Ecoaldea Huehuecoyotl

Huehuecoyotl is an ecovillage in the mountains of Tepoztlan, Mexico, founded by a group of adults and their children--artists, ecologists, artisans, and educators from seven different nationalities. The community was established at the present site in 1982. Over the years it has developed into an extended family; an experimental center; a model of rural, simple community living; and an important site where different traditions, cultures, and visions blend harmoniously with each other. There are low-cost guest facilities and extensive gardening as well as the use of renewable materials and sustainable designs for construction and water management.

Ideal communities exist only in the imagination of visionaries, but real communities are a long daily process of understanding, hard work, patience, and love. Our village reflects both the frustrations of not being able to materialize our ideals and also achievements that are beyond description in terms of solidarity, cooperation, harmony in diversity, and an example of an ecotopian vision since the early 1970s.

We are now facing a new cycle of our growth, which implies moving into a more balanced relationship with our environment and with our collective cultural center, which is rapidly becoming an alternative educational center for new communities, the arts, networking, and the rights of Mother Earth. We try to bring together the best of all worlds, and we live a fairly happy life. Our members live in a combination of private and common property ownership. We each have our personal economy and contribute to the upkeep, maintenance, and improvement of the community through dues and income generated by our services to guests and groups. We offer training in leadership development, sustainable practices, health and healing, shamanism, and community design. All our members speak Spanish and English and some speak up to five additional languages. We are caretakers of the Chichinautzin natural preserve, a protected forest that stretches for approximately 30 miles east and west of Huehuecoyotl.