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

Vijayasri and Vajrananda (our builder) have spent the winter months in a chilly flat in Penarroya, the nearest village to our property. They have been visited with up to 3 or 4 volunteers at a time who have been helping out rebuilding the house that will become the support community.

The winter has been unusually severe in the region with the locals exclaiming over the low mists and daily rain followed by extreme cold that froze all the water on site and then inches of snow that turned the mountains into a magical looking fairyland. Even though working conditions have at times been a bit cold and grim volunteers have come back enthusing about the beauty and special feeling of the land that will become our retreat centre for long ordination retreats.

The house has got to the stage now where it has a newly insulated roof and newly created windows and internal wall frames. Most floors are concreted and tiled and the next step is to install the ‘electrics’ which will provide us with solar power for lighting and running appliances. In May or June we hope the major work will be finished and Vijayasri will move from the flat to the house, followed in July by Vajradevi who will relocate from the UK.

Many thanks to all those who have offered their labour to Aranya, and particular thanks to Vajrananda for his sterling work!