What we are up to…

For almost two months now we are in Portugal at Monte Maravilhas, and time flies. Some of you must have been thinking… “what are they up to, how are things going…”

Stillness on the mountain

After all the bustle of the past months; moving, exhibitions, planning and arranging things, the stillness of the place here is really a relief. Sometimes it's so quiet that we can’t hear anything, total silence. Fantastic. This is such a gift for our being. The noise of everyday life in a crowded country like the Netherlands is completely gone. Which brings us both back to a deeper layer, closer to ourselves.

Our hammock finally found the perfect spot, and so did we! 

We have taken the time to land here, and to organize our living and working for the months to come. We’ve build a beautiful outdoor studio, with excellent work tables on top of ‘our’ mountain. The building of cabinets, tables and flattening the rock to make a base for  the oven has been a lot of work. We are still not testing because we make some last improvements on the surface of the mirrors this week.

We have made an inside and an outside sleeping place on the mountain. When it is a bit chilly we sleep in the caravan. And when the nights are not too cold, we lie under the stars. And wow this is fantastic! We even find it difficult to fall asleep, because it is so wonderful to lie comfortably on your back gazing at all those beautiful stars. And when we have wished enough, after the many falling stars, then we easily fly to dreamland.

our little home and place to work on top of the hill

Meeting lovely people

All kinds of wonderful people come here to stay for a few days or longer. We have met many persons and had great conversations. This is really inspiring. Its special that the atmosphere here always changes with the people coming and going. The scenery remains the same, but the actors are always different.


We have some special neighbours too, who we meet quite often. Just three kilometres away there are living as much as thirty people and a Jamaican guru, named Mooji. Mooji lives in a state of awareness, or you could say is awareness. He speaks about truth, and often travels around the world to give satsangs; this means ‘gathering in truth’. Satsangs are meetings where you can ask specific questions arising from your spiritual journey. The group is developing and maintaining the land and just started to build a new international community here. Next summer they will be able to receive people for retreats. But already they organise satsangs and welcome some guests. If you like to see more, visit: http://www.mooji.org/ and http://moojisangha.net/

Satsang under the big oak.Photo: http://moojiportugal.files.wordpress.com/

Daily live at Monte Maravilhas

Of course we also work at Monte Maravilhas. During the week - in the morning or evening - we maintain the vegetable garden, mow the lawn, clean the bathroom and the swimming pool and do various jobs like picking apples and figs. The afternoon from twelve to four is often too hot to do anything. Then it is really a necessity to take a Sesta.

This is Tara, the very friendly dog of Monte Maravilhas,
taking one of her many naps.

On Saturdays and Sundays there is often a coming and going of guests. This is busy, because then the four of us have to clean three large houses, and sometimes two caravans. So then all the refrigerators and kitchens and bathrooms are polished from top to bottom, and all spiders are chased out of the houses (and there are many).

The valley here has an abundance of fragrant rosemary, thyme and mint, and there are fresh grapes, figs, prunes and apples to pick. From the garden we get tomatoes, zucchini and tasty strawberries, which is delicious when for years you’ve only had a tiny balcony.

O moinho, the old mill. A very nice walk

with even a greater view.

We can recommend it to anyone who wants to stay in a nice rural place for a while! Today we heard from a guest about "wwoofing. So if you have serious ideas or have a longing fore some quietness? Look at; http://www.wwoof.org/

This is a nice organization where you can find a living and working place for some time. And each summer there are people needed here at Monte Maravilhas to live and work for some months. So if what we’ve just written inspires you, just contact Prem Zijtveld; http://www.montemaravilhas.com/