"Life's a Beach"

Last week, I was invited to tag along with a group from Explayarte to check out the new Teatro de la Ciudad (the theatre of the city) being built in the Ejido, next to the big Walmart on the Arco Vial. This one of several ambitious municipal projects being completed by the Municipal Government of Solidaridad. The invite came to us as a part of a ...

So, I though you all might like to see what some of the cenotes look like that have been found in our little Xpu Ha neighborhood. This is the cenote that is on Jeff's lot. He is Mitch and Sev's builder and has completed several homes in the same enclave. His experience dealing with his own cenote has given him invaluable insight as to what ...

I had hoped to be able to post an update before now but life somehow got in the way. Lots of progress being made on site as you will see from the photo update. One big surprise since our last blog entry...a dry cenote was uncovered near (but not in) the shallow end of the pool. The opening has been enlarged a bit for ease of entry and an open ...

As some of you may know, Rob and I have finally decided to settle down and build our home in Mexico. Almost by accident, we found the perfect neighborhood in Xpu Ha, in the jungle about 20 minutes south of Playa del Carmen. The lots are good sized, very reasonably priced, the development is gorgeous and all the services we need are available, ...

One Saturday every month, Ak Lu'um International School hosts a workshop called Sustainable Saturdays in which the public is invited to come and get some hands on experience learning about sustainable building and living techniques that can be implemented here on the Riviera Maya. They have dabbled in waddle and daub construction, composting ...

Starting October 24th 2009, Ak Lu'um School will host a series of Sustainable Living Workshops in coordination with BambuSur, a locally owned, ecologically responsible building company. This is an excellent opportunity to learn about sustainable building techniques and materials and eco-friendly systems. The cost of each workshop is $250 pesos ...

 After a very successful second year in their temporary Campestre home, Ak Lu’um International School inaugurated their beautiful new and permanent jungle campus with a well attended Open House. A small ceremony of was performed to give thanks and bless the new school site as the Ak Lu’um teachers and students launch into a new ...

Good news - The plans and drawing for the house are moving along splendidly and we are really pleased with our architect. He has strong opinions but is still open to our crazy ideas and doesn't mind sketching and re-sketching as we go along. We still have issues with lack of storage space. Three kids with countless bikes, boogie boards and ...

In our efforts to design our own home we have been doing a fair bit of investigating. Much of this time has been spent visiting other homes in the area such as those being built in Sac Be and checking out what building materials and methods have been used in the construction of the buildings. While we are trying to employ as many ...

We have been working with our architect, Carlos Alamillo, for a few weeks now, going back and forth with ideas, looking at sketches  and researching ideas for a "green" house. In contrast to the homes that we visited in SacBe, most of the "eco friendly" homes being built around the globe are quite modern. While the homes ...