Backpacking to Spread the Magic 5.6.25
This experience has been incredibly supportive for the growth and healing of my soul, mind, body, being.
Right now, I live on land Penny, a founder of the Design School, purchased to be part of the educational environment and literal ecosystem they are cultivating here. It used to be a preschool-many of the local movers and shakers had their children here so it holds sentimental value to the community. It sat abandoned for a couple years before funding came through, so it's a bit overgrown, but full of potential.
I live here with Nina (lead teacher of Suenos del Bosque- Waldorf School within the ecosystem), her partner Anthony (an incredible musician & chef) , and their 4 year-old Enna. We all arrived here together after the immersion at the beginning of March. We're slowly using the invasive plants to rebuild the soil making the much more functional. Eventually, all of our little sprouts will be planted directly into the prunings and other matter we're layering onto the garden areas. Here the soil is generally really poor, damaged by logging and bad farming practices- so we plant right into the composting leaf litter. The land is mostly clay, deeply eroded, and the plants are crucial to hold the soil in place.
Colonization is so visible here in Barichara. Everywhere really but it's preserved like a story book here. Nothing flashy to distract you from it like there is in the U.S.
The churches were built directly over sacred springs blocking access from everyone and everything. When you own the water, you own the people. I highly recommend a documentary called "Blue Gold: World Water Wars".
The conquistadors forced or paid people to log the delicate ecosystems to build out the infrastructures that still define the area including the farms. From my understanding, only those working for the new government (the church) had any kind of life. Without bowing, there was no access to water or land. The irony…They're still growing the same "products" they were forced to grow for the new government-coffee, tobacco, cows, and potatoes. The same "products" they watched pillage the free lifestyles and abundance of food they had not long ago.
I’ve got to mention the rains! Barichara was once a cloud forest. Without the trees here to form clounds, Barichara has a very long 7 months of summer and when it finally rains, these barren clay mounds of the Andes transform into milky rivers that don't soak into the ground. The water just slides down to the bottom where it meets a very large and highly contaminated river due to the cities above pouring raw sewage and industrial waste into it. Once the clouds pass- and they pass quickly- everything is just as dry as before.
We're working to change that and be a model for others.
Right behind one of the main churches is BioParque Moncora, where the community is restoring the land and digging recharging wells to help the water to sink into the Earth. The sytropic agro-forest there is looking good! People come to the park daily. Some as part of their routine and others to learn the various ways to successfully reforest. Five pieces of land are currently coordinating to form a green corridor. A safe haven for all beings. These lands are part of the larger educational reforesting and water restoration program- a program for all people- all ages. We're working on bringing five more land masses into the corridor (Tierra Sagrada) as it would span a natural waterway. One we hope to bring back to life. The last of the howler monkeys in the region live on one of the plots we hope to raise money for.
Each of these sites is rare and ecologically significant on a global scale, influencing cloud formation- or the lack of it.
Check it out, this region- the biotic pump or heart of the planet -is the origin of water on Earth.
Water vapours from forest leaves, form clouds that are carried by trade winds- bringing rain to distant lands. The planet as an organism with a heart and flow of life force. And it holds each of us... A beautiful connection to all that is.
In the same vein... I'm working with a gentleman, Ricardo, whose family is from Mogotès. His uncle was a successful archeologist/anthropologist. Ricardo is picking up the research and using it to help preserve the waters and forestry of Mogotès. I'm currently supporting with a write up of the project for a round of crowdfunding that will kick off a community living laboratory- where each member of the community can add water sampling, water sources, cave paintings, activities occurring along waterways, etc. The data collected through this initiative could be used to restore damaged waterways, preserve those intact, protect the migration patterns that sustain the forestry there, give voices to the ancestors, reawaken the Gaune people, and thus restore and or preserve an ecosystem.
Alongside this work, I just finished writing my first film script- a simple introductory video for the Historia Regenerativa communications team. We'll really celebrate if it gets used.
