Colombian Andes and Pacific Coast. Tending for life: minglings of Buen Vivir and Vivir Sabroso

Courses & Events | 02/08/2023 – 15/08/2023 | Links: Apply to this course!

Introduction
Highlights
What is an un/learning journey?
Who is this for?
Itinerary
Ecopedagogy and travelling

Para información del viaje en español, da click aquí: https://medium.com/@enlivenedcooperative/colombia-andes-y-costa-pacífica-3910a749b4cf Pour information du voyage en français, cliquez ici: https://medium.com/@enlivenedcooperative/andes-colombiennes-et-côte-pacifique-efc7d2c92600

Introduction

The southwest of Colombia is a diverse region full of contrasts. Mountains, valleys and coasts are home to the Nasa and Misak nations, and to the Afro-descendant populations rooted in the Pacific coast.

In this region, Nasa and Misak nations plant the seed of desires and intentions in the Indigenous Guard -local authority named by the communities- to Take Care of Life collectively. The songs of the mayoras and mayores of the Black coast are sung to provide continuity to a life full of vitality and joy -vivir sabroso- in the territory. Centuries of resistance are a constant celebration of life.

Dancing as best as we can among the memories and survivals of the intense armed conflict of so many years in Colombia, today we are adjusting the rhythms to pacify the territory in a beloved melody full of flavor. And if Cali is known for its salsa party, it is also a metropolis-region that welcomes these diverse sounds that are dreamed of composing the song of total peace.

As a society we are unlearning in circles, in dialogue. In circles of dances and in circles of peace. In and between communities. listening to us.

Join us on this journey to explore this motley celebration, dance in salsotecas and walk the Andes alongside the Nasa indigenous Guard. Meet with local communities, talk in circles with fire as the main listener. Join us to unlearn violence while we learn to Care for Life.

Highlights

Meet with Indigenous and Black communities leading processes of peace and reconciliation in the region and creating conditions to care for life in their territories and bodies.
Participate in social technologies of conviviality and social change, guided by the contemporary insights of grassroots communities in the region.
Experience the everyday practices of movement, joy and celebration of dignity that constitute the core of the vivir sabroso.
Engage with the diversity of dances and songs that have made this region a world-renowned place of music, memory and collective wellbeing.

What is an un/learning journey?

The raw material of an un/learning journey is time. With care, we curate, knead, craft and, sometimes, even co-create it.

They are an interruption, a slowing down, many openings.

They are brave passages to possibilities, invitations to go out of the familiar zone and expand our sensibilities to let ourselves be undone so that we can suspend the noise of the routine and be attuned to dreams, stories and practices that instigate a process of becoming guided by the calm whisper and the joyous dance of the Earth.

Unlike tourism, this is not about consuming experiences, places, or people.

It is about engaging with the land and her guardians (human, non-human, more-than-human).

It is about activating the memory that walks to the encounter of what is different -tastes, landscapes, textures, languages, rhythms, ways of knowing, modes of being- with curiosity and respect.

The journey is simultaneously a retreat, a ceremony and a ritual that embraces the unknown as a fertile soil for radicalizing imagination and a pathway to deepen the relations to self, life, consciousness and the many worlds that constitute the pluriverse.

Who is this for?

The journeys are for those willing to participate in the co-creation of different stories, dreams and practices, for those searching to expand their horizons and attune their sensibilities and desires, for those daring to entertain an open mind and heart, holding contradictions with authenticity and making space for questions rather than answers.

They are for those willing to explore who they really are and how to become present for the Earth in a mutually enhancing way.

We strongly encourage to apply for the program to everyone who feels called to join, especially to people of all ages with a serious commitment to re-inventing their relationship to Earth and to self, activists, artists, scientists, students, unschoolers, therapists, educators, farmers, community organizers, magicians, dropouts, writers, workers, and everyone resonating with the invitation to be present with the other worlds that are possible a nd that are already here.

