Mozuelos de Sedano - The village I've helped to rekindle

Going from Burgos to Santander by N-623, you can take a diversion (Km 42) on the right towards Sedano village and after five kilometers a new one on the left to end up in Mozuelos de Sedano. This little village is known because 26 years ago, a group of young people bought there a house and since then the life has rekindled in this almost uninhabited place. In fact, anybody lives there in winter.

JOC-E is the name of the NGO which owns the house you can see in the picture. In 1990 when it was bought, the village didn`t have water or electricity supplies. There weren't mobile phones either and the nearest phone was 5 km away from Mozuelos de Sedano village.
For 25 years, summer after summer, we've been organizing a work camp in August. Firstly we started rebuilding the house, the roof, the walls and the inside parts. After that, we bought a little stone house which we rebuilt and now it's used as store room. In two small pieces of land we built a kitchen and a dinig room to be used during the summer camps.  Finally, we had necesity of a big meeting room for parties, gatherings and other activities so we bought another piece of land where we built a wooden house. In the meantime, we've restored the church, the stone walls, the paths, the springs, a shared oven to bake bread, etc. Futhermore, we've started a proyect called "art in the nature". The pictures show two of the sculptures we've done.

With the inhabitants of the village, we've created the "Mozuelos Friends Association" and sponsored by this, we've recovered some traditional customs.  We gather together every now and then in order to do some works in the village. Also, we organize the village traditional party which takes place the first weekend of August.

We've worked hard there but the effort has been worthwhile. During all these years, the best of all has been the people who have took part in this proyect. Interesting, self-confident and friendly people with the same point of view in many questions. People who like doing new things. We've had really good times. Parties, games, works, meals, nights, demostrations, etc. We used to say that if you slept, you would lose what happens. So, we slept only a few hours. Three or four every night or even less. We spent nights looking at the stars, singing, talking, laughing, living a few days in a different way.

Mozuelos' house is the perfect shelter for us. The place where we can speak, laugh, have fun, share our experiences. We've created a parallel word for us. The clothes you wear, the lenguage you use, the rhythm of the day, etc. Everything changes when you arrive there. As the road finishs in the village, in some way you're at the end of the word.

Many times in the city during the rest of the year I feel homesick of this village. I'm really proud of taking part in this proyect because I think it's one of the best things I've ever done.