Blog - Playa Viva Luxury Eco Resort, Mexico

Sal Viva Now Available for Purchase Online

PlasticVSOrganicSalVivaExpanded copy — Plastic salt production on left vs. Sal Viva organic salt production on right. Help preserve the heritage of healthy artisanal salt, buy Sal Viva.

Sal Viva, “the Salt of Life”, harvested in Juluchuca, right down the road from Playa Viva, is now available online for purchase through our partners at CharitiesUSA.com/GreaterGood.

Purchase an 8 oz package which is now available online for $9.95 and in the process preserve land, save animals and do good.

This is the best salt you can buy. High in minerals, low in sodium, high in iodine and the salt crystals melt seamlessly into your mouth or whatever concoction you are creating, enhancing the flavor of your food and beverages.

Beyond the health benefits and great flavor, purchasing Sal Viva contributes to social and economic justice as well as protects the environment. 120 families are members of the salt coop, supposedly 80 are currently working the salt flats and less than half are working it “organically”, that is, using the traditional means of hand crafting sand, clay and calcium into drying ponds. Unfortunately, due to the lack of a “fair market price”, many coop members are using cheaper plastic lined ponds that leach contaminates into the salt and eventually will pollute the lagoon.

By purchasing Sal Viva, you are promoting a cultural heritage that is centuries old and your purchase directly promotes environmental conservation by eliminating the use of contaminating plastics. Thank you for your support.

Restaurants, Home Chef’s and Specialty Stores interested in carrying Sal Viva should contact us via the Playa Viva website.

Day 1 Destination: Playa Viva

We arrive into Zih on an uneventful flight from SFO. (Thank you very much). It’s been almost 3 years since I first laid eyes on the rough terrain of Playa Viva. Then, Playa Viva was merely a ‘regenerative vision’— where David had me tromping through every nook and cranny of this rugged land. (“Pahleeese, David— can we just sit down and have a cervesa? Where’s that chocolate, anyway!?”). Playa Viva was raw and graceful all at once. And while I loved hearing the vision, I’ll admit that while swatting mosquitoes and dripping from the July heat, I was a bit dubious. David’s eyes assured me that it would become ‘home’ to those who truly love all that this part of the world has to offer.

Fast forward a few years and here I am. With my two teenage sons, and two surf pals, in tow. The vision manifests itself before us. Definitely exceeding any and all expectations. There is an attention to detail in the lifestyle here at Playa Viva that is both difficult to ignore and yet, seamless. As if they want you to know how cherished your presence is, but— no worries, we do this for you because you are important to us, not because we are looking for the next tip. From the warm smiles and cool lavender towelettes that greet us, to the natural elegant structures that are designed to enhance the surroundings, to the healthful cuisine– the details do not escape us. They are so befitting the environment. Well thought out, and effortless to those of us lucky enough to be here. And, the location. *sigh* … I guess someone’s got to be here, right?

My being here at Playa Viva is personal. And, with all that Playa Viva has to offer as an eco-resort, it’s the personal side that resonates most. It feels as though it has been designed just for my sons and I. Just exactly what our hearts needed. While we are not alone here— the company we share only emphasizes the personal experience. We easily exchange email and fb addresses because we know that what we are sharing among others is extraordinary. And, we want to keep reminding one another of this, in the days to come. It’s personal.

The Perfect Margarita (Organic Too)

We recently challenged Johnny, who plays many roles at Playa Viva including bartender, to come up with the perfect signature margarita for Playa Viva. The result was better than I could have possibly imagined. The Organic Basil Margarita is, in one word, “perfect”. I am not a huge margarita fan, often finding them either too tart or too sweet, but this margarita is just right. It’s so just right, that it’s too good, if that’s possible, which makes it almost dangerous in how fast they go down.