Itinerary

Dates: August 2nd-15th, 2023

Day 1. Wednesday, August 2. Arrivals

Arrivals to Cali. Transfer to our hotel. Meet your Learning Journey Team and fellow companions on the journey. Gather for a welcome talk, dinner and reception.

Day 2. Thursday, August 3. Eco-neighborhood El Aguacatal and Andean dances

We will get grounded as a group of fellow co-travelers, opening the heart space and getting to know each other in a deeper manner. We will open the space with a ceremony and do a life-mapping session to share our life journeys and the questions that animate us in this moment.

Then we will share the day with the community collective from the Ecobarrio (eco-neighborhood) El Aguacatal, an urban territory where the permaculture is learned between gardens and “juntanzas” (slang for gatherings).

Later we will assist to Loma de la Cruz square to a ceremonial dance with the entire city, an open Andean Dances circle that takes place every week in this urban spot near downtown and old Cali.

Day 3. Friday, August 4. Kwet Wala, Nasa communities at Pradera

We will drive to Kwet Wala´s community of La Fria, a Nasa community at the east side of the Cauca river valley at Pradera town, where we will meet with the sages of the “resguardo”, who will share about the work towards a peaceful relationship between humans and territory, politics and spiritual inquiries offering a ceremony of health and love. We will stay in the community overnight.

Day 4. Wednesday, Saturday, August 5. Botanic Garden at Silvia.

We will travel from Pradera to Silvia, driving up the cordilleras to this Andean town in the Cauca province´s North region, a primordial territory of the Misak-Guambiana culture amid-others (mostly Nasa), and a constant node of Colombia’s conflicts.

We will get to know about their cultural resistance through the people’s voices and the experience of a Botanic Garden project that regenerated the community in spite of colonization violences and modern warfare. The garden is a project of experienced unlearnings/learnings evolving in a system that is as ancestral-local as permacultural with alternative radical education proposals. Misak are “learners” since the beginning so their “curriculum” starts from pregnancy.

Day 5. Sunday, August 6. Living with the Misak

We will connect and spend the day with the Misak community invited to work and experience with them their daily activities, as a “minga”. For example, we will have the opportunity to milk, or a workshop on wool cutting and artisanal spinning process with Misak cosmovision design, vegetables gardening, local bioconstruction and from sunset to night a healing session with music, traditional beverages and dialogues around the fire.

Day 6. Monday, August 7. Universidad Misak and Misak Health House.

We will walk around the Resguardo (Misak communities in the same territory) to discover two community achievements. The morning we will meet for dialogue with the learning community at Misak´s University house. We will participate in their learning fire circle and will have the opportunity to exchange experiences. We are invited to be Misak students. In the afternoon we will have time to learn from the Misak Health House guides, a listening space of their wisdom about their plants and healing culture.

Day 7. Tuesday, August 8. Andean paths, Cauca’s province high mountains

We will have an optional walk to visit the sacred sites of the territory and there will be an offering ceremony with the accompaniment of the knowledgeable Misak himself. Sylvia’s farewell. We will move to the neighboring municipality of Cajibío where we will rest overnight at the Atlántida ecovillage.

Day 8. Wednesday, August 9. Atlántida ecovillage and Peace Dances

We will have a slow and resting journey with an afternoon meeting with the ecovillagers. The inhabitants of this intentional community have deepened their spirituality in a project that has evolved for decades in the midst of regional confrontations into a learning center of Colombian environmentalists and vanguard networks. The ecovillage has become lately a Peace Dance´s event center of international relevance.

Day 9. Thursday, August 10. Caloto and Nasa community

We will drive to the Northern limit of the province to Caloto municipality where we will meet with the Guardia Indígena (Indigenous Guard) at one Nasa´s learning centers, a community for children, youth, men, women and elders that represent the resistance and communitary force for autonomous governance and observation. We will stay in the community overnight.

Day 10. Friday, August 11. Nasa ceremony for the Indigenous Guard

We will share the day with the Guardia Indígena´s former guides, having an accompanied journey with children and youth of Caloto community that decided to join the force to defend their Nasa culture. At night we will join a ceremonial event to congrat achievements and discuss novelties. An opportunity to enjoy dances, food and cultural Nasa celebrations.

