“Transforme o seu mundo” – (Eng.) Transform your world.
Ecovila Piracanga is a human settlement. A community in development. People connected by nature, experiencing a more natural way of living, to inspire self-knowledge and exhaling more awareness.
This paradise on earth is located in Northeastern Brazil, in the state of Bahia, 250 km from the capital Salvador. Piracanga is at the beginning of the Maraú Peninsula, close to the surfing hot-spot destinations of Itacaré and Barra Grande. The Ecovila Piracanga is in a rural and coastal region, in an environmental protection area, in the municipality of Maraú.
Its garden is the Atlantic Rainforest, the river and mangrove are the backyard. The long beach is the extension of the village and invites for beautiful walks with a view of coconut trees and the preserved biodiversity.
While Piracanga is open for visitors, it is also a community that exists in itself – in a unique, magical dimension.
In this place the sky meets the earth. And the Atlantic ocean meets the Piracanga River.
Everything that comes from the earth returns to the earth.
Water is the greatest wealth of our planet. To me, it’s the foundation of life itself. The very element that makes life on earth possible. In the ecovillage it is an abundant virtue. The Piracaga River flows through the mangrove until it flows into the Atlantic Ocean. This natural source of water is supplying all needs of the settlement.
Everything that comes from the earth returns to the earth. Everything that comes from the water returns to the water.
With this awareness, life in Piracanga is lived – minimizing impacts to the environment. The search for more balance to keep the ecosystem healthy is in the very DNA of not only the people who have founded the Ecovila, but also everyone who visits, or stays permanently. They dedicate their time and love to the care of the land and water.
The entire village is detached from the public energy grid and sustains it’s own water cycle, which is recycled in a zero-impact way.
This comes with some ajustments in the daily rountines: The specific use of biodegradable products, without chemicals, the composting, which transforms organic waste into fertilizer, the dry toilets, which save water and produce fertilizer, the waste management, with selective collection and reuse and the solar energy, which supplies with renewable resource.
Even the houses are built with rustic structures from local raw material and natural ventilation which makes them applicable for bio-construction as well. So ideally the village could almost completely go back into the cycle of nature when the humans have long left the settlement.
Cleansed by nature.
The sun provides lighting and electrical energy through a photovoltaic system. But the consumption needs to be conscious. In order to save energy the use of lights, plug time, and shower time, especially at night and during cloudy weather needs so be limited to a minimum. Wasteful usage can result in power outages during the night.
We experienced, that in spring time, when it was rainy from time to time, the electrical power was available between 6am in the morning and 2am in the night. That meant, that we didn’t have a fridge, which needs power all around the clock, nor energy intense machinery like washing machines. Hair dryers, flat irons and irons weren’t used either.
Before we arrived we thought that those were pretty big adjustments to make and we had a lot of respect for the challenge ahead.
How did we end up in this place anyways?
The family of one of my best friends lives in Sao Paulo and has left the metropolitan area when the pandemic started. They choose Piracanga as their refuge with very little exposure to other people and a lot of nature around to recharge. Ever since they moved there, my friend would tell us about the place, how they lived and what they had build there. Being on a journey to a more sustainable life, we naturally were intrigued and besides all the challenges that this places would pose upon our routines, we were excited to learn more about how to life a zero-impact life.
When I took my first outdoor shower and used the biodegradable bar soap, I especially bought for this place, I felt like I was washing modern civilisation and all the problems that came with it away.
Vegan, Organic, Local.
As Vegans, we seek to feed ourselves with more awareness and respect for life and to reduce the suffering of sentient beings, those who feel pain and joy, when it’s not needed.
The inhabitants of Piracanga share these values. As they dedicate themselves to a waste-free, sustainable way to live, they consume mainly what the surrounding lands provide. And it was abundant. The “Feira” market which was on Tuesdays and Fridays offered all kinds of fruits, vegetables, homemade bread, kumbucha and cakes and a little store in the village sold lentils, rice and even some organic chocolate.
However, being in the middle of the rainforest, we weren’t the only ones interested in the rich fruits the environment provided.
The monkeys weren’t the only ones attracted by the food. We had to take extra care to keep the outdoor kitchen clean because otherwise we’d have an invasion of ants and cockroaches.
The insect life was plenty nonetheless. The most painful visitors were the mosquitoes. But we also saw giant spiders and snakes, from whom we respectfully stayed at distance from. We were in the jungle after all!
Our little Moglis.
It was so beautiful to see our kids navigating so courageous, yet so mindfully in this raw environment. It was so magical seeing them picking fruits from the trees, seeing, feeling, hearing and breathing nature.
We thought it could be very challenging to only have very few toys, being without the foods and habits they gotten used to, but they adjusted so fast and we could tell that they were very happy.
Lana, our oldest, went to pre-school there and assimilated the Portugese language so easily. Despite the language barrier in the beginning, she made many friends to play and explore the jungle with. She still calles me “Ma-Mãe” a mix of the German “Mama” and the Portugese “Mãe”.
All of these things made us very optimistic that they are well equipped for all adventures that lie ahead.
The Indigos and the spirit of nature.
One of the two last tribes of the indigenous Tupinambá is living Olivença in the region of southern Bahia, close to Piracanga. They were frequent guests in the village and educated the villagers about their own connection to nature and invited to join spiritual rituals to reconnect with ones own spirituality.
The music and the dancing was a truly beautiful experience and you could sense the love for nature they shared and transported in their rituals.
These beautiful handmade maracas we have taken with us as a souvenir. It will always remind us what we have been privileged to learn from the Tupinambá and the inhabitants of Piracanga.
Living in Piracanga was very enriching. We learned not only with our heads but also with our hearts. This place has me believe that a utopia on earth is possible and humanity can reconnect with nature.
I can write so much more about it, but I have decided to dedicate an extra entry to the aspects of the sustainable life we have experienced in Piracanga and what has inspired us to change our customs permanently.
I hope this post has inspired you and shown you that zero-waste and zero-impact living is not only possible but if done right, it can indeed be extraordinarily beautiful.
Sending you love,
