Complete Cob Cabaña in Colombia (Vichada, Orinoco Basin)

Date/Time
Date(s) - Sunday, January 24, 2027 - Sunday, February 28, 2027
8:30 am - 5:30 am

OUR HOSTS & LOCATION

We are Laura, Manuel and Salvador, a family of three plus 2 dogs, living in the Colombian Savanna of the Orinoco Basin, at the juncture of the Orinoco and Bita rivers, near Puerto Carreño, Vichada.  This far-eastern area of Colombia borders with Venezuela and is culturally unique.  We have been in the region for 6 and 8 years respectively, and have recently made the move from town to live out in the grasslands off-grid as a family adventure. We world-school our soon to be 6-year-old son Salvador, while we tend to the land, the water buffalo and the bees.

Our dream is for our farm to become fully sustainably self-sufficient as well as a learning place, where people come to experience nature and our role in it as humans, in a more conscious way. We want to showcase what is possible with permaculture and the natural elements that surround us. 
Manuel is passionate about fire and its ecological role in the environment and he is a fire keeper, both technically and spiritually. I am passionate about the natural world in all its fascinating forms, particularly the moon… and participates in Moon Dance Rituals annually. We all enjoy life by the rivers and never get tired of visiting the magnificent Orinoco (third largest river in the world!).  We enjoy kayaking, swimming and fishing in the Bita River, and exploring the smaller creeks that are all around.

Manuel is from Uruguay and I am from Colombia & the US, and Salvador is a citizen of the world, born in Colombia with grandmothers north and south of him on the continent, a world traveler since birth.
Manuel traveled to Colombia by land over a few years, making music, living in eco-villages and having adventures along the way. His interests have always been sustainable agriculture, permaculture and, more recently, regenerative ranching. He managed several cashew farms until March 2026. He is now focused on making the farm productive through buffalo milk and its byproducts, fertilizer production, honey production and planting food and trees. I have lived for extended periods of time both in Colombia and the US and have a BA in journalism and an MBA.  I have worked in international business for a decade and for half of that, also ran a food distribution company in Puerto Carreño, Vichada, managing complex logistics in the region, until December 2025.

Manuel and I met near Cali, Colombia, in the Farallones National Park. Manuel hiked up to 2,200 meters in elevation, exploring…and arrived where I was managing a natural reserve, on the mountain. This was at the start of 2016. Funnily enough, the first thing he did was restore the walls of the casita where we were staying, with mud, applying a technique he’d learned along the way in his travels. I saw the restored walls before I met him, and I loved him for them before even seeing him. We’ve been together ever since.

The cashew crop brought Manuel to Vichada. He was hired to set up three cashew farms and moved here to do so. After two years living long distance, I decided to follow suit and move to the region as well. I have always been a mountain person and enjoy the cold weather, particularly the cloud forest, so it took me a minute to assimilate moving to a hot weather region. Once here, I fell in love with the land and the rivers. The pandemic forced a break in my international travels for business and left us “isolated” in an already isolated place. We immersed ourselves in the wilderness and very soon the opportunity came up to buy the land we are now on. We decided to take the big leap to begin building our dream.  This year, Manuel and I left our jobs as employees to move fully off-grid and self-sustained in the wilderness of the savanna.

January/February are in the middle of the dry season. It will be hot during the day. It can reach to 38°C/100°F easily, but it cools at night to 25°C/77°F with an even lower sensation. It doesn’t sound very cool, but the temperature difference does feel very refreshing at night. Because of the location of the land, between the Orinoco and Bita Rivers, there is a near-constant breeze, which takes the edge off in the shade. Nights in February feel cool and feature an incredible night-sky, where you can easily spot the Milky Way.
Sunsets and sunrises on the savanna are unforgettable.