Day 11. Saturday, August 12. From high mountains to the ocean: Punta Soldado island.

Andean cordillera’s farewell. We will travel by land to Buenaventura, the most important port-city of the Pacific region. where we will take a fast boat to Punta Soldado, a neighboring Afro-Colombian community settled on a close island. We will be delighted as we take in the tropical abundance that Colombian geography can offer from its different altitudes. It will be just a few hours travel in a 2000 mt descent to sea level. We will stay on the island-community overnight.

Day 12. Sunday, August 13. Living with Punta Soldado’s people

In this Afro-Colombian settlement we will share with locals at their own rhythm, through dances that they learned before first steps and music that elder’s voices perform to guide a family-collective system. We will listen to their African knowledge embedded within the port culture that brings the nation and world together in this small fisherman’s community. With overwhelming ecological challenges and an example of peace achievements, Puerto Soldado is an authentic resistance locality in the middle of an abused and violated paradise.

Day 13. Monday, August 14. From Punta Soldado to Old Cali

We will take the fast boat back to land and drive to Cali, where we will spend the evening and night walking through the old city and some cultural venues of this capital of cultures, salsa and artistic traditions.

Day 14. Tuesday, August 15. Siloé neighborhood uprisings, memorials, museum and ceremonial closure dialogues. Salsa party and last unlearning journey dance

We will spend all day at the Popular Museum from Siloé and around the neighborhood, hosted by its founders. We will have a walk around the communitary space s born after the social uprising of 2021. These events have made this urban community a reference of Colombia’s present history and painful memories. This is an anti-museum where you can get involved with memory and touch. We will share lunch with the locals and we will close our 2-week journey in a circle ceremony until the sun sets. At night we will surely have enough energy to go and dance at the best Salsotecas of the world. A Cali must.

Day 15. Bye, bye. Petronio Álvarez Pacific Music Festival (August 16-21)

Farewell day, departures from Cali international airport or Cali Bus Terminal. Even though… … we HIGHLY RECOMMEND to stay and enjoy the biggest Colombian festival, the best dance-journey! FESTIVAL DE MÚSICA DEL PACÍFICO PETRONIO ÁLVAREZ We advise to book your flights after you spend at least a couple of nights at this music festival. We can help you find very nice lodging.

Ecopedagogy and travelling

Before, during and after the journey we exercise a cosmopolitical pedagogy of emergence (COPE). We understand cosmopolitics as an exercise of ‘slowing down reasoning’ (Stengers) that creates an opening for possible articulations between worlds. In this sense, it is a pedagogy of encounter, of sourcing inner wisdom, of dialogue between cultures and world-making practices, one that involves movement, story, dreams, inquiries, solidarities, boundaries and practices that allow for the uniqueness of the process of coming into being, of a becoming that invites a new relationship of the human within an entangled, endangered yet potent web of life.

Before the journey, registered participants will get access to a platform with resources on different topics of the journey, such as: Colombian history, Nasa’s politics of Liberation of Mother Earth, Misak cosmovision, designs for autonomy in the region, and alternatives to development. These are materials and resources that learners can engage freely, at their own rhythm and with no expected outcome. Participants are invited to choose one topic of inquiry during their journey that is relevant and alive for them.

During the journey, we will have a combination of visits, group process sessions, lectures, practices and free time. Participants are invited to document their journey in the way that suits them better for their learning process.

Cost

As a cooperative, we are trying new approaches to make the journeys affordable for as many people as possible while covering the costs and paying our faculty and hosts. We are experimenting with a sliding scale in which you can choose the fee according to your life situation.

Consider contributing MORE on the scale if you:

have the ability to comfortably meet all of your basic needs
belong to a sponsoring organization or are employed full-time
have investments, retirement accounts, or inherited money
travel recreationally
have access to family money and resources in times of need
work part-time by choice
own the home you live in
have a relatively high degree of earning power due to level of education (or gender and racial privilege, class background, etc.)

