So now the three of us, Vajradevi, Bianca and I are living here in Mas de Lluc, the community house. We arrived here the on same day and were plunged straight into the usual catalogue of complications. El Gordo, our second 4×4 chose that time to have an intermittent electrical fault and completely died on us two days running when we were just about to set off up the long rough track to the house. Two days running we had to unload all our luggage and a vast amount of food shopping into Dapple (our little white van)and phone the Grua (breakdown lorry). We’re making friends with the man who drives it, he thinks it’s very diverting and always chivalrously offers me his shoulder to lean on when I climb up onto the side of the lorry to drive the car off. ‘Guapas y fuertes’ he described us - ‘beautiful and strong’. Quite.

The first breakdown we stayed the night in a Hostal in Valderrobres, but the second time I decided to walk the 7km up to the house to pick up our other 4×4, Rozinante. I was keen to see if any mishaps had happened in my absence, since the house had been standing empty for a month. As I walked up the stony track I counted all the things that could have gone wrong. Firstly would the river on the way be too deep to cross? (it had been raining heavily) Would the big bank of solar panels be a) stolen b) damaged by a hailstorm c) blown away? Had the house been broken into? Would Rozinante start? Would the well be flooded? I was less worried about things being robbed, as I have a lot of trust in people in the nearby village. The same cannot be said about the weather!

The river was OK, I could wade across. And when I turned the corner near the house the first thing I saw was our solar panels undamaged. The house was fine - no break in. I got into Rozinante and she started first time. It was all going to be alright… Then I walked down to the well, newly excavated just before I left the previous month. I lifted the heavy manhole cover - and gasped. There was certainly plenty of water - the level was way up above the electric pump. Ah well, 6 out of 7 mishaps avoided not bad.

I phoned Gerardo, our plumber/electrician. ‘The water in the well’s very high’ I said. ‘That’s not bad’ he said. ‘But it’s flooded the pump’ I said. ‘That is bad’ he said. ‘I’ll come on Saturday. Don’t switch it on.’

Finally El Gordo was fixed and we all arrived in the house. There was much to learn. Our solar energy system, for a start. What did the mystifying array of lights, warnings and figures on the control panel mean? And when it went ‘peep peep’ with the red light flashing how worried should we be? When Gerardo arrived on Saturday to fix the pump we had a long list of questions. His explanations were mostly even more mystifying to the linguistically and technically challenged. However we’re gradually making sense of it, having come to realise the basic fact that in midwinter there isn’t enough sunlight and we do need to use the generator regularly to keep our batteries happy.

That was one saga, there are plenty others, every little thing takes time, effort and knowledge. I find it interesting that it is the more technical, modern, convenient side of things that I find more troublesome. Woodstoves and candles are so simple (we haven’t actually been reduced to candles very often, but I prefer them in my room) We’re about to get a washing machine, which we’ll be able to run while the sun is shining. But I feel a sort of regret, yes it’ll be easier, but it’s another thing to break down - and do washing machine repair men come out this far? In helicoptors?

And then there’s the cold, so far down to minus 5 some mornings. We have a good wood burning stove, and central heating as a back up, run from gas bottles. The house holds the warmth, unheated it stays around 12 degrees inside. I am acclimatizing to a cooler way of life, although I don’t wash as often.

There are two sides to the work now, the legal/planning side for the retreat centre and the building/ maintenance side on the community house, . We are well into both - plans have been presented to the ayuntamiento (local council) and this week we meet with Luis, our architect, and Jose and Manolo, our builders, to try to firm up the details for a contract, with a view to the work on the retreat centre beginning in Spring. Vajradevi and I are involved in these discussions, and Bianca mostly stays working in the house. Whenever we can all three work together on the building.

So for me there are two main types of working day. There is the type when we drive into Alcañiz for shopping, going to offices, logging on in the internet cafe, picking up fuel for the generator, propane bottles for the heating and recently taking vehicles for their MOT’s, and follow ups etc etc. I find that kind of day needs a lot of concentration. But is satisfying to learn more and find our way around how things work out here.

Then there is the type of day when we work together on the house - mixing mortar, building up stonework, sawing wood, chopping kindling. For me time expands on those days, the quietness of the hills sinks into me. It’s hard work but I feel happy.