To be comfortable, please bring long-sleeve, breathable shirts and pants, preferably with UV protection for outings, and for nighttime and morning, when it can feel a little chilly. Otherwise, you will want tank tops and comfy loose T-shirts and shorts or pants for daytime work.  Mosquitoes are not a huge concern usually, especially in January/February, when they are minimal on the property, however at dusk and dawn and in the forest, bugs do come out. I find the best repellent is essential oils-based. I use Nantucket Spider brand (a mix of cedar, citronella, peppermint, clove, geranium, lemongrass, rosemary and spearmint) and it is super effective. 
Bring your hats, sunblock, sunglasses and warm-weather tents. While in town you can get some lightweight hammocks for resting in the shade during the day. Headlamps are essential.  We have fast internet at the land, using Starlink, and a hot shower as well as all the basic facilities for comfort.

We will drive those who want to go into Puerto Carreño (the main town) to the river crossing point. After crossing the river by boat, a motocarro (tuk tuk) can be arranged to pick people up and bring them to the center of town. The whole journey costs USD$7 one way from the property into town and takes 30–40-minutes. For those who want to stay the whole weekend, we can help arrange accommodations in town at an Airbnb, with AC, washing machine and wifi.

We are surrounded by rivers and streams that are a short drive away. We will have two large vehicles available to bring people to the river on weekends. The river can be reached by horse back as well for additional trips (for a limited number of people). Travel time to the rivers is a 10-15-minute drive, considering we are in a floodplain and February is when the rivers are the farthest away. They still have abundant and fresh water, given how large they are. Participants can go fishing, kayaking and/or swimming at these rivers.  Nearby is a fascinating rock we can walk on.

Participants can visit the water buffalo and horses on the property. They can also visit a beehive with a special suit and guidance, to harvest some honey. Participants will also be able to see the cashew crop in full swing and taste the fruit, as it will be harvesting season.

We have a firepit where we could share around the fire, grill food and make  Colombian s’mores!  There will be a temazcal (sweat lodge) that can be activated if there is communal interest. 
There are constant bird-sightings, as wild macaws nest on the property as well as many kinds of owls, birds of prey, and migratory birds (see the Gallery photos below).

 

For the weekends, we can also help arrange outings to places of interest nearby:
Visiting an island on the Orinoco River (full day)
River dolphin sighting                                        Kayak trip with guide on the Bita River or other
Visiting petroglyphs on the Orinoco River
Visiting pictographs on a giant rock formation in the savanna
Visiting other rivers farther away with different sights
Fishing trips
Visiting a surviving, ancient, ethnic group still living traditionally across the Orinoco River in Venezuela, with a specialized guide that caters to foreigners with safety as a priority.

We want to make this the best workshop ever for all the participants in every way!  We are so excited for this and to meet all the students and host you for these 5 weeks and build and eat and play and get to know each other!

 

GALLERY

THE PROJECT

Workshop students will be building the first COB structure on this sacred savanna land and the future center for sustainable living education in this area of Colombia.  We are very excited to collaborate with Laura & Manuel as they start off their new Soul- and Heart-led life by being the first to introduce COB to this area of the country, and hosting our intimate, sacred and soulful way of building in community, with 12-15 pairs of loving and passionate muddy hands and feet.  Starting with the “boots”, the stone foundation, to the “hat”, our indestructible, gorgeous signature reciprocal green roof, we will cover EVERYTHING important in between!  You will leave absolutely giddy, confident, transformed, inspired, motivated, excited, and ready for more.  Be prepared for a total life makeover, and renewed strength and empowerment to fearlessly lead a life TRUE to YOU!  We see this in every workshop year after year.  It’s called “Cob Therapy” and it happens organically whether you intend it or not:)

We will be building a 14m2/154ft2 round building (final size dependent on number of students). The breathtaking reciprocal roof structure we build in all of our workshops is the strongest roof there is, due to its interlocking spiral structure, which holds itself up with no outward push on the monolithic round wall of the building. In addition, it mirrors the horizontal social structure favored in indigenous societies, who meet under these types of roofs for Council Circles.  In CruzinCobGlobal workshops, students also meet weekly in Council Circle throughout the workshop, to support all the inner and outer work they experience, by having the opportunity to share and listen to others’ shares.  

