Price and donations
The base price for the retreat is 285 €. The base price covers the travel expenses of the teachers and the managers, the food expenses and some other practicalities. The bus from Rovaniemi to the trekking area is included in the price; meals during the bus trips are not included.
We feel that financial situation should not prevent anybody from participating, so we are willing to offer the retreat for a reduced price, if needed. If the base price is too high for you, please contact us at retriitit2@nirodha.fi and let us know how much you are able to pay. If you would like to support those in a difficult financial situation, you can pay more than the base price.
The teachers and organizers do not receive any payment for their services, but offer these freely, so that as many as possible have a possibility to benefit from the teachings regardless of their financial situation. This principle of generosity is very central in the teachings of the Buddha, and has made it possible that we can still practice meditation 2500 years after him. The retreatants may support the teachers and organizers by donations after the retreat; we ask you to take cash with you for this. The teachers live primarily on donations.
Registration and cancellations
You can sign up for the retreat by filling in the registration form. Once you have registered, you will receive an invoice for the 50 euros registration fee. Please pay the invoice using the reference number by due date. The registration fee cannot be transferred to another retreat.
Before the retreat we will send you a second invoice for the rest of the retreat fee. Make sure you pay the invoice by the due date, or your place will be given to the next person on the waiting list.
If you wish to pay via Paypal, please choose ”Registration with PayPal invoice” on the registration form AND contact us via email at retriitit2@nirodha.fi. We will create a Paypal invoice for you then.
In case you need to cancel the retreat, we kindly ask that you tell us as soon as possible, so we can give your place to the next person in the queue. In case of cancellations, the registration fee is not refundable. If you have already paid the second invoice but need to cancel, we will unfortunately be able to refund you only if we can find another participant to fill in the empty place.
If you are coming from abroad, please note that we are not able to provide any documents for visa applications because of limited resources.
Time, place and travel arrangements
The retreat starts on Wednesday the 22th of June. Our bus leaves from Rovaniemi railway station at around 7:45 a.m. and takes us to the Hammastunturi wilderness area, where we start trekking in the afternoon. The trek ends on the 29th of June. The bus picks us up so that we are back at Rovaniemi railway station by 8:45 p.m.
A good way to travel from Southern Finland to Rovaniemi is by taking a night train from Helsinki. We recommend booking the train that leaves from Helsinki on Tuesday 21st of June at 7:29 p.m. and arrives at Rovaniemi the next morning at 7.29. a.m. For travelling back, we recommend the night train leaving from Rovaniemi on Wednesday 29th of June at 8:57 p.m. and arriving in Helsinki at 9:15 a.m. Train tickets are not included in the retreat price and participants should purchase them by themselves. If you need help with this, please contact us.
We will arrange a place close to the trekking area where it will be possible to store some equipment (like spare clothes for the journey back) for the duration of the trek, and have a sauna after the trek.
Trekking conditions
We will walk partly on paths and partly outside of them. In some places the terrain may be wet or stony. We will wade across streams and small rivers. Nights are spent in shared tents, and food will be cooked with portable stoves. There will be no toilets available. Washing is possible in cold streams and lakes; it is also possible to spend a week without washing oneself. If clothes get wet, it may not be possible to get them dry immediately.
The conditions in late June vary a lot from year to year. There may be huge swarms of mosquitoes and other biting insects, or almost none; in any case, it is good to bring a mosquito hat and maybe even a mosquito jacket, too. The weather may vary from warm to even occasional snowfall; most probably daytime temperatures will be between 5 and 25 degrees. The temperature may go below zero at night.
Hammastunturi wilderness is a remote area, and we will probably have a chance to be mostly on our own there. Mobile phones will not work everywhere. The organizers will be carrying a satellite phone for possible emergencies.
Equipment needed
The equipment needed for the trek can be found in the equipment list.
It may be possible to lend some of the equipment, or it might be possible to rent them somewhere. Good equipment is rather lightweight, as we will have a lot to carry, anyway.
We will send the particants other useful information closer to the retreat.
We do not have an insurance for the participants. It may be good to have your own personal insurance, which also covers trekking type of activities.
Food
On the trek we will eat trekking type of food, which is light to carry. We eat three meals a day, and there will also be some common snacks. All the food will be vegetarian/vegan. Please tell us about your food allergies in the registration form. If you have very specific requirements, please contact us beforehand to ensure that we can accommodate your needs.
We will get the drinking water from the streams and lakes; the water is safe to drink as such. The trek is a drug-free event.
Contact info
If you have any questions, you can contact us at retriitit2@nirodha.fi. We wish this will be a fruitful trekking retreat for everyone!
You are warmly welcome,
Elli Alasaari (practical management, ellialasaari@gmail.com, 044 042 7077)
Anna Backholm (practical management, 040 536 2946)
Marianne Kautiala (registration, +358 50 531 8228)