If you are interested in recreating this concoction at home (or in your local bar), we are sharing this recipe with you. The key is not only “the mix” but, in this case, “the ingredients”; and that’s why coming to Playa Viva to order one is extra special. With local organic basil farm just down the road, you can’t find any fresher basil than what Paco at La Costa Organic Farms delivers. Then you need Sal Viva which is harvest down the road in the salt flats. Last but not least, you need 4 Copas Organic Tequila, now that you can probably find in your finest local liquor outlet. The rest is up to your ability to meet Johnny’s original challenge, mix up the perfect margarita.

Happy mixing, sweet drinking and make sure to do it all responsibly!

Recipe originally published in HotelChatter.com for Cinco de Mayo, 2010.

Playa Viva’s Organic Basil Margarita

Ingredients:
· 4 leaves of organic basil
· 1 lime
· 1 ½ oz of 4 Copas organic tequila (or other organic tequila)
· 1 teaspoon of agave nectar (agave honey – “Miel de Agave”)
· 5 large cubes of ice
· Thin layer of Sal Viva in a dish (for rimming glass)

ToolsTools of the trade:
· Blender
· Shaker Glass
· Plate for salt to rim glass
· Glass

Blending the drink:
· Start with the four leaves of organic basil. Place them in a blender, then squeeze in juice from lime, add the tequila and blend (without ice)
· Once blended, pour the blended mix into a shaker glass with the ice and add the agave nectar
· Margarita should be shaken (not stirred)
· Take the remaining lime and rim the mouth of the glass to add moisture so when you dip the glass in a plate with Sal Viva, the salt sticks to the rim
· Pour in the shaken mix into a glass for the perfect Playa Viva Organic Basil Margarita.

Dia de la Tierra en la Comunidad de Juluchuca

Dia de la tierra, que gran oportunidad para convivir con la comunidad y como regalo de la naturaleza tuvimos tambien el nacimiento de las tortugas del nuevo campamento.

La liberacion de las mismas la hicimos enfrente de las cabanas de Playa viva al atardecer, invitamos a todos los empleados de Playa Viva, Los chicos de Permacultura y por supuesto a todos los Voluntarios del Campo tortuguero y sus familias, esperabamos tener alrededor de 50 invitados y al final tuvimos mas de 100, fue fabuloso ver como todos llegaron muy emocionados y llenos de espectacion para presenciar el evento. Fue maravilloso ver las caras de los niños y sus padres cuando las primeras tortuguitas fueron alcanzadas por las olas. Despues todos se quedaron a cenar y la convivencia fue muy agradable. Es muy satisfactorio sentir la aceptacion de la comunidad hacia Playa Viva, esto es precisamente lo que buscamos, crecer en armonia, crear un ambiente de fraternidad donde todos vayamos en la misma direccion hacia el mismo ojetivo, que al conseguirlo los mas beneficiados sean la comunidad y el medio ambiente que nos rodea.

Earth Day, Juluchuca – Community in Action

This Earth Day the community of Juluchuca, where Playa Viva is located, were so engaged, involved and excited about the trash clean up, turtle release, tree planting and recycling endeavors that it could have also been called Community Day.

This Community Earth Day started in the morning with the Playa Viva team working jointly with the 80 students of the the Juluchuca elementary school. We started the day explaining the concept of Earth Day to the students and asked what they loved about the earth. A chorus echoed through the school yard as the children called out the names of favorite plants, animals and activities. I explained to the students that this part of Mexico, their home, is very special and important because it is a dry tropical forest. Tropical forests cover only 7 percent of the earth’s land surface, yet contain over half of all know species of plants and land animals in the world.

We talked about the river that runs through Juluchuca and how it serves an important ecological purpose in connecting the land to the lagoons and ocean. I told them that one billion marine animals and birds die every year from eating discarded plastics. We discussed that much of this lethal plastic comes from trash in rivers spewing into the oceans. So the students set out as self proclaimed “Guerreros Verdes” (Green Warriors), with a mission to help save the plants and animals they love by cleaning up the river.