Students in this Advanced Cobber Certification training will, as always, learn all the steps to building a complete Cob Building from scratch.  In week 1, we dig the foundation trench and fill it with landscape cloth-wrapped drainage rock/gravel followed by a sturdy30cm-wide aesthetic natural stone stemwall to support the cob wall and roof.  We finish the week off by pouring the first rough layer of adobe/cob floor on a layer of insulation (if appropriate) underlain by a gravel drainage base.  We wrap up the week with the installation of the door frame with braces and stakes to hold it in place as we start the cob wall.  In weeks 2 & 3, we build the monolithic cob wall, layer by layer, with all its detailed insertions (windows, shelves, electrical housing, hooks, niches, bottles, desk/counter, anchors and roof connectors), and finish week 3 off with 2 days of relaxed sculpting.  In week 4 we plaster our beautifully-decorated and solid wall with an earthen and fermented manure scratch coat mix.  On that Friday, following an introduction to the roof on Thursday evening, we practice setting up the roof on the ground several times in the morning.  After lunch, we build and install the Reciprocal Roof primary rafter structure onto the wall.  In our final week, we complete the roof structure and sheathing/decking to support the impermeable Green Roof covering, which goes on on Wednesday or Thursday.  In the final days of week 5, we will close the top of the cob wall to the ceiling and pour the smooth and finer second finish adobe floor coat. The work may continue through Saturday morning if needed, to insure a complete site clean-up before the building is revealed to the local community.  The last Saturday evening, students will enjoy a Graduation ceremony after the Hosts’ Celebration/Gratitude dinner on Saturday evening.  Sunday morning is our Closing Circle followed by our final Brunch/Lunch together and before the afternoon public Open House, when the final project is revealed to the outside world!

ADDENDUM

CCG has taught in many countries of the world and our mission is to create access to everyone interested, especially the local people, so we can create international cob building families where all students grow and learn on a personal and interpersonal level.  We aim to create intercultural and interhuman bonding experiences through our Cob building workshops to heal the world one Cob house at a time.  So please follow your Heart & Soul, if this life-changing adventure is calling to you in 2027!

 

 

DETAILED WORKSHOP DESCRIPTION

The 35-day Advanced Cob Building Workshop consists of 25 days (Monday through Friday) of learning & construction for 4 hours in the morning and 3 hours in the afternoon with theoretical instruction (lectures with graphics) on most Monday, Wednesday and Friday afternoons to complement the hands-on experience.  Students arrive on Saturday and Sunday (no later than 12pm on Sunday) and settle in. The two meals offered on Saturday (dinner) and Sunday (brunch) are optional and an additional fee of $10 each.  The Workshop begins at 4pm on Sunday and ends on a Sunday, 5 weeks later, after the morning Closing Circle & Brunch, around 2pm. Students can also arrive on Saturday to acclimate, if they are coming from far away, and will be asked to cover their own food
 needs, or pay the Host for the extra meal fees.

The Opening Circle begins promptly at 4pm, followed by a Host Site Orientation at 5:00pm, Dinner at 6:00pm and an Introduction to the Project by the Instructors at 7:00pm.  We strongly require that students arrive Saturday before dark or Sunday by 12pm AT THE LATEST!!! We need to begin ALL TOGETHER, as the most important information for the success and smooth-running of the workshop and the well-being of the students will happen on Sunday between 4pm and 8:30pm.  It is very inconvenient for students, Host, Instructors and the group, when someone arrives late and misses any of the opening sessions.  Please be punctual because Monday morning we begin digging the trench for our Cob Building and students need to be prepared, well-informed and ready to go!!!!
 
Following Breakfast from 7:30-8:15am, the morning learning/building session begins at 8:30 am and lasts until 1pm with a 20-minute snack pause at 11am. Lunch break is from 1pm to 2:30pm, which includes a rest time before the 3-hour afternoon session begins, from 2:30pm-5:30pm. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays there is a 60-minute lecture at 2:30pm, followed by construction time. Tuesdays and Thursdays students begin building again right af

ter the rest time. After class in the afternoon there is a 90-minute break before dinner (served from 7pm to 8pm), in which students are encouraged to stretch, do some type of relaxation/movement practice, go swimming, walking and just relax as they wish. 

