Weekend images; The Land and Tulum Beach

This weekend we had a second gathering at the land. For the occasion a new social area was added close to the cenote, and may I say I just love it.

It is shaded and fresh and complete with hammocks and a great swing.

We made new friends and visited with old friends visiting from Miami and received many humbling and wonderful compliments on the progress ass well as the project in general.

This morning we headed to the beach to see our friends off, it was pouring when we went, but throughout the morning it cleared up and we enjoyed some lovely hours by the ocean.

A blessed weekend indeed!

Keenan loves to visit the animals, and lately he finds eggs almost every time he goes

  helping to make the veggie skewers for the BBQ

  New "beach" area seen from the kitchen (cenote is just behind to the right)

 We are once again enjoying the fresh waters of the cenote, the crocodile have not been seen for about a month now, we assume he went onto more private waters, 

although we still keep a sharp eye every time we go in!

 "beach" area seen from the cenote

The new swing, isn't it lovely! I would like one for inside our house as well:)

These swings are handmade by a Swedish girl in Playa Del Carmen, you can special order and choose the colors of your choice, and the seat is a gorgeous solid wooden piece.

 This morning on the actual beach...

 Inspiration....

I have been thinking we might add some rock mosaic to our walls, to break up the cement look, and I love the look of these simple spirals..

  Tulum beaches are so lovely and peaceful. There are few people at any given time, no motor boats or jet skis are allowed and they are very relaxed about dogs who are welcome to come along.

A very laid back and beautiful experience!

 We gathered many treasures gifted from the ocean

More inspiration, perhaps on a smaller scale for just two or three hammocks, and then I would send some climbing passion fruit vines over as well..

~with gratitude~

~~Blessings~~

House progress

The house is progressing nicely, soon the roof will be added then the walls, all this should happen in the next few weeks. We are still planing to move in by the end of december.

As I mentioned in a previous post, we decided to build with rocks as it is so very abundant all around us, that does however mean the use of plenty of concrete to bind the rocks.

The foundation is rock and pure cement, but the binder between the rocks in the walls will be a mix of cement and mostly lime.

One day a truck arrived filled with huge tree trunks, both Miguel and I felt so sad, how can we claim to be building sustainable if we use 50 year old trees in the structure.

Apparently they are sustainably logged, when the woods reach a certain age the owner is allowed to cut an area, he must replant three trees for every one cut and then they must not be touched for 50 years. Still makes me sad though:(

It does makes me happy that there are rules in place for these practices even here in Mexico.

Another change, one of many, is that we are back to constructing a roof made of ferrocement 

( a lighter cement, sand and water mixture) as oppose to the traditional palapa roof (thatched roof), which for the longest time we felt certain was the best choice.  Many reasons for this change of heart, the main being the ability to catch water. 

We are building one or two huge cisterns (about 20.000liters) to hold the captured rain water, with the idea that we will be able to store and supply all of our water usage from the rain.

Another thought was that the palapa will need to be replaced every 7 years or so, that is if a hurricane does not get at it before that.

And so even more cement...

Much of the building materiel is not 100% ideal, but I comfort myself by the fact, that this will be a strong house that will last a long time. It will supply our water needs, we will reuse all our greywater to grow food and plants around the house. The blackwater will be composted and used in the garden on none edible plants.

The energy use will be supplied by the sun and to start out the stove as well as the refrigerator  will run on gas. 

So while I cannot say that it will be the perfect "green" house, certainly it is a big step further from where we came, and another step in the right direction.

Here is the house site just a few weeks ago, digging down to the bedrock for the foundation.

Lots and lots of rock everywhere

 Foundation wall underway

 spaces in the circle are for the 8 wooden posts that will support the roof

all the wood trunks were left in the front of the property and moved one by one by hand, by 12-14 men. It took 3 days to move them all.

 center beam and all remaining beams raised by hands and strings..

 Keenan loves the building site, and helps when ever possible, his favorite these days is to mix his own "cement" mixture

 these walls will be the basement that will house the cisterns and also provide for storage space

 Last I saw the structure this is where it was at, that was 4 days ago, I imagine the cross beams for the roof have been added by now...more to come later

A few images from around the land.

The clean up of the cenote is well under way, this Sacate tree, (also known here as the bubblegum tree, because the sap is where the original gum came from, the children have chewed it, and it is just like gum only without the sweetens) had fallen presumably in a storm and had to be taken out..

 cleaning first the tall grasses, and then the sediments, all that we take out of the cenote is reused to build soil in other areas of the land, and to make compost

and we had our first baby chick hatch

~Blessings~

Crystal Cenote and a birthday

Yesterday was Kaleena's birthday and we spent the day by a cenote near our house.
This is the first public cenote that I have visited so far, and it was indeed very beautiful.
I look forward to making a monthly excursion to different cenotes in the area and post about them.
We left there very inspired, with many ideas as to how to clean up and make our cenote nicely accessible, how to create little islands in the middle that you 
must swim to and also to create little wetlands on the rocks. We saw that it is indeed possible to have a clear cenote and still keep plants and trees growing inside the water.

The area around the cenote was clean and shady, with a couple of wooden picnic tables, we brought our own BBQ and made food there for Kaleena's birthday, a BBQ that is what she wanted:)
While we were there three people appeared from the depths with tanks. All the cenotes, or at least most of them, are connected through an "underground river" network and 
it is a big attraction around here to dive these underground rivers and caves, and swim from cenote to cenote. 
We believe that we in our cenote will have the possibility of diving through tunnels and caves once we get it cleaned up.
I am not a big fan of tight enclosed spaces, so I will likely skip this attraction, although I hear that it is very beautiful!

The water was completely clear and very fresh, almost reminded me of the danish beaches 
which even in midsummer are never really warm. 
(although the cenotes are mostly fresh water mixed with a little salt sometimes as they open into the ocean along the coast).
Here however these chilly swimming holes are a welcome relief from the scorching summer sun, 
and the public cenotes have the added bonus of being crocodile free, as oppose to our own still not so tame private cenote:)

On the other side of the road, once back in the car or on the bike, there is the entrance to another cenote called Escondido, lost or hidden cenote I think it translates, 
the entry fee for Crystal of 50 pesos covers the entry to Escondido as well. 
This cenote is smaller and less tame and much less visited, in fact no one was there when we arrived and I hear that that is often the case. 
Because our day was interrupted by heavy rains and an onslaught of mosquitos 
we did not swim here, but went just to look, and it is indeed a lovely little cenote, connected by underground caves to Crystal, 
and also crystal clear waters except like yesterday when it rains, or has just rained.

 The cenote Escondido

 So my little big girl turned 8 yesterday, she has been counting down for over a month now and she was very excited for her special day to arrive.

I had not a single homemade gift this year for her. So completely opposite to last year, when every gift I gave to anyone was handmade.

Even the birthday book, which has not yet arrived, was ordered and printed online. 

For some odd reason I could not figure out how to get pictures from my Iphoto onto a disc for printing, it was the oddest thing, 

and therefore ordered a printed book from Apple.

How things change, I calm myself down remembering that this too shall pass, 

and that times will return when I will once again feel peaceful and in a place inspired to make and create beautiful handmade things.

~Blessings~