Consider contributing LESS on the scale if you.

have difficulty covering basic expenses
are supporting children or have other dependents
have significant debt
have medical expenses not covered by insurance
are an elder with limited financial support
are an unpaid community organizer
have unstable housing and/or limited access to reliable transportation
have not taken a vacation or time off due to the financial burden

(This is based on the ‘Green Bottle’ sliding scale model by Alexis J. Cunningfolk

www.wortsandcunning.com)

If you select an amount at the higher end of the scale, you will make possible future offerings and support the good work of the speakers, facilitators, and organizers who are generously contributing their gifts to this event.

Partial grant fee: $ 1,100 USD in shared accommodation.
Regular fee: $1,500 USD in shared accomodation.
Plus fee: $2,000 USD.

We require a non-refundable deposit of $500 USD to book your spot.

What is included

Your journey includes:

A team of experts, professional tour leaders and educators and local community organizers.
All food (except snacks) and beverages (except alcohol).
Accommodations in shared or private room with all amenities
Boats and ferry, as outlined in the itinerary.
All logistics for tours and transportation as outlined in the itinerary.
All entrance fees for nature preserves and other attractions except optional activities.
Complimentary WiFi access where available.

Your journey does not include:

flights to Cali International Airport
snacks
optional activities and local tours in free time
health and travel insurance

Testimonials of past participants

“Our journey together was the most inspiring, fulfilling, satisfying, and enlivening trip I’ve ever taken… well, with the exception of being alive and somewhat conscious at this particular time in the Universe. Thank you for this extraordinary co-creation of Imagination, Possibility and Beyond” Marianne

“Each person we met, each environment we engaged, was more astonishing than the last, making deep impressions on my consciousness about other ways of being. I carry these precious astonishments with me as I go”. Terri

Reasons to participate

You have an interest in:

Becoming present for the Earth in a mutually beneficial way.

Delving into localized wisdom and scientific breakthroughs, exercising presence and exploring old new ways of relating to the web of life, including but not limited to our selves.

Participating in, place-based, embodied, experiential learning that expands sensibilities and imagination.

Cultivating spaces for other ways of knowing and being -aside from mainstream, disembodied, fragmented knowledge- which are highly relevant for the current challenges of our time.

Unfolding a self and collective inquiry leading to the birth of new practices and stories.

Co-creating a space for deepening artistic explorations.

Meeting fellow travelers with similar interests and mutual inspiration .

Ethics and economy

As a cooperative, we believe in offering programs that help you, your community and the world be enlivened again. We strive to co-create regenerative livelihoods for our families and for the planet. We refuse to engage in deadlihoods and we engage in initiatives that support alivelihoods, regenerating ourselves, the earth’s natural systems and local healthy families and communities.

By participating in this journey, you support an effort to engage with equity and social and environmental justice, supporting localized circular economies, exploring more regenerative economic practices, helping a democratically run cooperative, and enhancing the practice of being a grateful guest of Earth.

Faculty and team:

Camilo Bossio,

Gerardo López-Amaro, co-founder of the Enlivened Cooperative, is currently walking the path of autonomous education with the task of imagining spaces of encounter for thinking-feeling together about ways to strengthen the defense of life, memory and territory. He sees this as part of a planetary struggle for cognitive, relational and ontological justice. He is purposefully becoming entangled in a great “we” of people enacting the pluriverse, that “world where many worlds fit.” Born and raised in San Luis Potosi, Mexico, he’s a pilgrim of viable spaces informed by politics of love and consciousness regarding the healing of land and territory, love and intimacy, and labor and livelihood.

More TBA

Learning Journey summary

We require a minimum of 10 people and will take a maximum of 15 people
Registration start date - April 5, 2023
Registration last date - July 7, 2023
Dates of the learning journey - 2 - 15 August, 2023
No of days - 15 days
How will we be traveling - We will have pre-booked cars for the travel. Boats will also be used for some sections of the travel.
Total Kms - We will be traveling roughly 700 kms