Blog - Playa Viva Luxury Eco Resort, Mexico

The Story of Maestro Belen in Las Placitas

Pitch In to Help Us Keep Maestro Belen in Las Placitas

One wonderful teacher can transform the life of many students. But what happens when a qualified teacher is ineligible to teach in a place where he has positively impacted so many lives at great sacrifice?

This is the case in Las Placitas where Mastro Belen works tirelessly to engage his students, help them excel and transform their lives.

Already determined to help? Scroll to the bottom for donation details.

Something — and Someone — Special in Las Placitas

Located about 20km from Playa Viva and almost 1,300ft above sea level, Las Placitas, one of Playa Viva’s four impact communities, is a small village of cattle ranchers and farmers. With only about 15 households, it’s a tight-knit community and also very remote. With no cell service or internet access, and most families get down to Juluchuca via ATVs. The unpaved road up to Las Placitas almost washes out completely in the rainy season, making any sort of transportation difficult.

Maestro Belen, a local of La Ceiba (a neighboring town), has been working at the Las Placitas primary school for the past five years as both teacher and director to its approximately 17 students from grades 1-6. Before that, the school had been shut down for a year by the government due to lack of student enrollment (since it’s such a small town, the number of children can ebb and flow). Soon after the school closure, the parents banded together with the idea to get a local teacher and try to pay for it themselves.

“The parents reached out to me after I had done some substitute teaching in Rancho Nuevo,” explained Maestro Belen. “I had recently completed an engineering degree but discovered that my true passion was teaching after working in Rancho. That’s when the opportunity to go to Las Placitas arose.”

The parents are only able to pay Belen a nominal fee, basically enough to cover his gas and a few other expenses. “My parents thought I was crazy,” said Belen. “They didn’t understand why I would work for so little, but it’s not about the money. I just really love what I do.”

The Endless Influence of a Good Teacher

Over the past five years, Belen’s work in Las Platicas has gained praise, not only from local parents but also from other education leaders in the region. His students consistently win top prizes in reading, writing and math competitions and go onto middle school in Juluchuca as some of the top students in their class and the entire school.

“Maestro Belen is innovative, compassionate, and committed, and his students adore and respect him” says Ariel Arguedas, Playa Viva’s Education Coordinator, who has worked alongside Belen for the past two years. “He’s the most wonderful person who goes above and beyond for his students. Once they graduate from his school and go onto middle school, he can still be found helping them with homework at his house in Juluchuca. His level of dedication is like nothing I’ve ever seen before.”

Time to Turn Bad News Into a Positive Outcome

While teaching in Las Placitas, Belen went back to university to get his education degree and formally become the official government teacher of Las Placitas public school. He worked at this for four years, and this summer he graduated with honors only to discover that because he got his degree from a private university, he was not eligible to get a government teaching position.

“It’s pretty devastating,” explained Belen. “But you know, I can’t really do anything about it now. I would love to stay here and continue to teach, but that might not be possible. Other states in Mexico allow teachers to work at public schools even if their degree is from a private university.”

Since hearing this news, Playa Viva and our partner organization, Radix Education, have banded together to incorporate Maestro Belen into Enseña por México. It is a two-year program that places qualified teachers at schools in need. This way, Belen can continue to work in our local watershed, supporting students and teachers and continuing to inspire and encourage the next generation of leaders and stewards of this land.

To make this a reality, we need to raise $10,000 USD to fund the next two years of Belen continuing to do what he does best — teaching and changing lives. We are thrilled to say that we have a matching grant from Radix Education to help fund this, but we still have a steep fundraising hill to climb.

How to Donate

If you would like to support this initiative, you can make a tax-deductible donation via our fiscal sponsor, The Ocean Foundation. Our donation page includes the option to make one time or recurring contributions, and you can select the specific project to support — in this case, “education.”

If you have any questions or would like more information, do not hesitate to reach out to Colleen, our Social and Environmental Impact Manager, at colleen@playaviva.com

When Only a Video Can Show the Real Story

It’s so hard to explain Playa Viva. I was once asked by a travel writer, “How is Playa Viva different from other hotels?” I had a hard time answering in the moment.

When I got back to the “big table” in the open air dining space at Playa Viva, I told the retreat leader who was joining me for lunch about my problem answering this question, and she said, “Tell her, ‘everything’.” To which I asked, “What do you mean?” She responded, “Tell her that everything about Playa Viva is different.”

