I just had the most peaceful, challenging, and entertaining three weeks of my summer at the Bosque Village, located in the highlands of Michoacán, México.  The new retreat center offers rustic cabanas, camping, and a small guesthouse for visitors ranging from volunteers interested in learning about permaculture to meditation enthusiasts doing personal retreats in the amazing naturescape of the Bosque.

The Bosque offers a range of activities for visitors to engage in, and the folks running the programs offer assistance in planning every visitors' stay.  For me, I decided to spend my first week on a juice fast, with concentration on meditation and yoga practices.  The second week I pulled off the fast, continued meditation and yoga daily, and also started painting a large ongoing mural in the art studio.  My third week at the Bosque I decided to try a new activity every day - from archery to cooking tortillas - along with my daily yoga and meditation.  Everyone was so helpful to try to help me create a deep experience for myself during my stay.

The food at the Bosque Village is vegetarian - vegan meals on request.  Continental style breakfast in the guesthouse which is kept stocked with eggs, fresh fruits, oatmeal and granola.  Lunch is a large buffet, and dinner is light - usually a soup with breads.  No one is ever left hungry, and the head cook plans all meals to be healthy; low in fat, sugars and sodium (not to mention delicious!).  No partially hydrogenated oil is permitted at the Bosque, and guests are discouraged from introducing unhealthy foods. 

During my juice fast, the head cook showed me how to prepare juice and suggested appropriate vegetables to use - lots came from the gardens at the Bosque!  My favorite was a concoction I created with chard, beet, and ginger - I loved the encouragement to be imaginative in my diet.

The Bosque Village is located up a bumpy mountain road - it takes about 20 minutes to drive in from town, and it's recommended if you drive to use a 4wheel drive vehicle.  Someone from the Bosque meets most visitors in town to shuttle them up the road.  For day trips around the highlands, it's really easy to walk to a small nearby village to catch a bus to other areas.  As the Bosque is so rural, this is not a recommended retreat center for people who want to be able to take night trips to bars - there aren't any around!  The accommodations are comfortable, but the Bosque is not a 'resort'- this is a place fit for active people interested in a location that offers a fun, creative environment for whatever paths want to be followed.  One of my favorite aspects of the Bosque philosophy is that every retreater, visitor, volunteer, and resident follows their own path - spiritual or not - with no emphasis on indoctrination of beliefs.  They discourage proselytizing and encourage living simply and having a nice and helpful attitude towards others.