Secret Garden, Mompiche

Location: Mompiche, Ecuador

UPDATED: 8 December 2014

Hi, it's so great to see you here on our Volunteers Base profile page! Please read all of the following information carefully before you send an inquiry. Thanks!

Secret Garden is a wonderful eco-house (not a hostel or a farm) which has been described as "a combination between a treehouse and a boat deck" and has been constructed from sustainable materials. The house is located within the village of Mompiche, and is surrounded by a beautiful organic tropical garden.

At Secret Garden, we are all about sustainable living and creating a negative carbon footprint. We reuse, recycle and upcycle as much as possible. We harvest and even recycle our precious rainwater and we avoid the use of plastics (bags, bottles, packets, etc). We also produce our own wonderfully rich soil from kitchen and toilet waste.

The hardwood and bamboo house is an ongoing project. While we have achieved quite a lot in 2014 and we're thrilled with the results so far, in 2015 we would like to focus on a number of larger building projects which require specific skills:
- Installation of pipes, tubes, taps and tanks for the plumbing and water systems.
- Electrical wiring for all three floors including fuses, light fittings, switches and electrical outlets in all rooms.
- Furniture constructed from driftwood, bamboo and recycled wood scraps.
- Roof cleaning and repairs and the installation of a system of tubes to generate solar hot water on the roof. (We need some brave souls with absolutely no fear of heights!)
- Cleaning and painting split bamboo outer walls with heights of up to 8m (26ft), as well as a couple of repair jobs on the walls.
- Cement rendering on the inside of bamboo walls (with a nice smooth finish that can be painted when it's dry) and also some cement rendering of brickwork.
- Fence building - a combination of cement wall, with bamboo panels and gates. We'd like to use broken glass instead of gravel and recycled tires instead of rebar. (Anyone with Earth-ship building experience is welcome!)
- We need a few talented artists to help with signs, murals, creative mosaic tiling, and smaller crafts such as bamboo lampshades, plant holders, etc.
- Experienced permaculture gardeners who know how to grow vegetables and have a good knowledge of soils, organic fertilizers, pesticides and fungicides. (We make a lot of our own products here with plants and herbs from the garden.)

If you are qualified to do any of the jobs on the above list, and have plenty of time to stick around for a while, please get in touch. We'd love to host you. A good work ethic and willingness to do manual labor are essentials to bring with you to Secret Garden. Our motto is: Work a little, play a lot...

Volunteers can also enjoy the gorgeous sandy beach and explore the surrounding rivers and mountains. Mompiche is most famous for surfing, but there is also horse riding, fishing, body-boarding, hiking, sunbathing and hammock-surfing. Some must-dos include visiting Black Beach, the colony of Blue Footed Boobies on The Point, the cemetery with its spectacular views, and hiking up the beautiful river.

At Secret Garden we encourage hammock surfing and daily siestas, fresh healthy foods and beautiful smiley faces.

Some important things to note:
1. Mompiche has mosquitoes. It is important to bring a good repellent with you.
2. We choose to live in a cigarette-free environment.
3. There are cats on the premises. If you are allergic, this may not be suitable for you.
4. Even though we have beds, bringing your own tent, sleeping bag, and sleeping mat ENSURES that you have a place to sleep in case the house is full. (Yes, this happens a lot!)

SPACES AVAILABLE FOR 2015:
Secret Garden is fully booked until 30 January 2015. However, we are able to accept inquiries from people traveling next year. Please include your name in the subject line of your inquiry for 2015. Thanks. (This helps us keep track!)

ONE (small) REQUEST:

If there are any volunteers arriving directly from the USA, we would LOVE it if you could bring any of these items which are unavailable to us here: diatomaceous earth (food grade), apple cider vinegar, bicarbonate of soda (baking soda for cleaning), boric acid (borax, etc.), organic strawberry seeds (or any organic/heirloom seeds!). We'd appreciate it a great deal if anyone could bring us any of those things. Thanks!

We hope to see you soon in Mompiche.