A retreat at the mantiqueira mountains
São Paulo
Olá, we are Ale and Tissy.
In 2019 we left São Paulo in search of something more. We found a special place, in the middle of the Mantiqueira mountains, in a small village in Monteiro Lobato, and started building our little piece of paradise: a permacultural yoga retreat center.
We fell in love with the amazing views, the civilization is distant, and we appreciate the silence. We've been planting a lot of native trees and gardens to bring back the biodiversity that belongs here. We love our community, our neighbors are mainly artists and organic farmers.
We love making things. Creating, drawing and building. We have been on this journey for 5 years almost non-stop. Our main goal is to materialize places where people can connect with themselves, others and with nature.
Throughout our projects we really connected with bioconstruction and building with wood. We've created two domes, one being a yoga hall, a COB house, small structures and we love doing green roofs.
We will be focusing on COB small structures to host more volunteers. Little cozy rooms with a simple project that uses only materials that we already have (pallets and dirt from our own land). Bioconstruction is a lot of fun, and very empowering because we reconnect with the tradition of centuries of communities building their own houses. It will be extra special for the volunteers to build the house for the next volunteers.
Let us know if you have experience working with power tools.
We also have a PAYED position for long term stays for our retreats (cleaning and helping with the kitchen).
The volunteers are hosted at the same rooms that we host our retreat guests.
We provide rooms with amazing hot shower, a lot of personal space and also a stunning view of the mountains. It's a great place to connect, rest and restore.
Since we are in the mountains, the village is 40 minutes walking, the place is more suited for quiet and chilled activities such as reading, resting, writing and contemplating.
Some important rules are that we have a veggie space and no alcohol or drugs of any kind are allowed in our land.
We are currently 2h15 away from São Paulo center, and 2h away from Guarulhos International Airport (GRU). It's easy to get an UBER directly to our farm (we have some good contacts that we recommend). Also, it's possible to come by bus, from the city of São José dos Campos to Monteiro Lobato center. From there you can take a taxi from the bus station of Monteiro Lobato depending on the time you arrive (20 min from our land), or if we're already there, we can give you a ride.
Our volunteers work for 5 hours per day, 5 days a week. We really like to start early to finish the working day by lunchtime.
We'll provide all ingredients for you to take care of your meals.
Let us know if you know good vegan recipes! :)
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Learning opportunities
Vegetable farming
Forestry
Green Building
Methods or systems
Permaculture
Regenerative agriculture
Host type
Self-sufficiency property
11
Hectares
|
27.2
Acres
Alexandre
Member since 2023
Languages spoken:
English, Portuguese, Spanish
Sun
Mon
Tue
Wed
Thu
Fri
Sat
Response rate: 95%
Response time: typically within 12 days
São Paulo
Monteiro Lobato
Reviews
Madita
Germany
•
May 2026
I had the most wonderful time at Clube do Mato with Ale and Tissy. They are very kind and generous people who work hard to create a peaceful little paradise in the mountains. I learned so much about bioconstruction, and it was fascinating to see the little house we were building evolve day by day.
Muuuito obrigada! It was truly a pleasure working and spending time with you both. See you soon ;)
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Friederike
Germany
•
May 2026
A lovely farm with friendly people and animals. The village and its shop are within easy reach, and there’s plenty of time to explore alongside work. :)
Soraya
Germany
•
November 2023
Where to begin? Ale and Tissy are honestly such nice, warm, helpful and welcoming people. Working together on their farm, it felt like being part of a Team and their Family. Their place in the mountains is breathtakingly beautiful and so peaceful. The Atmosphere is very easy going, we ate together every day and talked a lot. This was my first woofing experience and i couldnt have asked for more. If you get a Chance to stay with them, do it!!!
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Sarah
United Kingdom
•
April 2023
We think that Ale and Tissy might be angels in very poor disguise. They are funny, generous and intelligent human beings who we adore. We were only supposed to stay a few days to help them with their decorating but we're thinking of moving in. Their place is paradise; the views are spectacular, the newly refurbished rooms are gorgeous (although we are biased, we helped to decorate them), they have adorable pets, the local town is a little eco-heaven and they themselves are alright too. In fact, we are not going to recommend this place because we don't want it to become too popular. But really in truth, you absolutely must go.
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