EL NAGUAL started on December 28, 1989, when Eraldo (German) and Mariana (Argentinian) arrived at a beautiful grassland near Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Sadly it had been terribly exploited, this territory had all its forests cut down for coal production for the trains the century before and for cows and meat production. Right after moving here they register it as a natural reserve, in this way the committed their lives to be the protectors of this land instead of just the owners to make sure this land will forever be protected for and never exploited as before.
Living in a tent with two dogs for the first three years, they started the life-long process of reforestation of EL NAGUAL, bringing it back to be the Atlantic Rain forest it was always meant to be. Guided by the dream to find a different way of living, and by a sense that something is deeply wrong with the current system, they decided that going Organic and Sustainable was the only way to live, Permaculture was the answer.
Ever since then much has changed, EL NAGUAL has grown and now counts with a Biodigestor, a hydraulic energy generator, a huge forest full of life and an entire eco-hostel with a natural pool, millions have come and left their mark in our long story, but there is still so much to do and share. We want EL NAGUAL to be a stable Eco-Village, where it’s members can live in a healthy sustainable way and make a living out of the many activities, volunteer programs and events we do here. The Eco-village is currently open for volunteers and tourists as for the people that come to participate in our Eco-Events and courses.
At EL NAGUAL we also focus on ART as a way of expressing ourselves and changing our perception of the world and the spaces we inhabit. Thanks to Mariana the whole project is full of mosaics!
We want to strive to become more and more self-sustainable, 80% of our food is produced here and part of our energy and gas, but we still want to keep making a bigger and bigger diference.
At EL NAGUAL we want to offer the opportunity for a limited number of people to join our community, live here for free and earn some money out of our many Events, courses, short Term Volunteer programs and Hostel services, but we understand that in order to become part of the community you first must show you have passion for Nature, that you got good work and community values and that you fit with the people living here already.
For these reasons, we encourage anyone looking to join us to first join the paid short-term volunteer program for 3 months as a test. After which the volunteers and the Eco-village will be able to decide if they want to become part of EL NAGUAL and live here.
The key and core to a stable and productive Eco-Village are the people living in it, plus we are offering the possibility of actually earning money while living here, since we believe in dividing the fruits of our work equally among all members.
For this reason and to keep the community stable we believe this trial period is ideal, we want to avoid the heavy rotation of members many Eco-villages suffer from, this opportunity is open for all those who are passionate and committed to a new way of living and to work towards a more sustainable future for all.
A residential project: people live here as their primary home.
An institution, business, network, or project that isn’t a residence (e.g. a learning center, farm, or network with no one living there full-time).
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