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Email:
Yahoo Messenger: uevn MSN Messenger: uevn AIM Messenger: uevnf
ICQ: 114970838
email us
Phones: (593) 99-581-219 (593) 91-847-091 USA Fax: 1-253-595-6153 USA: 1-305-515-8137
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an intentional community in south Ecuador |
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FAQ II |
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Why so many armed guards and police? Though it may come as a surprise to you on your first visit to some countries, there are many establishments that have armed guards and police may carry large rifle type guns. This does not mean it is a high crime area whatsoever, it is just the way things are. It is hard to convince someone that has not experience this to be a fact, but it simply is the way it is, no more no less. For example, one would assume the USA is constantly at war, from the fact of so many nuclear bombs they have, but the fact remains they have only used them twice in fifty years. The same is here: many guns, but they have rarely been used.
What about the long-term political stability? Long term would be speculation, but we can assure you that we did our research, several of us, before choosing Ecuador to be the place for our projects, runners up were Costa Rica, Panama, a Caribbean or Pacific Island, and Ecuador given some limitations and constraints, was our choice.
According to our knowledge, experience and logic we chose Vilcabamba as number one choice and you know what? After five years we still consider it the number choice.
With neighbors like Columbians, are there any movements seeking to overthrow the government? Not that we are aware of, nothing unusual, nothing worse than the US or most of the world for that matter. It is democratic, elected by the people, with the US currency. As a matter of fact, that is why we chose Ecuador, where due to the culture and the way people are they have no guerilla, no communism, no drug problems, etc.
Ecuador is far from being a perfect country; it has its series of downfalls, such as bureaucracy (red tape), corruption, lack of a good infrastructure and services, etc., but we have learned how to work within this system. Put in a comparison to most all other countries we think it is a good choice.
Note: Most if not all bad news you hear about Ecuador is local to Guayaquil and Quito. Guayaquil is in the coast, therefore epidemics, etc. and Quito is where the government is at; both are big cities with a few million people, Loja only has 150,000 people and is quite far from Guayaquil and Quito.
Any guerilla or army groups? None whatsoever. It has not been in the history of the country and there is no reason to believe it would start now.
What about crime in general? It is high in Guayaquil and Quito, just like in every big city in the world, though a minute percentage in comparison to the USA. Most crimes in Loja have been committed by Peruvians and Columbians not by the Lojanos.
By all means avoid some places in Guayaquil and Quito, especially at night, use common sense and intuition, especially at night you should not go alone.
Some of the reasons why crime is lower here than elsewhere are:
1. There is not enough money in the economy, nor gun shops or weapons for people to have them, so very few in this country have guns. They are simply out of the reach for most people.
Small country, around 10 Million + people so they know each other pretty well.
3. Ecuadorians honestly lack initiative in many things, including crime. You can see it in the architecture, food, culture, business life, etc.
4. It is ingrained with their beliefs, religion, ancestry, etc.
5. In places where Natives live, they have their own very strict laws, and there is zero tolerance for crime.
What about government corruption? Yes there is lots of government corruption and theft of funds, but none of this we expect it will change the quality of life here much, if anything it is bound to get better. The big overall problem is that these thefts by the government official prevent part of the fund from getting to where they are supposed to be going, for example free hospital care which the poor demand, more outside investments, repayment of the national debt, better education, better medical care, better roads, better communication infrastructure, better/wiser utilization of all the natural resources, such as oil and many minerals, etc. All this leads to the low paying wages, which is the source of all the complaints. The fact is that Loja has improved a lot and continues to improve substantially every day, for example, though it is chlorinated water, Loja has put in more than 20 water systems for the rural areas and has plans to do approx. 20 more each year, the city of Loja has spent 30 million dollars in a new water and water disposal system in the last few years, the city of Loja has recently asphalted all the roads, a new 120 million dollar (30-50% stolen) irrigation canal is under construction for a portion of the province of Loja, there are plans for 15-60 mega-watt wind-power park, a good government would had have this working already, none the less it is in the plans; there is a 30 mega-watt private hydroelectric in the planning stages. No matter where you go in Loja, Guayaquil, Cuenca, Quito, there is none stop improvement; though yes it could be many time more and better if the people in power would stop stealing and doing their work with morals and conscience.