There is sometimes a student (or more) informally leading yoga and movement practice in the mornings or afternoons (depending on student preference). There will also be one evening per week (usually Thursday) throughout the workshop after dinner for showing slides, videos and having Course-related discussions. Other evenings, except Tuesdays, are mostly free and sometimes students offer informal courses in their specialties and passions. Tuesdays are reserved for our weekly Council Circle, where we do a deeper sharing and listening to attend to the inner worlds of our students, staff & Host(s) during this intense experience.

 

 

On weekends students are free to explore the area, rest onsite, and even continue building, subject to Instructor approval.  While breakfast foods will be available on Saturday mornings for students to make themselves as part of the meal plan, the other weekend meals are provided by students who are welcome to use the kitchen.  Our 

Hosts will be offering students a ride to the river on Saturday and Sunday mornings to get to town to get weekend food provisions and eat out if they wish (USD$7 for the complete trip).  On Friday they will offer a ride to a swim spot to celebrate the end of the week, as a gift of gratitude.

The 35-day Course will offer practical learning by building a complete 14m2 curvilinear building from foundation to roof, as 
described in the “Project” section. Those who complete the 35-day Workshop will receive an Advanced Cobber Certificate of Completion for Foundation, Cob Walls (which includes Door, Windows, Shelves, Art, Niches, Bottles, Electrical Housing & Plumbing preparation), Floor, Plaster & Roof.
 
 

 

DAILY SCHEDULE

 

The daily schedule (subject to slight modifications due to location/climate/time of year) will be:


7:30-8:15 Breakfast



8:30-1:00 Class



1:00-2:30 Lunch



2:30-5:30 Class (Lecture on MWF)



5:30-7:00 Rest/Yoga



7:00-8:00 Dinner



8:00-9:00 Council Circle (Tues) & Slides/Videos/Discussion (Thurs)

Students are expected to be on time and participate in all sessions and required activities as the goal of building a full construction depends on the whole group working together!
 
 

 

COURSE CONTENTS

 

Students will learn every phase of building a cob building from foundation through the reciprocal roof in hands-on building and lectures/theory. In addition to the lectures,
 slideshows and videos will be shown to support and enhance their understanding of cob materials, cob building, design, geography, budgeting, business options and legal issues.

Our hands-on practice will include:

digging foundation trench

pouring gravel and inserting drainage pipe (if applicable)

building foundation stemwall

analyzing soils and materials

making test bricks

deciding on correct mixture

deciding on best location

making cob w/ partner and solo
 building with cob

preparing and inserting the door

preparing and inserting fixed and opening windows

preparing and inserting shelves

inserting bottle windows, glass and other objects

inserting electrical housing and outlet/switch boxes (when applicable)*

insert PVC pipe for plumbing in walls (when applicable)*
sculpting

preparing and applying earthen plaster (1 coat)

pouring an earthen floor (2 coats)

preparing walls for roof connection

building reciprocal roof frame

putting on roof sheathing and other elements

installing impermeable liner and green roof components

making small-scale cob designs of future projects (time permitting)
 
In addition to Cob Building practices, the Course material 
also includes:

legal cob construction practices & the international cob code (Appendix AU in the IRC)

cost analysis

creating a cob business (building/teaching)

assisting, building and teaching with CruzinCobGlobal

*While the insertion of electrical housing and one or more outlet/switch boxes and PVC pipes to hold plumbing are always included in the workshops, the simplicity or complexity depends on the host’s design and preferences. There will be no electrical wiring or plumbing pipes installed during workshop. That is beyond the focus of this course and requires professional experience and certification/licensing.
 

 

REQUIREMENTS & IMPORTANT INFORMATION

Students will need to come prepared for demanding physical work from Day 1.

