| The Bungalow in the Jungalow |
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| Thursday, 27 January 2005 | |
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La Selva Mariposa, a beautiful jungle haven. Our dream to build a B&B south of the border got side-tracked due to the timely process of getting permits to build on a highly sensitive area of Tulum beach. After being unsatisfied with the available rental market, we decided to check out property in the neighboring town of Macario Gomez, only 22 km from Tulum on the Coba Road. We made a decision to purchase a 4000 sq. meter lot next to a friend’s house.
Our neighbor, the notorious Cristobal, assisted us with the logistics of the sale and helped round up a crew of albeniels (stone masons) and wood specialists from the community.They were eager to work in close proximity to their homes, and to have the opportunity to partner with my husband who was a builder in the states. Lou would do the electrical and plumbing and the other two teams would work with him to build and design as they went along. Our Spanish was limited and they had no knowledge of English but with the help of the “Construction Spanish” books, drawings, hand –signals, and our neighbor, the communication process was a growing experience for all of us. Lou had brought a trailer full of tools and lifetime knowledge of construction with him from Colorado. He slowly pulled out tools from his collection that would make the job easier and ultimately faster to complete. Lou knew he could not force these modern power tools on his workers. It took a little time, but curiosity got the better of them and the men were soon eager to try out the tools for themselves. Lou was on the job site everyday from the beginning to the end of the project. At the completion of the house, we had also dug a well, put in a wet-lands septic system, brought in electricity, and as back-up power, set up our propane generator. With no building restrictions, a competent affordable crew, and authentic natural building materials at our fingertips, the project expanded over a 10 ½ week period. While waiting for the windows and doors to be installed, we became so anxious for the peace and quiet the jungle offered that we decided to move in without them. Since it wasn’t the rainy season, mosquitoes and other pesky critters were not a problem. Our first nights in the jungle were much like glorified camping! It has been more than six months since we settled into La Selva Mariposa (the jungle butterfly). Our days of creative efforts brought forth a three level villa with a partly enclosed romantic dining room in the tree tops, an open-air gym, a bathtub for two under the stars, a separate building for Lou’s workshop, a series of jogging sacbes, and Mayan style waterfalls flowing into a large semi-circular pond with lush tropical plants in every direction you look. We share the amenities with our guests who visit from the states or those who rent the elegant private bedroom/bath suite. ($75 a night)
You’re probably wondering how a couple of middle-age Gringos from Colorado acclimated to life among the Mayans? The 2 km long, 3 tope town of Macario Gomez consists of two small economical restaurants with one to three tables, several mini-markets, a liquor store, a church, a community building, a park, and the Delgado’s office along the main road. A handful of rustic artesian shops that sell wood carvings, blankets, hammocks and other souvenirs are scattered A few Italians, Dutch, English, and Americans as well as Mexicans are buying the land around Macario Gomez and starting to clear the property in preparation to build their homes. An Italian restaurant that sells homemade pasta and pizza recently opened across from the liquor store as you enter town. The locals know that the land that was handed down to them from their parents is becoming very desirable and the prices are starting to escalate. There are plans in the works to widen the road from Tulum to Coba. It is only a matter of time until this is a suburb of Tulum. There are several hundred residents in Macario and we suspect that many of them are related. We have established relationships with many of the locals stemming from the time they worked on building our house. During the first few weeks in the house, many of the neighbors stopped over to see the fountains and the work that at least someone in their family had participated in. We were delighted to watch the young children giggle as they tried to figure out if the talking flamingo in the garden was real or not. Some of them even had the opportunity to splash around in the pond. It was difficult to converse with most of them, as they spoke only Mayan, but we did our best to make them feel welcome. In the entrance to our house we have a framed print that we brought with us from Colorado. We had no idea how appropriate the words by John Denver inscribed below the print, “We are all on the same path, no matter what language we speak,” would be for this phase of our life. We are surrounded by nature and our daily discoveries are rich and interesting. The trees have come to life with flowering blossoms visited by colorful birds of species we can not even find in books. It is an inspiration to get up in the morning early and work out in our open air gym and spot the colorful creatures that buzz and flit from one branch to another.
Besides the flora in la selva (the jungle), unearthing the fauna has been a growing experience once you get beyond the terror of finding a tarantula in your shoe or a scorpion on your night We have found our sanctuary in the jungle a welcome relief from the hustle-bustle life that abounds along the Riviera Maya. The occurrence of building with and living among the Mayans has given us an unexpected joyful experience that turned out to be more than a diversion while waiting to build on the beach.
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By Mari Pintkowski
The titled ejido property had the makings of an interesting “bungalow in the jungalow” and the $13,000 price tag suited our pocketbook. The previously started construction on the lot consisted of a foundation, some unicel and block walls and a beautiful secate palapa roof nestled under an assortment of tall jungle trees, twisting vines, flowering orchids and air plants.
alongside the highway with a mixture of wood and concrete block homes. Most of the locals live on the back streets that stretch for two to three blocks on either side of the highway. The homes are bustling with life among the multi-generational family members who seem to move at a very slow, yet steady pace. My neighbor creates a Mayan clay mixture in her little studio behind her home. This healing product is sold at the spas along the Riviera Maya. The community primary school, tucked away in one of the neighborhoods, beckons the children in the mornings with a loud speaker playing Ranchero music that can be heard in every corner of the town. This is the alarm clock for the village. The soccer and baseball fields at the back edge of town are beaming with activity on a Sunday afternoon.
stand. I guess at first they had to explore the house just as we were exploring their home, the jungle. We are seldom visited by these creatures now that the house and grounds have had time to settle. The redeeming factor in the bugs is that they are not like the ordinary cock roaches, but include iridescent beetles that glow in the dark, and an amazing stick bug that is over three inches long. We even had fireflies putting on a light show one night as we watched them frolic from our bed behind a mosquito net. The ants arrive in armies and leave as quickly as they appear. We told our neighbor about our first visit by these busy army like creatures, and she explained that their job was to clean our house of any dead insects in their path. Now we relax, move out of the way and let the “cleaning crew” have at it! We leave scraps out for the scrawny little red tail fox, and are still waiting for the day we see a monkey in the tree tops. For several days when we put our shoes out on one of our porches, a mysterious creature in the night would steal them and drag them into the jungle behind the house. Each day we would find them scattered around. Just another mystery!
Mari Pintkowski lives with her husband Lou in Macario Gomez and is writing a book on their experiences of following their dream to build a B & B on the beach in Mexico. Check out the “bungalow in the jungalow” at 
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