After filling bags with trash from the river, children ended their day planting two fruit trees in the school yard and celebrating by having a pizza party (pizza’s courtesy of Playa Viva’s Chef Alejandro). As we enjoyed the pizza, we discussed ways to reduce waste and increase the amount we recycle. All the children were fascinated with my metal water bottle, and I encourage them all to reuse bottles to reduce waste. The teachers were also very enthusiastic about the children’s response to Earth Day that they are now communicating with a recycling center in Zihuatanejo, about 40-minutes drive from Juluchuca. The recycling center provides support services to schools that become community recycling pick up locations.

Coincidentally, the first turtles that hatched at the new turtle sanctuary at Playa Viva were ready for release on Earth Day. So later that afternoon, family members of both the Playa Viva staff and of the members of the turtle sanctuary also converged on Playa Viva to celebrate Earth Day. This group of close to 100 started their Earth Day with a project to clean the beach. Afterwards, all were invited to celebrate the release of the first baby turtles from the new turtle sanctuary, 57 baby turtles in all. The group ate tacos and enjoyed the fruits of their labor as volunteers celebrated the work they do for the Earth as volunteers rescuing endangered sea turtles; as the permaculture team planting organics, restoring mangrove and regenerating coastal forest; as team members in a boutique sustainable hotel promoting…well exactly what we were all doing…protecting the Earth.

Earth Day at Playa Viva was enchanting, beautiful and successful, with all age groups in the community contributing to and appreciating the richness of the ecology around them as well as the importance of protecting it for generations to come.

Painting Playa Viva’s Sense of Place

Over the past few weeks Playa Viva’s common area has been more colorful than normal while guest artist Kim Howard unpacked her paints and sketch book with the ultimate goal of creating a mural-size map depicting the landscape of Playa Viva. The map is 8 feet by 8 feet and shows the trail system within the property highlighting areas of interest with her fun and colorful paintings of lagoon wildlife, ancient medicine stone, flowers, turtles, whales and other wonderful details. Guests are now gathering in front of the map, planning hikes, discussing local ecology and gaining a better sense of place. This is the first part of our larger “field guide” project to make the trail system throughout the 200 acres (86 hectares) of Playa Viva more accessible to visitors.

Kim, and her 14 year old daughter Amelia, brought color to Playa Viva not only in the form of paints and pictures (they are both wonderful artists and we’re still finding sketches in drawers and on shelves), but also in their lively personalities. Kim engaged guests and staff in the creation of the map, making it feel like a collaborative effort, and also inspired many to pick up a paint brush and become part of the project. Kim and Amelia have left a lasting impression on Playa Viva and will be missed! We look forward to their return.

We had a chance to interview Kim upon her departure:

PV: How has staying at PV for two weeks effected you and your daughter?

Kim: We were able to unpeel our onion layers, to get down to the essence of ourselves that is stress-free, light and curious and joyful and so, so happy. We learned to eat food that I have never tasted: freshly caught fish from our beach, cactus, small succulents [verdolagas or purslane and pipisas] that are full of vitamins and grow wild at Playa Viva. I loved being a part of a larger picture, and two weeks is just barely enough time to feel it. I highly recommend a two week visit. Teenagers are not bored. They love the exchange with staff, learning a new language, listening to Mexican new music, learning to salsa, yoga, to draw and to sit still and listen to birds and ocean waves. I felt greedy with the time. Because the guests were so interesting, I wanted to know their stories. We, all the guests, have a common ground when staying in an eco-lodge, and yet there was time enough to walk the beach alone, for solitude in the room to read or think or do nothing.

PV: What made this place special for you?

Kim: All the above. But the truly special part was the staff, was the generosity of the staff handing me a “basil-water” or “cerveza” and snacks, before I even thought of it. They watch to see what they can do to make you happy at all times. The respect of the guests and staff for the environment and for curiosity of learning new ways of living was special. No toilet paper in toilets, turning off the electrical lights to gather more solar power, “to clean up our own garbage” and feel responsible for picking up whatever else we found on the beach was important. I felt a responsibility to Playa Viva, and in turn to my life back home.