This includes bringing:

Work clothes appropriate for the country and climate we are in
Work boots or other closed-toe shoes (for foundation and roof)
Flip-flops or Crocs (for cobbing/plaster days)
Rubber dishwashing gloves (for lime mortar)
Work Gloves (for stone work)
Tool Belt
Tape Measure
Box Cutter
/Straight Edge
Wood Hand Saw with medium teeth (cheap)*
Level (2ft)*
Hammer*
Japanese plastering trowel(s) (order online)
Basic pointed steel mortar/plastering trowel
Ear Plugs (roof week)
Safety Glasses
Wood Chisel*
4”-6” Diameter Round Plastic Container Lids (for plastering)
Good Moisturizer
 for Hands & Feet
Hat
Sunglasses
Water Bottle
Notebook/Pen/Camera
Carpenter Pencil & Sharpener
Sample of your Soil (optional)
Any other power tools like circular saw, grinder with metal blade, cordless drill, chop saw, extra hammers, trowels, saws, levels…will be very welcome if you have them and are driving in.  Some students fly in with only carry-on luggage and can’t bring some of these tools.
*These tools will be very helpful to bring if you can, to minimize sharing and waiting, but if you can’t the Host will provide them.

***PLEASE MAKE SURE TO READ THIS IMPORTANT INFO!***

 

Everyone is essential to the completion of the build!  These workshops are designed for people that want to learn how to build a complete structure from start to finish in a professional manner and amount of time. They are very intensive and, while we make time for yoga, stretching, dancing, music, relaxing….all students are expected to be present and participating in all building and lecture learning hours, unless absolutely incapable due to illness or have some other significant/emergency reason. This is because we design the size of the building
 and organize the structure of the workshop in accordance with the number of students and when people are absent, it impacts the whole group and the other students have to work harder and it disturbs the integrity of the group. It takes the whole village to see the building through from start to finish!  In addition, Instructors set up building work according to students’ strengths and learning needs.  In short, if you don’t feel that you will be able to b

e present every day for every session, please re-think your readiness for our Advanced Cobber Training.  While you do not need to have any prior experience with building, we attract serious and highly-motivated students!  So if that’s you, you will be surrounded by others with the same desire to learn and build!  Everyone has a role every day all day!

We need and depend on everyone’s full participation in each day of the workshop.  This is a total group effort on all levels:  physically, mentally, emotionally and energetically. If someone is physically absent from the site and lectures due to illness or other urgency for more than one full day, they will need to make up the days missed in a subsequent workshop to receive the Certificate (only paying food costs).  If physically injured or ill (and capable), it is requested students still be present at the site and for lecture and other required evening activities, so as to not miss out on information and keep learning by observation, and thus still qualify for the Certificate.
The workshop intensity changes from week 1 to week 5 with the focus of the week. The first foundation week breaks people in with the work of moving, lifting, rolling and placing rocks and is a new and demanding physical and mental experience for most students. It also includes 
the first layers and coat of cob floor. The second week and part of the third week of cob-making and building are similar to the rock foundation week in physical demand, but are more flowing, multi-faceted and cardiovascular in movement. On Thursday & Friday of week 3, the workshop takes a turn and slows down and the body can rest as students connect with their creative source now to design sculptures and beautify the walls around niches, shelves, windows, etc.  This is a very special rewarding experience and time of the workshop, decorating the walls with personal meaning as expressed by each unique student.  Usually there is an overarching theme decided on by the Host(s).  Plastering follows sculpting and is another enjoyable more lightweight physical experience, that lends itself to talking and sharing at

the wall in a meditative rhythm, as the students have bonded and shared deeply through a variety of experiences for a month. On day 5 of week 4, after the wall has been plastered, the roof begins.  This part is the beginning of a change of pace from the earthen building work to carpentry skills, power tools, measuring, sawing, drilling, hammering, screwing, trimming, etc. But now the workshop is in its final stretch and there is a boost of energy to wrap up the roof, close the top of the wall, and tend to finishing touches….the grand finale!

For students wanting a more mellow slow-paced cob experience, along with time for personal exploration and experimentation following their own rhythm, these workshops are not for you! However, you can find a more suitable workshop online with other organizations that offer a
 shorter period, focused on building a garden wall, a bench, a compost toilet or some other smaller scale project.

