Notre monnaie écologique

PachaCoin : Où votre investissement fleurit en futurs verts

PachaCoin - Notre Monnaie Écologique

Nous sommes une association.
Nous créons des réserves naturelles,
promouvons l'agriculture
et un mode de vie éco-responsable.

Comment participer

Mots de bénévoles

Wow, Wow, Wow! I had the pleasure to stay at this place for just over 3 weeks (initially only planed to stay for 2 weeks) during the Christmas and new year period. I have never felt more welcomed in a place whilst travelling - not just by the lovely family taking care of the farm whilst Benito was away - but also from all the locals in the little village with whom I made good friends. My Spanish improved significantly due to a full spanish immersion and I enjoyed teaching some English to Feli and Yula, as well as some English numbers to the local kids in a competitive game of bingo! Some advice for future workawayers: take lots of food - there is a little village shop 40min walk away selling beers and dried foods but best to bring most food with you. Enjoy sharing and cooking meals for each other - I learnt a lot in the kitchen from Yula and they also really appreciated when I cooked something for them. If you want to have internet, either buy a claro SIM in San Carlos - there is decent signal in the finca. Or in the small village shop you can purchase a days WiFi for 2,000COP. the work is super varied and not one day the same. I planted trees, built a micro tunnel, sorted coffee beans, watered and deweeded the micro tunnels, picking the veg when it was ready to take to market, I learned how to fish (and prepare a fish to eat), I moved stones about to do some landscaping. they are also very receptive to new ideas so if you have an idea you can contribute to improve the finca don't be afraid to suggest it! some idease myself and the other volunteers I stayed with included: building a pizza oven, building a cable car transit system to transport goods from the main road down to the farm (it would save a lot of horse trips!), building a hammock "chill out" area perhaps down by the river a little away from the house. thank you so much for the best workaway experience I've had Benito, Yula, Feli and Victor. I hope we will reunite in the future!

Left by Workawayer Eleanor Jakarta

I 've been working in the farm for only one week, too short ! I really would like to come back as soon as possible. To enjoy this place, i advice you to stay at minimum one month. There is a lot of work . thanks a lot for your welcoming benito ! It was a really good experience for me and my 9 years old daughter (she loved taking care of the animals : chicks, dog, cats ans rabbits). I worked in the forest with local people,i took care cocoa tree, I worked on the coffee : I selected the good and bad coffee beans. I felt free to chose the work witch was the best for me. The exchanges was really interesting. We talk about the colombian culture and others very enriching theme . And the place is nice, peacefull, zen ... the cascades are so nice ... It's definitely a place to visit.

Left by Workawayer FABIENNE :

Where to start?! We spent the most amazing week with Gula and Benoit (and his brother Ben visiting from France). We instantly felt at home on the farm, and loved chatting, playing card games and having communal meals together. The food was so delicious and cooked with a lot of love (and yuca!). Daily work activities ranged from sorting coffee beans when it was raining, weeding and mulching vegetable beds with grass, painting furniture, and moving things around the property such as rocks for landscaping. In the afternoons we went for swims at the waterfall or up the river and relaxed in the hammock snuggled up with one of the cats. Benoit's energy is infectious and he always has a wide range of things that need help with on the farm. He gave a great insight into how the farm operates, including permaculture principles and how things are done in Colombia. Would highly recommend visiting these guys to get a first hand experience of coffee and cacao farming in a beautiful area of Colombia. We miss this place every day!

Left by Workawayer Claire & Orlando:

I have stayed for a week at Benoit and Gula finca. Was a great experience and I totally recommend. My purposes for this week were to learn about columbian flora(especially fruits that grow at the farm and are a lot) and fauna, practice my Spanish and be part of a project with a vision. And not to forget to eat like a local. I will explain what I have done. Almost all the days were different so you will not get bored. My tasks were to take care of the animals in the morning & evening, to help around the house until the lunch (cleaning, do the dishes), I helped at drying the coffee, make the foundation for micro tunnels (aka green house), do ditches to evacuate the water, help at the coffee washing, cut with a mashete the grass around the trees. Quite diverse. The program is flexible, but I preferred to work in the morning because was more cold. In general we start at 6.30-7 work until 9 when we had a break, work until 2 pm, lunch, take care of the animals in the evening and have dinner around 7 pm. In the evening or in the morning we discuss what is to be done next and you pick some task and mix them as you want. The work can be demanding, but you can take as many breaks as you want and split the task on more days. In the last few days because Benoit and Gula were away I worked mainly with Feliz and Mayo. Was a great chance to practice my Spanish and taste columbian and venezuelan cuisine. In my free time I went to San Carlos. What seem to be a problem, the lack of bus, is overpass by the kindness of the locals that will pick you up on their cars or motos. And when I was there was no Internet or cell coverage, but I had enough books to read and nice discussion with Benoit, Gula, Mayo or Feliz and his family. And bonus, the vision regarding the project is quite nice, it is also about educate the locals and to be more sustenable.

Left by Workawayer Lucian:

Pasé una semana en esta granja, ¿qué puedo decir? Una experiencia fantástica, Benito y Gula me han hecho sentir como en casa desde el primer momento, hay muchos animales para todos los gustos, conejos, perros, gatos, gallinas y caballos y algunas vacas salvajes 😆 la finca es muy bonita y el trabajo es muy variado, sin duda no hay tiempo para aburrirse 😁, Gula nos preparaba cada día unas comidas vegetarianas súper ricas y abundantes... He aprendido muchas cosas de la vida en la granja y he disfrutado de la tranquilidad de vivir en la naturaleza. ..totalmente recomendable 😊

Left by Workawayer Manuel