Intro to Casa Den and the Apartments

Casa Den is our vacation home in Southern Mexico, in the state of Oaxaca (wa-ha-ka), on the Pacific coast in the small city of Puerto Escondido (hidden port).  The house is in a neighborhood called La Punta (the point) of small lots east of the main part of the city, above the point of rocks that defines the east end of Zicatela Beach, famed for its world-class surfing. The casa (house) is on one of four lots we control, each 15 by 20 meters, so together 60 x 20 meters, about 3/10ths of an acre. We are about a 500 meters walk up from the beach, through a mixed neighborhood of mostly Mexican but some 'gringo' homes, especially to our south and east. 

Casa Den from the NE, 2011

Location Of Puerto Ecsondido in Mexico

Puerto Escondido city map

La Punta Map, our lot in black

Aerial view of La Punta

Our small place can best be described as three studio apartments stacked up.  There is an outside stairway to access the upper units, and each has a small 3-piece bathroom and a kitchen.  Since the weather there is basically great, all winter (lows about 75F (24C) and highs about 85/30, with little or no rain, much of life is lived outdoors. The lower apartment has a large terrace on the north (shady) side accessed through double doors, a patio out a south door in the sun, and of course access to the outdoor property.  The second floor apartment has a deck around all or part of the north, west, and south, wider on the west with a view to the Pacific, and the third floor or palapa level (named for the palm-frond roof) accesses the outdoors by being largely outdoors...there are only half-height walls on the west. north, and part of the east sides. The view up there is the best, and it is the most 'in Mexico' feeling area, though that means hearing roosters in the morning and the rest of the neighborhood sounds, including the waves crashing on the beach when the wind is right. 

The place is built of reinforced concrete with block infill, with all floors tiled with the local thick but uneven (character!) red-clay tiles. Concrete is even used for the kitchen counters and lower shelves. The windows and doors are aluminum and glass. These materials share the properties of not rusting in the salty air and not being edible by any of the local tropical insect species. Much of the house has the yellow pigment in the last layer of stucco (concrete) so as not to need paint. This also makes for an uneven finish, so more "character".

My original (sort of ) drawing

We worked out much of the design ourselves, in consultation with our architect, construction manager, and good friend, Derek. I used a consumer-type architecture program on my laptop and he improved the design and produced real, build-able, approve-able drawings for the contractor. 

The property is oriented north-south, sliced into 4 lots each oriented east-west. We originally bought only the lower three lots so the house is on the second from the top, the highest of those three.  The property slopes pretty down dramatically to the north and somewhat to the west. It had never been built on, except a lightweight tin-roof shelter for the goats the neighbors (sellers) had there at the time. There is city water (such as it is, untreated and running 2-3 times a week for a few hours) in the unpaved street and electricity both above and below the land. 

Each of the floors has the bathroom in the SW corner for ease of plumbing runs.  The kitchens of the first and palapa levels are on the west but we moved the second-floor kitchen to near the entry door on the south to preserve the possibility of maybe making that space into two bedrooms someday. 

The first floor has a closet which separates the bedroom and kitchen a bit (and supports the structure above). There are entry doors on the east and south as well as the double glass doors to the terrace. It is the largest apartment at 49 square meters and has the 'squarest' outdoor area as the terrace is about 6x7 meters. 

 

The second level has the big wrap-around deck. I see now this plan was from before the kitchen got moved to the south side just to the left of the entry door on the east. The bath stayed put, though. This level has a little better view to the Pacific over the neighbor's house, though you can see the water from the first floor terrace as well. The reduced floor space inside allowed for the large deck on the west. Also changed from this drawing, the deck actually continues along around to the north portion of the east wall and across the south to the kitchen window or so. There is a solar water heater on the deck there. 

The palapa level is as planned here, though the bed is closer to the south than shown, a large shelving unit is along that south wall, and the south part of the east wall is filled in above the ledge with a woodwork unit to give a little bedroom privacy relative to the eastern neighbor. Except for that, the south wall, and the west facing bathroom wall, the walls here are about one meter high, topped with a green concrete ledge allowing the view and wind and sounds (and bugs and occasional bird) in.  It is a bit like camping, only with a bathroom, kitchen, fridge, lights, music, internet, and perpetually perfect temperatures. Like the best camping ever. It was the first level completed, (Dec 2009) and we stay up there when visitors prefer the lower units, so it feels like home to us now. 