I had heard that things are safer in Ecuador… Very much, but then again it is all relative. Out of everyone that has visited us, one person was robbed by force. He decided to go in the evening, alone, flashing a video camera in old downtown Quito right across the main prostitution street. He was unharmed. They just showed him a knife; he actually put up resistance but finally gave the camera away. It is and has been the only case we know of. May 2003. Once in a while we do hear of some lady who a gold chain is taken from, do not go wear flashy easy to take gold chains in the market area.
We were victims of petty theft when we first got here back in 1999, since then we have not had any more problems; that’s what we have the dogs for. Given the opportunity, I believe most poor people, who are the majority, would steal small items if left unattended and that, unfortunately, is much more common than it should be, but true. Again it was the legacy left by the Spaniard conquistadores when they came to steal, rape and kill in the new continent. So we have adapted to it and have learned our lessons.
As all over the world, the countryside is different, people are different. Small villages have old traditions, it is another ball game always in the countryside.
Schools and Education? For small children ages 3-9, there is an alternative school that provides a good education. There are a few good quality courses available in Loja for children of all ages, such as painting, dancing, ballet, music, etc. There are two main universities in Loja, UTPL and UNL and a few other smaller ones. One of the main benefits of living in community is for children to learn from the people in the community. If arranged properly it should provide an above average education for any child. There are plenty of mainstream private and public schools, comparable to most countries such as the USA, which in our opinion leave a lot to be desired and we will not send our children to them. Keep in mind that quality education has moved from the schoolroom to the Internet…
Is the community completely self-sufficient? What is "completely self-sufficient" anyway? Isn’t it true that we’re all connected to everything in the universe? Never totally independent, right? But, we are trying to be as self-reliant as possible. If we were to grow all of our own food and make everything we needed ourselves – it would take all of our time and many more people… We feel a responsibility to be involved in things that are happening on the other side of the canal as well. Our Dome has fully functioning a couple of solar-electric panels and we want to install some more. We have rem pumps that we are planning to install. All of our water is heated up by solar panels as well. Our stove is propane operated and we don’t need cooling or heating in this almost perfect weather all year long.
Do you accept donations? Yes, you may send donations to the address below, under the name of Fundación Ecológica Condorhuana or www.paypal.com to account: donations@uevn.org
How many hours are members required to work? One of the main issues that makes us quite different than most other intentional communities is how you spend your time. We have two options, one you do the work or two you pay a fee. Our number one requirement is that you have most if not all your meal with us as a group. This is the only required participation that we insist upon, otherwise what is the sense of living in community if you do not share any time at all. Second we require a fair share of the labor. There are two ways to accomplish this. One is doing the actual work yourself. The other is by paying a maintenance fee, which we have set at: $300 per person, this would allow you to sit back, relax and not work at all, get all your meals, clothe washed/iron, house clean, garden, etc. On the labor side, most intentional communities have set 36-44 hours per week, now these hours include everything, for example, taking care of children, washing the dishes, cooking, cleaning, picking food from the garden, maintenance, etc., basically you really end up working approx. 20 hours per week. Just think how much time you spend in the kitchen… cleaning… washing clothes… etc… Our goals are to operate a few profitable businesses (which we would work in) and pay maid services for all our house chores, etc. Intentional communities are not about working 40-60 hour week in addition to ALL your personal needs, such as cooking, cleaning, maintenance, etc., Quite the opposite, is about sharing common work and reducing the number of hours you actually end up working, therefore ending up with much more free time. Keep in mind that working in the community mean benefiting from income and revenues generated by the community. We are open to discussing other proposals.
Can I own my house? Yes, you may hold full legal title to you home and small surrounding land around it, but with a contract with the community, which only allow you to sell to another good standing full member. This contract also gives you full legal rights to the use of all common areas and other community property, also to many money saving vs. living on your own, for example, established farm, water system, electricity, road, vehicles, construction tools, carpentry tools, full kitchen.
What is the going price for land in your area? $7,500 - $25,000 per hectare. Hectare = 2.5 acres. Near town prices are much higher; as high as $100 per square meter.