Students are required to read “The Hand-Sculpted House” and “Essential Cob Construction” (see website Resources page) before the workshop begins, and any other books they find or are listed on our Resources page, ideally on plastering and reciprocal roof building.  We ask that you watch the many videos on our our “International Cob Workshop” playlist on Claudine’s YouTube channel, the new educational YouTube series “Building a Mud Home” by Cooper Green, posted on the Natural Buildings channel and created from our North Carolina workshop footage, and the ones posted on CruzinCobGlobal’s website , to get an idea of what is expected. Also it is a great idea to watch as many other videos on cob and reciprocal roofs as you can to come mentally prepared. Please bring your book(s).

Students must tend to their own personal needs, drink alot of water, rest when needed, and exert themselves at a steady pace. Students who cannot do the strenuous physical work should let us know when registering, so we can make sure the workshop is a good fit. If approved before the workshop begins, we will aim to adjust appropriately. There is alot to do to support making and building with cob, while respecting your physical limitations!!!

Finally, please bring a watch or use your phone to be prompt and ready for each part of the Course, including mealtimes. Please make sure you share your dietary restrictions/allergies with CCG in your registration form. Note that very demanding dietary needs will not be
 able to be met (vegan & non-gluten ok) and those students may be recommended not to participate, unless they are willing to meet their special needs on their own, which will not include kitchen access on weekdays. Please discuss with Claudine at time of desire to register. Also please bring your essential snacks and foods, pillow and whatever you NEED to be comfortable and happy. Feel free to also bring playlists, speaker, slides, videos,
 movies and books to share, as well as a sample of your soil to test.
We look forward to opening you to a whole new world of experience, skill, growth and transformation as you bond with your new COB family for life!

 

MEALS & ACCOMMODATIONS

 

We will serve three meals a day from Monday through Friday, do-it-yourself breakfasts on Saturdays,  the Welcome and Celebration Dinners, and Farewell Brunch.  On weekends after Saturday breakfast, students will be on their own for food and may use the onsite kitchen.  Meals will be  vegetarian and locally-based as much as possible, including some yummy farm products! Carnivores, pescatarians & omnivores will, if desired, be offered non-vegetarian options of meals a few times a week and/or supplemented with canned fish, dried meats, cold cuts. They are also welcome to buy or bring their own supplements.

We will attend to vegan and gluten-free diets if needed, but any other restrictions & allergies that require extensive preparation needs, will probably not be able to be honored, and kitchen will only be accessible on weekends for students.

Please come equipped to camp with lightweight sleeping bag and tent or hammock. More detailed information will be sent a few weeks prior to workshop start date.

 

INSTRUCTORS

 

Tom Van Well, Cob Instructor

Hello fellow COB Lovers!
After living on farms for some years in my early twenties and getting in touch with natural building, I set off to my first CruzinCobGlobal workshop in the summer of 2022 in the Azores, where we built a beautiful oven with a bench.  A few months later I travelled to the US to take a proper 5-week Full Build Workshop and became hooked on Cob and the whole workshop experience.  For me, this was the start of a muddy journey that could not have turned out better!  COB and my work with earthen plaster have taken me to many places around the world to create and meet the most amazing pe

ople, many of which are either colleagues or friends at present. In addition to teaching CCG workshops in Puerto Rico, Portugal and now Colombia,  I continue to expand my interests and knowledge and skills in natural building, notably timber framing, light straw clay, landscape architecture, adobe, hempcrete and last but not least, my big passion: plaster. Plaster has become my main focus, for which I have found myself traveling far and wide, following my curiosities all the way to spending months in Japan studying with Masters of the trade. I love to spark a curiosity in people to start asking questions themselves. Understanding that mistakes are inevitable, and with the right mindset, solutions are too. My aim is to bring this with me in whatever I do, wherever I am, also in the workshop with you! All of the topics this workshop touches upon are universes by themselves, and I’ll give nothing but my best to guide us safely through these 5-weeks. In my experience, connections made in the clay are strong ones, I look forward to creating and connecting with you!  Hasta pronto en Colombia!

