Camazotz Collective Update Nov 22

Published in

Camazotz Cohaven

4 min readNov 25, 2022

With 9 weeks on site at Camazotz HQ in the Yucatan jungle…. all things considered… we’re not off to a bad start.

Car accidents… shower unit failures… gas generator problems… volunteer program mayhem… and budget constraints aside… optimism for the future grows with each weeks progress. Camazotz is ‘almost livable’ already.

Targets

We are focused around 2 broad targets:

Begin our on-site co-living community throughout 2023.
Enable an on-site cooperative of micro business opportunities for those who want to monetize their life at Camazotz HQ, or through the Camazotz Collective brand.

If you haven’t seen them already, our YouTube videos suggest our current status on site.

What’s New?

Our first kitchen (very outdoorsy now has a tarp roof to redirect rain away from surfaces).
Emma joins us as a new volunteer (thus currently 3 in total). She has experience of both permaculture and bio-construction and is traveling with a pet cat and dog so we have our first domestic animal guests.
3 salad garden areas marked out with rocks and various salads planted. Looking forward to sharing the abundance that begins to grow through trial and error of what works in this climate.

New salad garden area. This is besides 3 large garden areas around the property now in full swing with various items planted and germinating.
Social media with a few youtube videos and my first ever Instagram reels. These are projects that will become core to Camazotz Collective as we refine the brand message, style, cadence of content creation, etc.
We announced a 5-day retreat as an exercise to plan and prepare for an expanded program in 2023. It’s only 3 weeks away until the retreat so perhaps not enough time to attract attendees but making an organized effort helps us focus on what to work on for future value.

Current Challenges

Getting quotes for 400w panels from local suppliers has been super slow.
Receiving the 6M glamping tent and chain saw delivery has been super slow.
Receiving head lamps from Amazon has been super slow.
Content production schedule, on-brand for the current status of the project.

Personal Reflections

Camazotz Collective is advancing in key areas and with minimal budget. We are not taking on investors or doing any token sales for now. The focus is grassroots bootstrapped basic infrastructure and organic growth via hospitality for ecotourism and small events.

As of Week 9 on site, it’s almost livable. We have cleared large circular spaces under the forest canopy and need to clear the few trees in the way of the large 5M and 6M diameter tents. Just need that darn chainsaw to finally arrive.

Believe it or not we’re up to 10 volunteers that have been here already including the 3 on site now. That’s…

A lot of personalities, expectations, and skill sets to juggle.

Mostly, honestly, were big disappointments. But the learning curve is how to (a) filter and elect new volunteers moving forward and (b) managing how project work is prioritized for clarity with each person.

Integrating Emma (new volunteer) is the current theme, and then graduating Per over the next 2 weeks as he sets off for new adventures. He has contributed greatly not just with wood furnishings and gardening expertise but I’ve absorbed skills and perspective about working with wood which I can progress with.

Getting into the swing of social media has also been slow given the time involved to plan and produce, but I sense how streamlined it can be as I get into the swing of being the first content producer for Camazotz Collective.

The gas generator is at end of life phase, which we inherited from the previous property owner. Will be replaced in 2023. It’s needed to pump well water to the 2500 litre holding tank for our showers, toilets, clothes washing and dish washing.

On the legal front, in December I meet with the notary public and previous owner to complete the purchase agreement, pony up more money (while my crypto balance quickly dwindles as crypto winter blows colder).

But this project is happening, it’s real, it’s alive.

A 70-soccer pitch size chunk of gorgeous nature reserve within the tourism belt of Yucatan Mexico.

With patience, various contributions and donations of money and time, this will become a premier example of distributed governance co-living for the new era of migrating out of large industrial politicized cities into the abundance of nature for maximizing human vitality, creativity, and bliss.

Next Steps

Growing our network in the local area with event facilitators
Progressing with basic infrastructure for event hosting
Building the Camazotz Collective brand online through early stage social media

About

Camazotz Collective is a node in the Network State — physically located in Yucatan Mexico. Our purpose is to create and demonstrate a lifestyle of maximizing human vitality through distributed governance and the abundance of a natural environment.

Check out our previous articles.

Learn more at https://camazotzfinca.com/community/