About
New Adventures, New Beginnings, New Ruins
OAX.MX
Founded 2012
4 Friends
Same Dream
Legend has it
El Venado, OAX, MX
2012
An idea can be a spark. But a goal without a plan is just a dream. Needless to say, Nico had no plan, when he was trapped on island in Thailand during huge multi-day storm, but he did have an idea. An small idea, with lofty goals, shared with like minded friends, and that spark started a fire. We barely understood what we *thought* we were trying to build. But the premise was simple: Build something incredible somewhere beautiful. Our orignal plan had overtones of a Hippie Commune, but we actively wanted to be something different. We naively threw around terms like “Sustainable EcoVillage”, which is honorable but equally unrealistic and cliche. As a group, our tenents were: Participate, Learn, Teach, Architext and Sustainablity. Some would work on the internet to fund the project and others would garden and build. It was the early 2010’s so of course we talked about running our economy with bitcoin. The original team was 2 programmers, a builder and fruit tree specialist, a permaculturist and arborist, and mother/vegetarian chef. In a Vanagon and a motorcycle, we moved to the Oaxacan coast and started an exhaustive search for the perfect piece of land. Of course the dream changed as we tried to define it. The plan morphed as certain realities set in, people stepped up as others stepped away. Essentially a spark started a fire burning inside us, that motivates us, its still burning today. Hopefully you’ll come warm up your soul around our fire at New Ruins.
We found little place in the middle of nowhere. Didn’t look like much, but it checked boxes
Hidden behind the tree line was a wonderous paradise of trees, rocks and cactus.
First step was to build a well. Water table was close and fresh, thanks to a lagoon on the other side of the hills.
We were camping and starting from zero. So the next step was a dry composting toilet.
Four Turned to Many
Reinforcements Arrive
As we started to break ground, I’m not goning to lie, we only had a slight clue what we were doing. We needed a foot hold on the property so built a well, a dry toilet and a lockable tool shed. Then we put out the call for help on the internet and people from all over the world who happened to be traveling thru mexico lent a hand. Don’t be confused by the luxury we have now, that first year was brutal. We lived in tents for 6 months, outdoor camping kitchen, not enough solar to run a fridge all night. A shower, when we got it, was a luxury. These volunteers are the unsung heros that got us thru that first year.
With no experience, we ordered used food sacks from MercadoLibre, had few truck loads of earth and clay delivered, and got to work. Used only a pdf of a book we downloaded from the internet, and moved a mountain.
In our down time we build Beach Base 1. Thinking there would be others. Turns out we just named them other things. Hard days of work always turned to late afternoons playing in the waves.
Sometimes we carried on into the night. We were in the middle of nowhere with no internet or celluar, what else were we to do?
In the modern era, internet is as essential as water. So we built two telcom towers and made a 45KM interlinked connection to Puerto Escondido. Once again we didnt know how to make a long range wifi installation. But with the help of the internet and some local professionals, the Ruins got connected.
Fast forward a bit, skipping all the sweat, blood and tears (literally) and behold a home. SuperAdobe a low cost building technique that produces a strong structure, with good thermic properties, using mostly rammed earth.
Be Agile And Adapt To Change.
People change, ideas change, places change. Its a given. Over the years. New Ruins is about embracing change and decay. Building the ruins of the future won’t be accomplished in a few years
If You Build It, They Will Come….
We had always set out to build a beautiful home in a wonderous location surrounded by the best people. Friends and volunteers would come. We rented on airbnb. You never know how many friends you have until you have a beach house. But somewhere along the way it didn’t feel like it was enough. During the Covid pandemic some of us lost our jobs and we had nobody to rent to. We decided to take the last of our money and built our Yoga Shala. Knowing deep inside that what the world needed after this pandemic was a deep reconnection with themselves and nature. And that we needed to be brave with the last of our resources in order to build it.
