing the Flowers

What could be better than planting flowers in a natural jungle temple for Love? After cleaning and taking care of the Eye, since it is a natural  temple to Mother Earth, the time came to start giving our homage and contribution to this amazingly beautiful location. We all had a great time climbing hill sides next to the joyful river to choose spots and dig holes/homes for the plants, and special Love was taken to place them all.

Plants on the Island in the River

There are over 10 varieties of white flowers, and 100 beautiful new residents for the Eye in all. We started early and finished just as the sun was setting. The Eye is a mystical place to restore your Soul and be reminded of our Oneness with All. It is so right that the walls of this Natural cathedral will be covered with white petaled jewels.

 

Plants in the Gorge

Yesterday (Friday the 6th) as the sun came flowing into the Eye, the butterflies began to visit us as we worked and ate together.

They love to appear when the sun is out, but as we have cleaned and Loved here, more are coming. The flowers will be out soon, and honestly, I am really looking forward to it.

Daniel