We arrived in Lakabe the fifth of July after a nice swim in the river just before climbing the hardest and last kilometer. As we enter in this old occupied village , a thunderstorm started rumbling in the valley of Arce. Just in time . We are welcomed by Clara, who lives here in Lakabe since approximately one year and a half, and she used to explain us the main operation way of the place. Letś cook !
The last up hill kilometer, so hard !
So tired are we, that we fall asleep fast , but the next day, work is waiting for us . That is the deal, in fact, this is how the wwoofing works : the project welcome us and we can eat products from the place, and in exchange we helps working with them. So this morning Clara ask us to help Afredo, a man who lives here since the beginning ( so since 1980 ! ), to bring wood from the mountain down to the village . The wood is presented in bundles, and there is hundred of them, so lets make a human chain, and go ! one, two , three …
Here in Lakabe they use to have a common breakfast every Saturday as a celebration of the successful of the project and the fact to be gathered together with children and animals . Lakabe was an abandoned village left in ruins for many years , and forty years ago some shepherds from the regions discovered the place by chance searching for they lost goats in the mountains. Year by year they transformed the place with a lot of work and perseverance into what this is now: a comfortable beautiful village build in stones, lime and wood, with dry toilets ( in a Turkish style !), solar panels for electricity, internet and washing machines ( Clara explained us they used to discuss those two last points for years to reach a consensus ). The milk is made here from a cows breeding, they make their own bread ,they have meet from they owns pigs, they have of course a lot of gardens and the products they don’t make theirselves they buy it from local and organic projects . We can see that they reached a high level go comfort and self organisation because they have their own school for children , and they have a sauna … So living in Lakabe means daily variated activities and work around the common life , and the people like Afredo or Sylvie who live here since the beginning or almost are used to work everyday and in the same time admiring the fruit of their work.
The main stone path in Lakabe
We used to have lunch with the people living in Lakabe , after a common cooking ( vegan milk of course ) . By the way, it appeared later during our circle that the topic of veganism needed to be clarified: should we introduce the group as a vegan group even if some people here are not vegan, and when we are in a project like Lakabe, should we accept when they offer us milk or honey ? The question need her own discussion circle , but it will not takes place in Lakabe …
So the afternoon after the bringing wood morning, we used to have our usual big circle , and we summarized the food discussion which took place just before about what can be bought or not with the communal money … For the people not used to live in big groups like that, it’s an experience to reach consensus when we are so many …
The next day the hole group separated in little working groups, one to help on gardens, others to help with other stuffs , and it’s nice occasions to meet the people of Lakabe more deeply , and try to understand which happiness did they reach choosing this life . Sylvie explain to me that now, the government of Navarre give some subventions to Lakabe which became a reference in the alternative movement , but not all the occupied villages had this luck .. Some of them just have been destroyed by the government and police, when they did not have the time to become as developed and respect as here . Later, Clara showed us a movie about the story and the way of life in Lakabeed anymore to claim these values because their own way of life incarnate it very well . They can support others new projects and educate the young generations …
The “ Kakaleku “ dry toilets.
In Lakabe we had our first non mixed circle for people socialised as women , as we called it at first, and it was a really cosy , interesting and cosy moment, during which we realised we were only eight “ girls “ for the double quantity of men socialised person !
We also met a problem about the dog situation, because they were not allowed inside, where the communal space took place at this moment , and two people and especially the one with an old blind and really small dog were isolated from the rest of the group, so some people decided to move from the dormitory and find another place for the communal cooking, so let’s start cooking with the rocket stoves again !
The Saturday morning for our last day in Lakabe they offer us to share with them their Saturday gathering breakfast, which take a lot of time of preparation but was so tasty with crepes and lemon cream ( with only honey sugar juice and sugar ) . They also offered us to have a visit of the hole place … I was not there so I can not tell more about it …
Visiting the school …
Here came the end of our stay in this incredible place , our next project now is Errekaleor in Vitoria Gasteiz … Thanks to them for welcoming us , even if the dogs will be so happy to run freely again .