PV: What did you observe about how the other guests felt while here?

Kim: I believe everyone goes through the de-toxing, de-stressing, simply from packing and leaving homes, pets and jobs behind. We all wanted to know each other, wanted to ask questions and grow familiar and help with younger children, and talk with teenagers about their bright notions, and talk about books, thoughts, parenting, culture and cultural immersion, biology etc. We all loved chef Alejandro’s cooking. We appreciated the staff’s utter openness and help with Spanish/English translation, with folklore, marketplace finds, learning about the people of local villages and their families. All guests were curious and open like children. The experience opened us up.

Volunteering with the Permaculture Team at Playa Viva

My name is Jacky Li and through a personal connection in the ecotourism field, I discovered Playa Viva. A few emails exchange with David later, I was here volunteering with the permaculture team. Unlike a typical resort, the goals of Playa Viva are beyond just the business endeavor. Playa Viva aims to be regenerative, not just to make less damage (building green) or net neutral (Sustainable), but to make a significant impact in creating a better local economy and restoring the local ecosystem. As I was explained to by Odin, head of Permaculture, the land is divided for three purposes – boutique hotel, mangrove [and coastal forest] restoration, and a small crop production.

The principal attraction at Playa Viva is rightfully the beach itself. I have seen many famous beaches around the world but the beach here is like no other. It is virgin, unknown, unspoiled, unoccupied, and gives the feeling that no one has ever been here before you. When you are here, the crashing waves and the serenity elevate you into another world. Just imagine having miles and miles of paradise right at your doorstep – that is what you wake up to every morning. Furthermore, the surrounding natural lagoons add rich wildlife to the mix. A walk around the premise any day, you will find pelicans, lizards, seagulls, iguanas, and plenty of fish in the water. A walk down the beach at night, you will discover why there is a turtle sanctuary on site. Seeing these, you cannot help but to feel privileged to witness what Mother Nature has reserved.

In the two weeks with the permaculture team, we were mostly constructing a house. All materials used were acquired from natural sources – we used sticks for the frame, coconut shells for the wall fillings, cob (dirt, water and some secret ingredient of horse manure) for the wall, and palm leaves for the roof. Having had some prior natural building experience, it was still amazing to see how crafty these guys are at utilizing what the land has in abundance. Work was both been rewarding and fun – I learned much from the team of five locals and we joked around often as if we were a bunch of old pals.

Just inland from Playa Viva, there lies the community of Juluchuca where I stayed with a Mexican family. It is a small town of 500 but I felt more at home here than in any big cities. What stands out here is the sense of community – you are a member of the community whilst here and everybody is treated like family. When I am not working, I am fishing, harvesting tomatoes, playing volleyball, basketball, fooling around with the children, visiting organic farms, eating handmade tacos, and cheering on the Juluchuca football teams. I came here wanting a real cultural immersion and I am leaving satisfied with the experience.

Local Community Supports Agriculture

This Thursday afternoon Playa Viva’s long, bocote-wood dining table sat 20 plus community members who all enjoyed organic pesto pizza, refreshing lemon-basil water, fresh salads and engaged in a discussion about community supported agriculture.

In the past week, Playa Viva launched its new community supported agriculture (CSA) program, Canasta Viva, and we invited community members to join us for lunch, a tour of the local, certified organic farm and learn more about the CSA.

As part of Playa Viva’s mission to support the local community, we’ve partnered with Francisco “Paco” Chavez, a local farmer, who for the past four years has been operating a certified organic basil farm in Julachuca. Paco’s farm is part of an organic coop, La Costa Organica, which exports a tremendous amount of organic basil to the US, but Paco and other local farmers have a dream of creating a local market for organics and reducing dependency on exportation.

Paco came to us with this dream and we told him about the CSA model, used successfully throughout the US, wherein community members pay farmers directly to receive weekly deliveries of their harvest. Paco hit the ground running with this concept and immediately began diversifying his farm by clearing beds and planting seeds that will produce the first 50 “canastas”, or baskets, of organic produce.

