Mama Lulu
One of the most amazing places I have visited. Starting with hardy any money or posessions other than a tiny piece of land, for 30 years Mama Lulu and 3 generations of the Hincampie family have become masters at Guadua construction creating an artistic, sustainable and highly inventive finca.Their granja embodies what I strive for and what this whole blog and journey is about. Not only is their home and finca in sync with nature using local materials, harvesting rainwater, implementing permaculture landscaping, farming animals, and composting but all is infused with the highest quality design, art, craftsmanship and creativity I have seen yet.
BEAUTY
Every inch of their house is art, every piece of dirt has beautiful vegetation, even the water system Hernando Hincampie designed has steps so the water drops making music to go along with the hum of the crickets, the songs of birds, the whistle of the wind and croaking of frogs.
Hernado says that nature is his blackboard.
INGENUITY
As for inginuity they have that too. Ever heard of a bike that pumps water for a shower? Well they have it. Exercise and get clean at the same time. It also can pump it to the reserve at a rate of 20 liters per minute. They have technologies such as a solar oven cooker, biodigester for biogas, drytoilets, rain water catchment, water pumps that us the flow of water itself for energy.
Not to mention the highest quality Guadua construction and design, they even design their own furniture.SUSTAINABLILTY
All of this art and design is all linked under one goal to perserve and protect the land and health of the animals and people here. They have reforested their backyard and take care of goats, cows and pigs.
Architecture
Their House
they built it themselves, by hand in four years for
30,000,000 pesos which is 15,000 dollars!
above is also the bicidouche, that showers you as you exercise!
The hotel
notice the parrot plant holder made out of old tires...ingenious
inside their house
the bathroom
Struggling to cut Guadua.
They only use hand tools to build all of this, except for a drill and a sander!
Jorge who has been cutting Guadua since he was 11 slices through it like butter.
I never thought watching wood being cut would be fun but he chips it so fast with the precision of a master sculptor.
Some of the many funiture designs they made. 
Agriculutre
One of the most amazing things they have accomplished is the restoration of the vegetation on their property.They have literally created a forest/botanical garden where there used to be a monoculture of coffee plants that ruined the soil. It´s hard to see through the thick vegetation but where thr property ends and the neighbors begins there is only short grass.
Here almost every plant has a use. Below is the Cocoa plant for chocolate. They have hundereds of other vegetables, fruits, and herbs like papyrus, Mango, Papaya, banana, plantain, oregano, lemongrass and of course Guadua. They even have a plant you can smush in your hand and use as soap in a bath, plants for curing rashes, tummy aches, endangered woods way to much to list.
Their House
they built it themselves, by hand in four years for
30,000,000 pesos which is 15,000 dollars!
above is also the bicidouche, that showers you as you exercise!
The hotel
notice the parrot plant holder made out of old tires...ingenious
inside their house
the bathroom
Struggling to cut Guadua.They only use hand tools to build all of this, except for a drill and a sander!
Jorge who has been cutting Guadua since he was 11 slices through it like butter.I never thought watching wood being cut would be fun but he chips it so fast with the precision of a master sculptor.
Some of the many funiture designs they made. 
Agriculutre
One of the most amazing things they have accomplished is the restoration of the vegetation on their property.They have literally created a forest/botanical garden where there used to be a monoculture of coffee plants that ruined the soil. It´s hard to see through the thick vegetation but where thr property ends and the neighbors begins there is only short grass.
Here almost every plant has a use. Below is the Cocoa plant for chocolate. They have hundereds of other vegetables, fruits, and herbs like papyrus, Mango, Papaya, banana, plantain, oregano, lemongrass and of course Guadua. They even have a plant you can smush in your hand and use as soap in a bath, plants for curing rashes, tummy aches, endangered woods way to much to list.
piggy´s, with a heater powered by biogas from their own poopies
Technologies
These are some of the sustainable technologies they had.
Below is a biodigester that the cow, goat and pig poo is washed directly to. As the manure ferments it creates gas that fills up the plastic tube and then siphened to a stove for use.
Here is a stove powered by biogas
These are some of the sustainable technologies they had.
Below is a biodigester that the cow, goat and pig poo is washed directly to. As the manure ferments it creates gas that fills up the plastic tube and then siphened to a stove for use.
Here is a stove powered by biogas
Below is an Ariete. It uses the flow of the water from two pool above it wher ethe water bubbels up from the earth to power a pump that sends this water all the way up the hill.
Here is where the water from the Ariete comes to.A pool that also houses fishies they grow to eat.
Behind the pool you can see a solar oven cooker!
The used shower and toilet water comes here to be cleaned.
After the septic it goes through a plant bank. This system gets rid of 95.9% of the soild waste.
Here Hernando wants to make 4 dry toilets.
Some extras
Jorge is here with his invention, a guitar made out of Guadua.
He let me name it a guaduatarra.
He has won 30 awards for his singing and songwritingMy favorite song was
Tengo la guadua torcida ..
Even their cat is pretty creative and resourceful, he has been milking this dog for 4 years!
that is....amazing.
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