La Molina Spring Quarter has come; and I’ve made it to the first of three places I’ve been communicating with. (Though the other two may not be getting to their building projects before June – the end of this quarter.) It’s about a half-hour, slow-walk along a country-road from Setenil de las Bodegas (the closest internet and food shops). Painted white, as its other Andalucian-region counterparts, the town’s layout comes from its mid-evil-born era. A German couple moved here two years ago from Ireland. They built their straw-bale home last year, allowed a permit only to build on the foundation extending from the ruin of the 100 year old mill.  The straw-bale bathroom may not fall within range of these conventionally short-sighted building codes. The outdoor shower, and only source of hot water, is built from the wealth of stone that makes this resource the traditionally used building material in this region. The land follows the creek at the bottom of a very narrow, crescent-moon-shaped valley of towering cliffs – home to Falcons, among the abundance of singing, feathered friends; olive an fig trees; and medicinal plants. I’ve nested into my own outdoor living space – for which I harvested a cane-harvested privacy screen from the road above. We share a temporary outdoor kitchen while building the communal kitchen/space, the warmth of a hearth around which future guests will be able to center. Meanwhile, there are no other structures. Though there is a salty well with a pump on site, they have to go to a well on the other side of town to fill up their drinking-water bottles. The aquaduct and water-falls/wells  of el molino are still intact, which would provide an excellent infrastructure for hydro-electric power, but there’s not enough water flow in the creek. The narrow cliffs limit the hours of full sun, but solar power may still be best to meet this need. For now, electricity comes from a generator and is generally only on in the evenings. When I landed, I felt a sense of wholeness; that it was a special, amazing space, with beautiful, kind women. I was inspired by this land, their welcome, and their vision, and satisfied with what I had to offer (in return for the building experience I would gain): building labor and help with permaculture, sustainable design, spanish, art, plant medicine... I thought it might be serendipitous that being here for my last quarter allowed me a project in which to unify my studies in physical reality. This, however, was not to be. Natural Building: Abroad Friday, April 4, 2008 La Molina Goddess and “Pollen,” by Mirah