We in turn hit the ground running to inform the community, and in only one week the response has been wonderful. After questions and suggestions regarding the CSA in our community, the majority of the table signed up for weekly canasta deliveries straight from Paco’s farm.

But being part of a CSA and supporting organics means more than just signing up, it means really knowing where your food comes from. So the whole group followed Paco down the road to his farm and learned about the legumes he plants to fix nitrogen in the soil, standards for picking and packing the basal, monthly water quality testing, the use of neem trees to keep insects away and making natural mineral fertilizers.

I stopped at one point to look closer at some beans planted next to the lemon trees and the group passed me. When I looked up I saw Paco’s father stooping to inspect the soil with a resident of nearby Bara de Potosi, Paco handing lemons to two smiling women in sun hats and David pointing out over the land to the group of people talking with him nodding and pointing too. This, I thought, is truly a community experience.

If you’re interested in learning more about the Canasat Viva program or would like to sign up to be part of it, email morgan at playaviva.com.

Chez Panisse Comes to Playa Viva

Last week was a landmark moment in the culinary experience of Playa Viva. Zack Nishimura, a chef at Chez Panisse, came down to work on the Playa Viva menu and teach our team a few of his tricks for making the most of local food.

After a night of soaking in the tranquility of Playa Viva, Zack jumped right into his work. First off was meeting Alejandro, the head of Playa Viva’s kitchen and his wife (and co-cook) Feliz. Even with a slight language barrier, they chemistry was clear they shared a love of Italian food and spicy salsa—this was going to be a fun week. Zack especially liked Playa Viva’s open air kitchen with a view of the ocean and the wood fired pizza oven out back.

Zack’s second day at Playa Viva started bright and early with a trip to scout fresh meat, fish and veggies for the week from the local market in Petatlan. As soon as we got out of the van it was clear that this was no tourist market. Piles of whole fish, fresh from the ocean lay on tables lining the street along with stalls offering just butchered chickens, pigs, massive cuts of beef. Zack surveyed the scene with a savvy eye. Scouting nice looking whole bass, he started to brainstorm meal ideas.

As we walked through the market he noticed beautiful spring onions, an amazing array of fruits at their peak of ripeness. This was quite a selection, even compared to the bounty of northern California. The freshness of the handmade cheeses also caught his eye. Loading up the van with bag after bag of bright vegetables and carefully wrapped meats and cheeses, it looked like we had food for a month, not the few days we would be cooking together.

But, once back in the Playa Viva kitchen, immediately started organizing the food and pulling together meals. Lunch would be an array of the seafood and fresh salads: spicy shrimp with Chile and Tomatoes, Jicama Salad with Grapefruit and cucumber, a deliciously light ceviche served on crunchy house-made tostadas. The plate was full of bright contrasting flavors and colors.

Living in Northern California, Zack is pretty familiar with Mexican food, but he was impressed with the rang of ingredients that were new to him, such as the variety of peppers available, unique cheeses and new fruits such as the Lima (a cross between a lemon and an orange). Using simple techniques and a keen awareness of flavor combinations he created fresh and inspired meals that mixed the best of California and Mexican cuisine.

With so much to learn in the kitchen and delicious food to eat, the week flew by all too quickly. Lucky for us, Zack agreed to keep the inspiration coming. He is eager to help us create recipes and menu idea for some of Playa Viva’s own readily available bounty of produce, including: Coconuts, Papaya, Mangos and Squash. This is clearly just the first taste of a delicious culinary adventure at Playa Viva.

Playa Viva at Responsible Travel Conference at Stanford

Playa Viva was invited to present at the CREST (Center for Responsible Travel) Conference in Stanford this past week. The conference had an all-star line up of speakers and with the theme of “Rethinking Coastal Tourism Development: The Importance of Innovators in Times of Climate Change & Economic Crisis” that brought together an excellent set of developers, operators and NGO’s in this field.