How much does it cost to build a house? That all depends on the type of house you wish to build, from a simple wood cabin to a full luxury dome. For a wood cabin $2,500-$5,000 with no running water. $150-175 per square meter for concrete dome construction. See www.RealEstateLoja.com for more ideas on prices.
Are there any legal contracts I will need to sign? Yes, see: By-Laws, Membership Agreement, Property Code and Religious Believes. All members must sign them.
How much land does the community currently own and is there any land available to purchase that borders UEVN property or is very close? 20 acres and yes there is plenty more available.
Are you a polyamory community? Open to it and we expect all members to be tolerant to polyamory and other forms of love expression as much as ideology, spirituality, ages, cultures, background, etc BUT DO NOT need to participate if they do not wish to in any of them.
How do you handle conflict resolution if two members don't agree on something? Since we are small we have not had that problem yet, but we plan to follow same or similar methods used in larger communities. We usually practice open communication and transparency before things escalate into a major scale. Basically we will not tolerate two or more people being upset at each other for more than a few days without sitting down and finding a solution. The worst part about a conflict is not dealing with it immediately.
If I end up being a member there, can I bring my dog? Anything is possible and we are flexible, BUT we have one too many dogs already, they are Australia Cattle Dogs see www.uevn.org/Ecuador/ACD ACD’s do not get along well with other dogs. It has already been our experience that mixing breeds with ACD does not work, ACD's chase the cows and do not do harm to them, other dogs see it and try to do the same, but end up hurting the cows.
If I was a member and wanted to leave, say 2 months, how does the community handle that? Would I be charged a fee for being absent? We have not set any fees in that case, but we expect for all members to cover their fair share, which probable will amount to not much, after all our total expenses are quite low.
Do you have horses? We did in the past and a donkey too, they eat like 4 cows. So we had to trade them for goats and cows which eat less and contribute more.
Do you think the community would like to have horses in the future? It is possible. But keep in mind that since Vilcabamba is a tourist town, there plenty of horses for rent.
Does Los Visionarios currently own enough land for horses to graze on? Yes but we prefer to use it for other grazing animals that we use more since there was no one riding them often and they tend to get wild if un-ridden.
When you say that Ecuador wants me to make an investment in the country, does that mean give them the money or can I buy land or buy into UEVN and they'll consider that an investment? Buy into something or leave money in the bank and they hold the key to it.
We are surprised that you are only four persons and I think this should be mentioned in your web-site. Yes, we were a much larger group initially and it has taken us several years, lots of sweat, hard work, research, experiences, travels, processes, meetings, design and careful updating for this, our project to become what it is today. For several reasons we stayed and have kept up the dream alive, but unfortunately our remote location in a third world country has not been benign so far in opening an opportunity for an income making cottage industry for all the other members wanting to join us but who do not have enough financial resources to survive in remote southern Ecuador. We continue to work very hard at making this dream a reality, and we believe that soon we will have enough work developed for all those who have expressed a serious interest in joining us and all the other ones who are planning to visit us in the near future.
I think, that your vision should not be formulated as a vision of a community. Well it developed and continuous to evolve from a community. We are in constant change and growth and evolution. Like the nature laws we are not immune to it and as a matter of fact it is refreshing and we look forward to growing with the universe. As a matter of fact your feedback will change us also a bit. Thank you for it.
Rather as a vision of a view persons who want to decide how an eventual future community has to look like. As far as we know we have solid fundamental principles of non violence, egalitarianism, ecology, and diversity, the rest evolves according to the group and the group changes when new people come in and others leave, etc., etc., just like in nature, organically shaping and reshaping according to need in order to survive and improve and learn from our mistakes.
Rain season how serious it is (SHOULD I STAY INDOORS THE WHOOLE DAY)? Not at all, a few years ago we had a lot of rain, but now the weather has changed and there is little rain, even when it did rain a lot, it usually was only for a few hours at a time.
Do you have there snakes, spiders, rats and etc. Very few snakes, you may see one or two a year, same with spiders and rats. If you keep your home clean you should not have a problem. Do expect to run into all sorts of bugs, insects etc. from time to time.
Is there any Spanish language school nearby (Vilcabamba or Loja) to study there one-two months? Yes there are. Also private teachers are available.
Do you build homes? Yes we do. We can build your home in as little as six months.
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