 

Thomas Ott, Cob Assistant

I was raised in a little village called Heule, tracing back to the neolithic age meaning “shining waters”, in the West Flemish part of Belgium. Surrounded with pasture fields, corn crops and family close by, my upbringing was rooted in slow and simple living in connection with nature. After graduating high school, the urge to explore, grounded in genuine curiosity about our precious planet earth, its complexity, beauty and cultures, made me leave Belgium at the age of 19.

A shift happened back in 2018 whilst traveling through Colombia, with its vast and diverse landscape. I offered a friend to help build her cob house, having no idea what cob was. I was in such a remote place, the materials had to be brought by donkey. Using the body as a tool to alchemize an idea existing only in the imagination, to then see it rising out of the ground by the use of raw materials, made me remember something dormant, something not encouraged growing up in a system focused on efficiency and profit. The approach towards natural building stretches beyond the end result only.  It’s inclusive approach makes you reconnect with the body, the senses, critical and solution-based thinking, playfulness and above all – cooperation with other fellow people with whom you join forces with a common end goal in mind, a powerful act of our potential.

Within this mindset, doors opened. One of those doors was Waking Life, an arts and music festival based in Alentejo, Portugal, the country I call home, for now. For the last 8 years I have created temporary installations from natural materials—bark, branches, stones, earth, roots, wool— emerged out of the landscape. An attempt to grasp what the materials want to become, follow the intelligence embedded in their form, and build structures that exist for a season before returning to earth. This year another shift happened, and another door opened.  Joining CruzinCobglobal’s 5-week Full Build workshop in Portugal this summer, led by Tom Van Well, I built my first Cob house with 8 other students… in awe!  What a joyful well-rounded experience like I never lived before, working with natural materials to create a solid functional building.  I immediately followed that workshop with a cob sauna build, learning tadelakt and executing an amazing sculpture (see photo), and thus a new chapter has begun. A chapter in which solid building foundational skills merge with craft and creativity. Exciting to say the least !  Vamos pa’ Colombia!

 

TRANSPORTATION

 

Students coming from abroad should fly into Bogotá (BOG) with a second flight to Puerto Carreño (PCR) on Satena Airlines.  Tickets should be purchased as soon as you register for the workshop to get the best rates.  Again students should arrive onsite no sooner than Saturday January 23 and plan their departure on Sunday February 28 or Monday, March 1, unless otherwise agreed on with Hosts.  There will be two transports organized for students, one on Saturday and one on Sunday, to the workshop site, as well at the end of the workshop.

 

REGISTRATION & PAYMENT

 

Very Early Bird Rate: $2500, paid in full by November 12, 2026

Early Bird Rate: $2600, paid in full by December 10, 2026

Standard Rate: $2700, paid in full by January 7, 2027

We are offering 4 work trade positions which give you a $250 discount for working one hour each weekday from 6:30am to 7:30am either on the site prepping materials and other work as guided by the Instructors or preparing & putting away breakfast. Two persons for each service.  These are the first options to go. Depending on when you pay in full, the discount is taken off the appropriate amount.

Payment in USD can be made using Zelle, Paypal and Venmo to claudinedesiree@gmail.com. Europeans and other international students can pay in Euros at the current conversion rate using the Wise app/website using same email.  You can also use this link for a free transfer up to 500€:  https://wise.com/invite/ihpc/claudined
Please contact claudine@cruzincobglobal.org or Whatsapp +1(831) 212-7225 to register and ask any questions.
To hold your spot (there are 12 for new students and 3 for returning students), you can make a 50% deposit.  The balance owed depends on the date of payment in full. Final payment deadline is January 7, 2027.

 

CANCELLATION POLICY

 

Students who have paid and cancel by November 24th, 2026 can get a full refund minus a 5% administrative/inconvenience fee on the amount they have paid.
Students who have paid and cancel by December 24th, 2026 will not receive a refund. They can receive a credit for a future workshop within two years minus a 10% administrative/inconvenience fee.
Students who have paid and cancel after December 24th, 2026 will not receive a refund or credit unless they have proof of an emergency situation or other reason out of their control, in which case they will receive a credit for two years minus the 10% admin fee.

 

SEE YOU IN THE MUD!