Mai Xobo - Earth House
Poacocha, Peru
In the local language of Shipibo-Conibo, Mai = Earth, Xobo = House/Home , so we called this little house Mai Xobo in the village of Paococha/ Paohyan, upriver from Pucallpa, Peru. The "X" makes an "Sh" sound, so it is pronounced like "show-boo". This was a collaboration with the skilled local carpenters, who worked with the very hard local wood with all hand tools. Many curious kids, teenagers, and brave adults also got their hands and feet in the mud, sculpting this first little earthen tambo in the village. I also could not have done this without the dedicated help of Dietrich, another traveler from Germany who helped significantly with the carpentry and cob in the final week of construction.
I was able to embed quite a lot of trash in the building, mostly plastic bottles. If bottles were crushed, they got entirely embedded, and some I left whole as windows to let in light through the earth. One set of bottles are in rainbow order as I collected trash from every colour and stuffed them into their own bottle for above one of the two doors. It was fun to learn palm thatched roofing, a couple different tying techniques. This little house also features two trap doors in the floor for additional storage.
At this point, the building is raw cob, mostly on-site clay and dried out grass that was weeded around the agriculture immediately around the building site. Winter 2022-2023 I plan to return to add sculptures and finish plaster.
I was able to embed quite a lot of trash in the building, mostly plastic bottles. If bottles were crushed, they got entirely embedded, and some I left whole as windows to let in light through the earth. One set of bottles are in rainbow order as I collected trash from every colour and stuffed them into their own bottle for above one of the two doors. It was fun to learn palm thatched roofing, a couple different tying techniques. This little house also features two trap doors in the floor for additional storage.
At this point, the building is raw cob, mostly on-site clay and dried out grass that was weeded around the agriculture immediately around the building site. Winter 2022-2023 I plan to return to add sculptures and finish plaster.
