Niklas volunteered at the Bosque for two and a half months.
He saw all sides of the Bosque Village. He was here through a large social event with 50 people, through slow times with just 2 volunteers, and through normal times with our average crowd of around 10 people. Niklas is easy going, so friendly, and so intelligent!
Niklas worked on a variety of projects, including preparing for the rainy season by digging gardens, fixing the sauna, working on the chicken coop, repairing a large cistern, building benches and other construction work, and building a cob hut. He also set up a few meditation spots and helped us discover some particularly magical places in the forest. In his free time he spent many hours reading about permaculture and food forestry, and came up with some great suggestions that we immediately implemented – the most important project is a new small pool to collect water during the rainy season.
A Buddhist, Niklas often led meditation for other visitors and volunteers. He meditated daily in various spots in the forest, and included people who were interested. Brian and Niklas worked together on future plans for a spiritual center at the Bosque. His experience with Zen Buddhism and his dedication to his own practice helped us understand what we need to do to make a great spiritual center here.
Niklas is also a talented graphic designer. He created a logo for the new spiritual center, a banner for the center’s website, and he also spent many hours working on the Bosque Village map. We now have a vector based map to work with and we couldn’t be happier with his help!
Our volunteer manager, Chilino, was also so happy to work with Niklas. Chilino often has trouble communicating with our volunteers, as the majority (Niklas included) don’t speak much Spanish. But for some, the language barrier slips away. Niklas and Chilino grew close over the 2 months he was here, and Chilino was appreciative to have such a great helper. Niklas is so respectful, smart, and thoughtful that any barriers of language, class, or ethnicity were completely irrelevant.
Dogs and cats and people and all living things, Niklas is a kind hearted person and takes care of the beings around him. We had a recent fly infestation (it happens every year as the rains come), and the expression rings true for Niklas: he won’t even hurt a fly. The dogs will miss his presence and his daily dose of love. And as for the people, another volunteer mentioned to me that she was amazed at how much she missed him. Having known him for just three weeks, Niklas made such an impression on her and on the other people around him.
For anyone who gets a chance to know this guy, know him deeply and enjoy. He’s a story teller, a hard worker, a talented artist, and a great musician. This man can’t have enemies; he’s just so darn like-able! We miss you Niklas, and we hope to see you soon.
Working on the map:
Reading outside the Casita:
With a kitty!:
And playing guitar:
Hi in S. america,
Sitting here this juni eve with his mom and eating strawberries, in Sweden, I do recall Niklas all empatic sides, and his good hand with cats and dogs, I really hope he enjoy his ongoing trip and his search, and that he finaly find what he is looking for, maybe comming back to the bosque village soon.
Lucien
Love the project, love the place, love the guy.