What were some of the key highlights of this event for us? First, meeting and spending time with Deborah Szekely (read her bio, it is most inspiring), founder of Rancho La Puerta which is celebrating its 70th year of operation. As a matriarch of the industry, she doled out soulful and thoughtful stories and advice on being sustainable. One of Playa Viva’s core missions is to “Create A Living Legacy”, spending time with Deborah reminded me of what this legacy might become. Tecate, where Rancho La Puerta is located had only 400 people when they first started, similar to the 400 folks who live in Juluchuca. Today Tecate has over 100,000 inhabitants and two mayors and many city council members where once busboys, waiters and manicurists at Rancho La Puerta. Their dedication to education, training and developing their staff has proven to be a strong component of that legacy.

The line up of speakers included excellent talks from oceanographer Sylvia Earle, Dr. David Orr (on greening Oberlin College) and Lisa Curran (Senior Fellow, Woods Institute for the Environment, Roger and Cynthia Lang Professor in Environmental Anthropology). But one of the real “rock stars” of the event was Chris Blackwell, Founder and Owner, Island Records and Outpost Resorts, Jamaica. Fascinating to hear Chris’ story on signing Steve Winwood Bob Marley, but on a personal note, hearing Chris discuss his battle with his operation team to not put air-conditioning in his rooms was just as interesting. The operator pushed for air-conditioning saying it would lower their ability to rent rooms and reach needed occupancy levels. Chris eventually relented but only with a policy of renting rooms at $25 less per night for those who did not operate the air-conditioning. We, at Playa Viva, are proud that we could construct and operate with no A/C (this win might have more to do with our being on the Pacific Coast of Mexico over Chris being in more humid Jamaica).

Playa Viva participated on a panel on Innovations in Community Development and Engagement. Our presentation was well received. We focused on our background in environmental and community responsibility from Rainforest2Reef.org to Casa Viva Troncones and now Playa Viva. We then addressed key influencer’s in our community development strategy including Chris Carfi (looking at virtual and real communities and their overlap), Regenesis (history of place and the aspirations of the community) and most recently our work with Verde Ventures and Conservation International on how our community engagement plan addresses the key securities. We addressed three case studies including our work with La Tortuga Feliz (turtle sanctuary), TerraCycle in developing local manufacturing and finally our work with the local salt cooperative in developing Sal Viva. In summary, our key innovations revolved around promoting a local living economy (influenced by BALLE) and promoting a holistic approach. For a copy of the presentation, go to SlideShare or see below.

[slideshare id=2977597&doc=crest12110v2comp-100123101846-phpapp01]

What would make the conference move from good to great: staying regional, participation from government officials in tourism and more time to work collaboratively and less time in presentations. To plug a different type of event, Opportunity Collaboration does this well, they have a “no powerpoint” and “no panel” policy, creating a space with plenty of time for meaningful collaboration. If you are in the sustainable tourism business, we highly recommend attending the next CREST event as well as the Opportunity Collaboration event in Ixtapa, Mexico.

In summary, one of the underlying issues at the CREST event was “can you be both big and sustainable?” Can you develop a large resort and still be truly sustainable. This was most evident in a presentation by David Butterfield related to his project and work at Loreto Bay. Conclusions from his presentation: he stated they were way under capitalized ($19 million on a $600 million project), crucial mistakes like the $10 million dollars spent on clay brick design that seemed like the most sustainable policy to begin with but backfired on them for various reasons and finally the fact that they entered with quotes for building homes at $60-68 per square foot that eventually cost $200 per square foot. The reason for this massive discrepancy, scale. That is, it was cheaper to build single homes or a smaller number of units, but due to location and other factors, scale make it cost prohibitive. So what does that say about that underlying issue of the event, “can you be sustainable and big at the the same time?”

Special thanks to Mark Spalding and the Ocean Foundation for their support of Playa Viva, La Tortuga Feliz and for inviting us to participate in this panel and event.