The First floor

First floor bedroom

We brought down a sofa frame and have cushions for use on the sofa or on the floor as a spare bed. Three ceiling fans keep the air moving downstairs and windows on all sides  keep allow cross through ventilation with the morning and evening ocean breezes. We had a shelving unit built into the closet and some bedstands made to order by our local woodshop. Liz made or found curtains for all the windows and we keep a pair of little speakers around for connecting to iPods, etc.
The double doors face northwest to the best of the view 

First floor looking out to terrace 

 to Zicatela beach and the lights of downtown at night. We often keep a desk under the window on the right here for a computer or games, etc. The first floor became party central with family around as the kitchen and terrace are best for large groups, particularly when one member isn't too good on stairs.  It is possible to get from the street to the south entry without using any stairs. We can't say the bath is wheelchair accessible but pretty good for use with a cane or maybe walker.

1st floor bath

First floor kitchen & fresh bread

Amazing sunset, 2012

Still life against contrast wall

2nd floor bed and divider

The Second floor

The second floor apartment might be the nicest; we can't say since it is the only one we have yet to live in. We got the furnishings there done just in time for our first guests at Christmastime last year and it stayed full of guests pretty much all the time until we left in mid-February. 

2nd floor kitchen

Tiled deck and rails

2nd floor bath

There are two ceiling fans here as well, and again the free cross-breezes so it stays pretty comfortable. With the deck on all sides there is usually sun and shade available somewhere. The fridge here is the only known left-hand opening unit that narrow in all of southern Mexico as far as we know -- a custom effort with Derek. All the apartments have propane stoves served by a tank in a vented part of the basement bodega. 

2nd floor view NW

Sunset beverages on the deck 

Solstice sunset from palapa level

The Palapa Level

Palapa Kitchen with bath behind.

The palapa level naturally has the best views.  Even at the December solstice, when the sunset is the furthest to the south, we can see it over the hill at the point from the palapa.
The kitchen is again small, but plenty functional for two, even with a guest or a few. The black tank above the bathroom is the water source for all the faucets, and is filled by pump from a cistern in the basement bodega which is filled when the city water runs every two or three days. Unfortunately the water is untreated from the river so we have 20-liter bottled water on each level for drinking; the 'Agua' guys come by yelling and bring fresh bottles over, and upstairs if you like, for about a dollar. 

Palapa bed, shelves, privacy wall
and the mosquito net for sleeping

Palapa level from behind the bed

Family sunset cocktail hour upstairs

The palapa palm-frond roof

Below and beyond

Below the first floor is a basement with the cistern and pump, a gas water heater, a vented chamber for the propane tank, and two storage rooms. The local term is bodega, or cellar storeroom.  Outside the bodega is a slab over the septic tank (fosa septica) which can provide shaded parking inside a gate from the street. The landscaping is a work in progress, but presently includes palm trees, plus a lime tree, papayas, several other small shade or flowering trees, and many bouganvillas which should fill out around the perimeter of the property over the next years. Hopefully the hummingbirds will enjoy them. We have built walkways of local rock around the unpaved west side and down to the lower lots.  

The Studio building under construction

One of those rock stairways goes to a new building, an art studio building (also overflow housing) with its own small bath,a  great work space, and a flat, shaded roof deck about the same level as the first floor terrace. This building occupies the west half of the lot just below the casa and will also serve as overflow housing as needed and might serve for storage of a car if we ever choose to leave one there. Anyone need a site for an artist's residency?

Come on down!

All of the apartments can be rented in any combination for larger groups.  The going rate around town seems to be about 300 US or Canadian a week, $1000 a month so that's sort of what we expect. We did not build the place as a business or investment; we wanted a place we can share with friends and family; if we can recoup some of the ongoing costs, all the better. It is also better for us to have the place occupied when we cannot be there so if you can work out a way to get to southern Mexico we hope the price of rent won't stop you from taking some time at the casa. 

Puerto Escondido has an airport (PXM), but the only flights are to Oaxaca City and Mexico City, and either likely involves an overnight stay or two along the way from up north. It is possible to take an overnight first-class bus form Mexico City, or Acapulco, if a cheaper flight gets you there.  The best option for many, though, is a scheduled or charter flight to Huatulco (HUX) which is about a 90 minute drive south and is served by United from Houston and, weekly this winter, by Air Canada from Toronto. Charters frequently fly there from Canada and the US as well, and it is simple to catch an inexpensive bus from just outside the airport to Puerto. 

Of course we drive every year, but that option only works if you have lots of time as you can figure at last a week each way, especially if you have never driven around Mexico and you should should surely take it slow and see at least a few of the wonderful sights along the way.