The group formed a few weeks ago and is creating short films that uplift voices of changemakers transformed by the work of their own hands. We're weaving their stories across the network to show how the model functions as a living symbiotic system in nature.
With these living and relatable stories we hope to inform, fundraise, and energize the broader bioregional movement-800 people strong in the Design School alone. Many of them in the U.S. (thank goodness- those are the people that will hold that continent together... watch...)
On a more personal note, In July, I’m launching into a long-awaited backpacking journey—starting in the Brazilian Amazon. I’m hoping to meet with Indigenous leaders training a group of Warriors to protect the forest. I want to support them however I can. After that, I have a dream list of magical, sacred sites I’ve been visioning with a friend from Argentina for SIX years. Timing and resources finally aligned, and we’re going for it!
If all unfolds as envisioned, I’ll end the journey in the Sierra Nevada above Santa Marta. I met a woman, KelseyFaith, during the 7-day immersion who works closely with the Arhuaco people-Sun Nation. They’ve invited me to help with administrative support, geospatial mapping of sacred sites, event organizing, and fundraising. They’re identifying stolen lands and envisioning a return—not through force, but through an offering: new fertile land for the campesinos in exchange for the degraded sacred ground. It’s one of the most generous, heart-led strategies for LandBack I’ve ever encountered. I want to help however I can. The offer to trade them the new fertile land for their original land that is now degraded because they know this land is so vital to the rainfall across the planet.
My first big push is to raise enough funds to hire a local expert working in the LandBack Laws. "The main land restitution law in Colombia, known as the Victims and Land Restitution Law (Law 1448), was put into place on June 10, 2011. The law, signed by President Juan Manuel Santos, became effective in January 2012. This law provides a framework for the restitution of land to victims of forced displacement and dispossession during the armed conflict." (https://www.amnesty.org/ar/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/amr230182012en.pdf)
The indigenous should not have to buy them land to re-home the Campesinos. I'd like to see a little pressure put on local authorities to support the efforts. The irony here is that the mayor of Colombia bought land next to the Arhuaco village where he has armed guards and is clearcutting. So, yes, they are asking for help. Only two weeks ago this was a preserved and peaceful area.
That said… I’ve only received $1,000 in personal funding over the past last month and another $1000 to help this month, and well my savings are... wilting. Backpacking is partly a cost-cutting measure and partly a soul-restoring adventure. If I’m going to spend more than I make, I might as well take a spiritual sabbatical along the way. I plan to keep writing, supporting projects remotely, and planting seeds wherever I land—preferably riverside with coffee in hand. Or when I hop into town for a shower, safe place to rest, and stable internet connection.
I'll likely be nomadic like this for a while as I continue to find passion projects to midwife. Oh! Also—I’m selling my Prius. It’s a 2015, super clean, only 65k miles, second owner. Just sitting in a driveway costing me $600/month, so I had a friend slap a “for sale” sign on it. I'm the second owner.
Let me know if you or someone you know is in the market. (I’m laughing but not joking…)
Yes, if you did the math, that's nearly my monthly income. That’s just only one my bills. So yeah... that's also part of the experience.
Anyway, that’s the kaleidoscope of my current reality. A little wild, a little broke, and totally in love with what I get to be part of.
And, please, if you can send support or know someone that can, donations made directly to me literally go towards keeping my bills paid and very basic food needs while I help others make big positive changes in the world. You can also donate to the above individual causes. Or make larger donations to support my work and the work of others through the BioRegionalEarth.org If you donate through the BioRegional Earth to support me or a specific project, PLEASE make a note as to what you want it allocated to.
Until next time my friends,
From my heart to yours <3
April Bartlett
https://www.youtube.com/@4life.AprilBartlett
paypal.me/AprilBartlett648Zelle: 479.595.9050 or 4life.AprilBartlett@gmail.com
Venmo: @April4B