While I love the idea that everything here is different, it still doesn’t answer the question.

How to Show Playa Viva is More than Just a Hotel

On a return trip to Playa Viva a few months later, I overheard Colleen, our Social and Environmental Impact Manager, say, “Playa Viva is more than a hotel; it is a complete project.” And I liked that description — it was almost there — but that too didn’t fully answer the question. So I continued to struggle with the best way to efficiently answer the question, “What makes Playa Viva different?”

It turns out a video explains it better than I can. Watch now or read on to learn the story behind this video.

Then one day, I came across a “Ureka!” moment. I am part of an online group called B-Tourism, whose members are companies that are either B-Corp Certified or in the process of becoming so. One of the key leaders of that group is a brilliant and amazing human named Jared Meyers who runs a vacation resort operation called Legacy Vacation Resorts. Jared struggled with the same yet different side of the same issue. His business comes out of the timeshare industry, which has suffered from some negative stereotypes. Yet Jared is a true leader in making a positive impact in their local communities and ecosystems. To better tell their story, they hired another B-Corp, HiFive Creative Agency, to help them tell Legacy Vacations’ story around their commitment to the values.

HiFive had created a fast-paced and engaging video that used some “modern” and creative techniques to tell a complicated story in a simple and entertaining way. That’s when I reached out to Jared and asked, “Mind if I steal your storytellers?” Jared was more than willing to assist, connected me to Jordan Eichenblatt and HiFive and the rest, well it’s history, as they say.

Visual Storytelling, Fruit (Fruta) & All

Jordan and I connected on our vision of what could be communicated. He had lots of great ideas, many of which ended up being edited out. The core of what we tried to communicate was a small slice of everything that Playa Viva is engaged in doing. Jordan loved the idea of using the pineapple to trace the story as he has used a pineapple in almost every video, including the one he created for Jared. He sent me a screenshot of the pineapple in the background of the Legacy Vacations video, but I couldn’t see it. He still swears it was there!

Then when we talked about the cacao and going from bean-to-bar, he got even more excited. At one point we had a script that included a pineapple, the cacao and even a coconut. So many ideas, so little time!

Our video differs from Jared’s in that ours needed to be bilingual to appeal to our Mexican market as well as our international audience (mostly American and Canadian visitors come to Playa Viva). It was also important that our staff could follow the story and message of the video as well. One very important aspect for us was to feature our team because so much of our ethos is around putting the team first. That fully ties into Playa Viva’s focus on engaging with the local community.

The story of what makes Playa Viva special is the people, the team, the community — and thus our storytellers needed to reflect that community.

Bringing Music and Art to the Children in Juluchuca

If you’ve checked out our Instagram account recently, there’s no doubt you’ve noticed the rich content and beautiful photos documenting life here at Playa Viva and the surrounding communities.

The mastermind behind this work is Ilhui Hernandez, who not only manages our social media accounts but is also a biologist and educator passionate about youth development. For the past seven months, she has been working to bring art, music, self-reflection and environmental awareness to the children in Juluchuca during a time with very few in-person activities taking place.

Volunteering at Playa Viva

At Playa Viva, our volunteers have a wide array of specific skills and special areas of expertise. While we are completely open to volunteer ideas beyond our usual programs, we do have four core areas where volunteers can most quickly get involved:

Most volunteers find that there is a richness in the overlap of these areas and are encouraged to work in more than one space. For Ilhui, the overlap occurred as a storyteller and as an educator.

“After having been a few years outside of Mexico learning about different projects, I came back to my country with the objective of finding sustainable projects that had a positive social and environmental impact and were agents of change,” she said.

“Searching online I found Playa Viva, and I immediately felt that I had to learn from its regenerative model. To promote social networks, learning to tell the story of what you experience around you and share that message is a constant search for encouragement and amazement.

“The work in the community is the same — being able to develop a sense of wonder for the culture that is experienced day to day will give you the tools to be creative and get inspiration to give back in a positive way.”

The Waldorf Method: Head, Heart, Hands

Growing up in Tlaxcala, Mexico, Ilhui was raised in a family of artists who valued education and self-expression. As a child, Ilhui attended a Waldorf school that strived to develop students’ intellectual, artistic and practical skills in an integrated and holistic way.