The evenings are long at this time of year. After supper we sit around the estufa (stove) reading, writing. Some nights we watch a DVD of The West Wing on my computer. Bianca often meditates. We go to bed early - it’s very dark and very quiet and I usually sleep well. In the morning Vajradevi and I have begun to meditate together in a room we’ve set up with another estufa for warmth.

The sun rises late here, it’ s not usually getting light till past 8am, and the sunlight doesn’t hit the solar panels till nearly 10am. If the sun shines, we can turn the fridge on, and run the pump from the well, filling our water tank. If the sun doesn’t shine, we run the generator to keep our batteries happy and well. And another day begins, fire burning pinewood in the estufa, water from the ground, rocks to build the walls, clothes drying in the wind, and often the blue blue sky above.

During these last few months much has happened with Aranya.

In May Vajrananda, our Sangha builder, finished working on the support community house and returned to England. His last couple of weeks involved a completely new project as well as giving voluminous instructions to Vijayasri and myself as to how to finish off various bits and pieces such as running drain-pipes from the roof for rain water collection. The new project was building a ‘casita’ or outhouse adjoining the side of the house. This was vital as we couldn’t set up our solar power system until we had somewhere secure outside of the main house for the batteries. So cement was made for the base, many concrete blocks were shifted for the walls and wooden beams and planks went on the roof. I had great fun learning to use a blowtorch to melt asphaltico (tar lined aluminium waterproof sheeting) to the roof.

In July we were visited by the ‘Bobs’; all 5 Bob the Builders who drove down from North London in their eco diesel van which runs on old chip fat. The weather was extremely hot so with occasional dips in the water tank up at the retreat centre they also tiled the bathroom and worked on building up the stone walls which were to flank the concrete blocks of the casita.

August brought changes with Sagarasri leaving Aranya and me moving to Spain following 5 and and half years of Sagarasri and I working together on Aranya. In Spain the weather was surprisingly cool and unsettled. A week after our arrival Vijayasri and myself moved from the flat in Penarroya up to the community house in the mountains. This was really the start of a new way of life for both of us to live so remote from a village or even neighbours. We began by kitting out the house to make it a home. We bought mattresses to rest on pallets left by builders merchants and carried old wooden chests down from the retreat centre. It was an exciting day when we purchased the fridge and drove it (extremely slowly) up the rough track from the village. We started to explore the mountains around us through walks and drives. I find it fascinating to start to work out from different positions how the ridges and valleys and strange rock formations all link up.

September was a month when the sun returned and we had lovely warm days into the long evenings. We set up washing facilities outside for showers and clothes washing and got into discussion with builders about where they would build us a well. We settled on a spot about 150 metres from the house and they got to work. It was quite a busy time. At one point we had Santiago plumbing the bathroom, Pablo with his excavator digging a massive hole for a water tank and Gerardo and Arturo overseeing the well construction and working out kinks in the lighting and heating systems. We were also visited by several friends with longstanding connections to Aranya.

In November we returned from breaks and retreats with Bianca, the third member of our team, to the beginning of winter in the mountains. So far we’ve had very little rain but quite a lot of cloud and low temperatures. This is not usual our local friends tell us. Bianca has come to help with the remaining building work on the community house and help construct our solitary facilities. Vijayasri and I spent many days visiting Alcaniz, our nearest large town, an hour and a quarter away, on various administrative and legal tasks. By the end of the month we had received the plans for the retreat centre from the College of Architects and were able to submit them to our local council. Now we have 3 months to wait while they process our application for planning permission.

We hope in December to sign a contract that will secure the services of a local building firm to start work on the retreat centre in spring. We also have several jobs on the community house that need doing before winter really takes hold. The biggest is completing the roof on the casita. The local way is to spread a layer of cement topped by local tiles held in place with mortar. It’s secure but it’s heavy work! Earlier in December Vijayasri and I hired a van and visited Valencia to bring back some furniture the Sangha had collected for us. This included 2 sofas that now replace the previous one which had been constructed from concrete blocks. While there we were pleased to be able to attend a local order weekend at ‘La Casa del Mar’ and I was delighted to have my last swim of the year in the Med.

Vajradevi, December 2005