up in space, back in time, down to earth, go within

21 aug - 8 sept CES (see photoalbum)

Cess Report
Arrival:
In spite of your excellent efforts to get me to Firenze on time it was all to no avail as the train to Milano arived medio hora tardi, and so I missed my connection to Svissera[switzerland]. Well I wasn't too worried and all worked out as a few bussess and angelic lifts(autostops) later I arrived at the small piccolo of chironico and proceded climb up to the even smaller piccolo Ces. It was already getting dark(8pm) but at 9:30 i empirically proved that one could leave grempoli at midday and still arrive to get a cold dinner at Ces(1400m above sea level).

1st week:
Benny and Florian, 2 young male stutgartians, where the members of the Ces foundation who welcomed me to the main house, mao moa, with it's low ceilings and beams. It was built around 1685! In my first week I was quite oblivious to politics and personalities and consiquently quite happy. I picked herbs from the garden, cooked, cut wood and started to build a garden fence with Florian. Though I didn't find the community I expected, the people were interesting and the place beautiful. The town consisted of the 2 ces members, me, a farmer and his wife and 2 or 3 temporary workers who work for him in summer. Then there where also 2 young woman who lived 15 minutes away and they really lived the simple live. They've been there 12 years(since they were 20) and live like people did 100/200 years ago. I liked them though. They say they sleep a lot in winter :) A friend of theirs also gave me an address of a south african woman living near castel focognano in toskana and said she thinks we would fit well together! Well who am I to argue with prophesy ;)

2nd week:
The history, politics and conflict reveals itself. The pace of live quickened as some guests arrived(the foundations runs 2 rustic guesthouses), also the girlfriend of florian, Benny got a little dog and visits by the wild women. They started telling me about the semi-hippy(how hippy can a swiss be;) origins of ces in the seventies and the current state of affairs. Ces owns one third of the village, the farmer has 2 houses and rents the rest from ces and the rest belong to
the ticinese locals who only come occasionally. The farmer and ces are suing each other and some locals and ces also seem at loggerheads. So that explains the somewhat non-existent community. The original vision from the seventies is no more. Then Florian beat his dog badly when it ran away that it was limping for days. This prompted me to stop speaking to him as bullies and those who mistreat animals are not high on my tolerable people list.

3rd week:
Things got better as a new wwoofer arrived and also swiss guy who is doing his social service. He quit the army when they wanted him to go and protect the g8 leaders in davos. I started to explore the area more and spent more time swimming, walking and meditating. I also finished a book of Rudulf Steiner(study of man) i found in their library. His unique perspective on life was a pleasant surprise and very fortuitous. He was active in the fields of health, spirituality, architecture, education and farming. These teachings i will definately explore further :)

In the end I enjoyed my time there but was ready to move on.
Read my Cess Report...