“When I was a child, the Waldorf school changed my life,” she explained, “When I arrived in Juluchuca and met the children, I realized that there were educational deficiencies and that the coronavirus had impacted many children, leaving them without access to education. That’s when I decided to develop art workshops in which children are guided to develop cognitive skills, empathy, teamwork, critical thinking, confidence, cultural belonging and self-esteem — all while including a focus on the environment.”

Since October, Ilhui has led weekly workshops where the kids learn new painting techniques and receive singing lessons to practice harmony and intonation. Every workshop includes a focus on the natural world and how we as humans relate to and interact with nature. Whether it’s signing a song about the river flowing through town or painting landscapes of the ocean, the kids are developing artistic abilities that will help them develop as individuals and as a community.

Combining Music & Art for Unique Children’s Classes

With the Waldorf approach, the learning process is essentially threefold, engaging head, heart and hands—or thinking, feeling, and doing. The goal is to nurture and engage each child through a curriculum that integrates academics, arts, and practical skills. The first step toward generating change in children is to promote that they take ownership and be proud of their environment and culture on the way to developing security and self-esteem.

To do this in Juluchuca, Ilhui started mixed classes, half painting and half singing classes. One of their classes was spent making a song for Juluchuca in which teamwork is essential because each child contributes a line to complete the song. In it, they are equally aware of why they take care of their environment.

For example, in the song the children sing:

(Luisito) I live in Juluchuca, and I like the sea.

(Lucero) I like turtles. I like to swim.

(Lily) I swim with dolphins, and I will always be with the flowers.

The artistic development helps them to ask themselves who they are and to question themselves beyond ordinary thinking.

The kids learned different painting techniques in that same class alongside voice intonation and harmony with each stroke.

Another example of a class exercise is to draw images of how they perceive themselves, and on the back of the sheet the children wrote down the positive aspects they perceived from their peers.

“It’s fantastic to see kids who previously did not paint and were shy to sing now doing both,” gushed Ilhui. “Their artwork is now more harmonious, and they are aware of the importance of each individual to form a song, thus understanding the importance of teamwork. Seeing them avoid the words ‘I can’t draw’ or ‘I can’t sing’ feels like real progress.”

Moving Art & Music Lessons up the Watershed

While Juluchuca is the largest town nearest to Playa Viva, it is not the only community where we work. Moving up the watershed are the towns of Rancho Nuevo, La Ceiba and Las Placitas, each smaller in population than Juluchuca but still with a significant number of elementary school aged children eager to learn and have new experiences. Thanks to the work of Ilhui in Juluchuca, we are hoping to expand our music, art and environmental education program up the watershed to these other communities.

If you have experience in art or music education and are interested in volunteering with us, please reach out to Colleen at volunteer@playaviva.com.

Does that sound like a dream but simply is not feasible for you? Consider supporting our work from afar via a tax-deductible donation, please consider a contribution via our fiscal sponsor, The Ocean Foundation. Donations will be used to purchase art supplies, musical instruments and to pay for transportation to these more remote communities.

How Raising Pigs Further Opened Our Eyes to Juluchuca’s Wonders

At Playa Viva, farm to table means we know where each of the ingredients we serve is purchased and who that purchase supports. We buy many of our ingredients locally from Juluchuca and three other communities in our watershed. Our local ingredients include milk, cheese and eggs, coffee and chocolate, squash, beans, corn and tomatoes, and seasonal fruits like papaya, starfruit and limes.

When it comes to Playa Viva’s own farm, we focus on growing and raising nutrient-dense foods in a holistic and regenerative way. For more than a decade our permaculture team has been producing and harvesting fresh greens, coconuts, bananas, and hibiscus flowers — plus a year’s supply of tamarind every April.

What the Close Alignment of People & Animals Really Means

When I arrived in Juluchuca to Playa Viva back in November 2018, one of the first things I noticed was the number of animals raised locally, just outside the homes in town. That observation immediately signalled to me that the people who live here still live incredibly close to their food; they know that food waste from a household kitchen has a second life as a food source for their animals. And they know which animals have the highest meat-to-fat ratio, as well as how to harvest pigs, sheep, goats and chickens.

Fortunately, one of the best ways to get to know people (and discover their skill sets) is over a delicious meal. I started checking in with each house where I saw pigs. I quickly found myself leaning over a cutting board in multiple kitchens and helping women prepare salsas and tortillas to go with that weekend’s fresh carnitas, chicharones and palenques. With a wild curiosity to explore my interest in their lifestyle, the men quickly invited me to participate in the harvests, too.

