House Completed & First Retreat
Autumn 2023
As the house was well underway, we started to plan for a yoga shala, choosing a design that would complement the magic of the surrounding trees. Having previously boarded up the kitchen to be renovated at a later date we changed our minds adding to the list of things to get done. Obviously this involved more visits to warehouses and tile shops and new vocabulary for kitchen appliances and worktops. We had now found a Spanish class in Estepona at Millinguas with a lovely teacher, Carola.
Our belongings arrived at the end of May, exactly a year since we had last seen them. This was just days after the kitchen was finished and the carpenters had installed the doors. With boxes everywhere, a half-built kitchen, no doors in the house and no hot water, this was perhaps the most stressful point of the project, mainly because we had a trial retreat planned for 10 days later. You know those episodes of “New Life in the Sun” when everything goes wrong just before the guests arrive!
After some frantic unpacking, new doors fitted, kitchen complete and a little help from our friends, we crossed the line and the first retreat went ahead. We welcomed a small group of 6, friends and friends of friends including 2 people completely new to yoga. The retreat felt very special and we received very positive feedback. Not sure if it was relief or pure joy but we immediately planned another one for September!
Of course, work didn’t stop and the week after, we took delivery of our 2 Yurts. The builders had already thought ahead, flattened the areas and built stone retaining walls to prevent slippage of the soil onto the yurt platforms. Ratna from the Yurt Workshop stayed over and we had a “raise the yurt” day with our builders and friends joining in to help.
A picture by Cristina
In July, Cristina Taranovici, a friend from the Yoga Medicine course and talented photographer came to stay from Moldova. Cristina spent a few weeks in the casita and captured some wonderful images for us, many of which are now on the website.
The September retreat was the real deal with paying guests. No pressure! Thanks to a wonderful group we felt our vision of sharing this magical space was coming to life. No sooner had the retreat guests left, the builders returned to begin work on upgrading the Casita.
We enjoyed some downtime over Christmas with our sons and their girlfriends coming to visit, our first Christmas at Finca El Encanto.
