Santiago Doglio

I think what you are offering is great!!! I hope some day I can attend to an event like this one!!! I'll be backing the 100 tier, it's awesome!!!

Cheers from Colombia!!!

Hi Dave,

Santiago from Colombia here. I've been talking with Rene lately and have notice the interest in creating a community, the distance between our farms is about 65km (2 hours away or a little bit less), although I haven't met Rene I think it's cool that we can support each other, I know they are more permaculture people in Colombia and maybe in our region (I have some neighbors that have an incredible farm 60km form Rene and 30km from me).

If what you want is like minded people you can certainly find them here; the other advantage is the versatility Colombia has, I don't know if people are aware of the altitude differences in Colombia, for example Renes farm is about 1000 meters higher, we are 350 mt from sea level, and Bogota 2600 mt from sea level is 3 hours away, so basically you can choose the type of climate you want, from hot to cold (all year round) since you are in the tropics.

I've lived in Argentina so I can confidently tell you labor here is cheaper if you want to hire some one for a hand.

If you want to buy now is the time since the dolar is quite high right now.

I't can sound as over selling Colombia, in my defense I love my country and I believe it needs as many permies as posible jejejeje

If you have questions let me know

Cheers for Colombia!!!

Hi Rene!!!

I'm Santiago from Bogota. I't great to see all the things you are doing, we have a farm near Girardot, like an hour away form La Mesa, did my PDC recently and I starting to implement small stuff in the farm, I-ll be starting a post in permies soon.

I hope we can meet some day also with Sebastian from Medellín and start creating a nice permaculture comunity here. I have some friends that have a farm in Viota that is impresive and they have many species (Over 1500, They call it an ecological pathway) they have a small nursery and propagate different types of trees (Jack Fruit, Bread Fruit, Balu and others).

Any how, its great to see what others are doing in Colombia and watching the permaculture comunity grow!

Hi Ursula and everyone! Im from Colombia so my answer is based on my experience or the experience of my relatives that are also Colombian.

Im guessing that its easier for someone of newzeland considering the bad reputation of my country that thankfully is getting better over time.

You can stay in the us for a little less than 6 months on a tourist visa, when they ask you can tell them you are staying for a couple of month and are going to travel, around the states for a while and just have a tentative schedule, they wont say anything and give you permision to stay for 6 months, its kind of the regular visiting time granted ecen when you are just going for a month or less. They wont be any repercussions if you dont stay longer than the time they allow even if you say originally that you were staying for one or two months (my uncle does it all the time and he spends almost have the year in the states with a tourist visa with no problems)

The other alternative is applying for a J1 visa, which is a student/temporal worker (youll get a social security number). Im guessing you will need a letter from Paul and proof that you have a job in newzeland, and justify that you are applying to a special training in permaculture (or sustainable agriculture so it more palatable) in one of the leading farms in the states for a year.

If you get the visa you can stay no problem and even get a job legally. I worked for 2 months that way and had a friend that worked for a year.

Those are the options I see are viable, although I must mention,considering you are traveling with your kids its easier to get a tourist visa than the J1. And if they deny either visa they wont give you the other one. (I dont know if people from newzeland need a visa to travel to usa or if they dont, how long can you stay in the USA per visit.

I hope the information is a good starting point so you can take an informed choise.

Best wishes!

Santiago

Very nice to see the advancements in the project! I´ll be waiting for more!

Sebastian, I'm from Colombia to very interested in what you have done since April! Saludos!