There is so much to learn in these moments. An animal feels just as much as one of us does. You can see it in their eyes before you begin the harvest. These moments are often quiet, respectful, and meticulously carried out to make the experience as easy as possible for all those involved. People here in Juluchuca understand that harvesting an animal while it is stressed results in cortisol and other hormones entering the meat, and therefore, entering those who later eat the meat of that animal. Our farm team at Playa Viva and those who work with animals (whether in the field or in the kitchen) here in our community also know the difference in the quality of the meat and fat of animals raised on pasture, or del rancho, compared to those raised in confined conditions and factory farms, or de la granja.

From the perspective of our regenerative hotel and farm-to-table kitchen, it would be impossible to dismiss this knowledge.

Pigs at Playa Viva — Then More Pigs!

So, about a year ago, Playa Viva started purchasing sows (female pigs) from friends in Juluchuca and the nearby town of Rancho Nuevo. We purchased animals from families that no longer wanted to raise animals and from folks who had an interest in learning alongside us as we began to build a holistically managed pig production system.

The majority of the local pigs here are a cross between two wild boar species. They have a high meat-to-fat ratio and thus are much leaner than the pig you see when you close your eyes. In fact, most farm guests, after cooing over the 30+ piglets running around the forest, immediately ask me why our pigs are so thin.

We do not intentionally fatten our animals. They are raised on food waste from the hotel kitchen, locally produced corn, and their favorite leaves, grasses and vines from our organic farm. They eat a well-balanced diet that ensures their bodies are a healthy weight and provides high nutritional levels to support their active lifestyles. Our pigs forage on roots and bugs in the soil, and run around playing with their young inside their forest-shaded chiquero, or pig pen.

Smart Permaculture Solutions Lead to Greater Benefits For All

Our permaculture team at Playa Viva lives by a principle of small and slow solutions. We discuss strategic, calculated decisions as a group before we make any changes to our farm systems. Based on this approach, we spent six months getting to know our animals: observing their adjustment to their new environment, introducing foraged greens into their diet, and identifying and collecting upcycled materials to be used to build and expand their home.

When we noticed the sows wanted a partner, we borrowed a Duroc-Jersey boar from a farmer in our community to breed with our ladies. Eight months later, we welcomed 25 new piglets to our farm and immediately noticed they were a beautiful cross between the local raza (breed), and the more industrially bred and farmed Jersey breed.

So what does this mean? It means that the genetic benefits of the local breed will come through in the new litter. The pigs will be more adapted to our climate and its fluctuations between damp soils and rainy weather to hot, dry summer days that make drinking the salty water we farm with seem unbearable. It means that they will continue to present as lean pigs and will thrive off the local food sources we have available for them. Think: an abundance of mangos a few months each year, fresh coconut water and meat all year round, and hardy mountain plants and grasses to provide important minerals and nutrients that help them thrive.

Crossing this local breed with the Jersey breed means we have a bit more control over the meat-to-fat ratio as well. The pigs will easily fatten up in the months before harvest. This allows us to not only produce organic, pasture-raised meat for our clients and hotel staff, but also creates a high quality lard that can be used in our hotel kitchen for food preparations.

Yes, We Know: Everyone Hates on Lard

Let’s talk about lard for a second because the word and its common connotations tend to build quick, negative walls for people. Animal fats are mostly saturated fat, which means they stand up better to high heat and do not break down into harmful free radicals. (This is the reason you do not cook extra virgin olive oil at high temperatures.) Reduced oxidation in animal fats means they are less susceptible to the toxins and carcinogens generated by using vegetable oil. Lard has less saturated fat than butter and it is higher in monounsaturated fats, which are good for cardiovascular health. Lard is also rich in oleic acid, the same fatty acid that is in olive oil and praised for its health benefits.

Beyond the science, in communities like ours, traditional knowledge lives on through the production, use and nutritional benefits of lard. To honor that knowledge and reinforce it becomes a responsibility of our hotel and kitchen team.

The Playa Viva Difference Appears Again

This brings us full circle — as permaculture design often does. Our team is excited to work closely with animals, taking advantage of multiple harvests from each new animal group introduced into our holistically designed farm system. Our kitchen staff feel proud to tell our hotel guests that the pork they serve was born, raised and harvested on our farm; and our meat-eating guests identify and compliment the depth and quality of flavor when they sit down to a clean plate of farm-to-table ingredients. (Although vegetarians and vegans alike also rave about our local produce.)

We invite you to come know our animals, to hold baby piglets and ask our permaculture team about the pasture spaces we build using upcycled and local materials. We promise the connections you make on the land will lend to a new appreciation for the flavors we serve.

What a Visit to Playa Viva Feels Like — Right Here, Right Now

Guests come to Play Viva for connection. No, not to high speed internet. To one another, to this place, to our community, and ultimately to one’s self.

Connection may look a little different at Playa Viva this season, but it’s not as far from the usual experience here as you may think. Guests are waking up to the sound of the ocean, releasing baby sea turtles to the ocean and then energizing their bodies with yoga. They’re touring the farm and learning about our permaculture methods to revive our property and benefit our community. And they’re adventuring — either on property or off — to their hearts’ desire. Meeting sea turtles for the first time, discovering their youthful passion for boogie boarding, devouring farm-fresh meals.

Even during a pandemic, Playa Viva is a slice of pure paradise. While the responsibility is on you to make your visit as safe as possible, our team goes above and beyond to support that effort to keep our community safe without disconnecting it from our resort and our guests’ experience.

7 FAQs to Help Guests Understand a Trip to Playa Viva in 2021

1. Who greets guests arriving via airplane at the airport? Will all parties wear a mask?

Johnny Solís, longtime staple at Playa Viva and proud owner of Johnny Adventures, is usually the one who picks up guests at the airport. If Johnny is unavailable, Playa Viva arranges for a licensed and bonded taxi driver to safely transport guests to the resort. All parties do wear masks, and windows can be open in the vehicles if preferred.

2. Can guests go on off-property excursions? What are Playa Viva’s recommendations should guests decide to adventure away from the resort?

Yes, guests can go on off-property excursions, including up to the Gutierrez Farm or snorkeling in Zihua. Folks can also venture into the local town of Juluchuca to buy coconut sweets and get acquainted with the community. We recommend guests bring and wear their masks when venturing out and do their best to maintain social distancing. Especially in small villages, where there have been no registered COVID cases, it’s important to follow COVID guidelines to keep everyone safe.

3. What kind of off-property excursions are the safest for guests and the community?

The good news is that pretty much all off-property excursions are outdoors — whether paddle boarding, fishing, snorkeling, or going up to the mountains. Studies have shown that COVID transmission rates are lower in outdoor spaces. For this reason, we don’t necessarily recommend one excursion over the other. It’s really up to the guest to decide what their comfort levels are and what kind of experience they want.

For those who are more COVID cautious and don’t want to be in a car or other vehicle with folks, we often recommend one of our on-site activities.

4. For guests who choose to stay on property, do you have a favorite on-property activity that you recommend?

I highly recommend both the Farm Tour and the Night Patrol Excursion. The farm tour is about 2 hours long and led by our Permaculture Specialist Amanda Harris. Leaving directly from the hotel, guests are guided through different ecosystems and landscapes within Playa Viva’s property. You learn about permaculture techniques, organic farming, and forest ecology. At the farm you might even get to cuddle some baby pigs or harvest lettuce for your salad!

The Night Patrol Excursion is led by Lorenzo Locci, the Sanctuary Coordinator at La Tortuga Viva. Along with two local volunteers, guests have the option to go out at night either on ATV or by foot to look for mother sea turtles laying their nests. Guests learn the basics of sea turtle conservation and how to relocate nests into the sanctuary. If you’re lucky you might get to see a mother turtle or release recently born hatchlings.

5. Many new and returning guests are drawn to Playa Viva because of its connection to the larger community in Juluchuca and beyond. For those guests, can they still volunteer in the community?

Yes, guests can still volunteer in the community, but we ask that everyone wear masks and do their best to maintain social distancing. We offer opportunities for guests to teach yoga or zumba classes with kids or to adopt a larger project like painting a mural or rebuilding the town plaza.

If you’re interested in volunteering on your upcoming visit to Playa Viva, please reach out directly to receive more information.

6. In lieu of volunteering in the community, what are the best ways for guests to make a positive impact during their trip?

By choosing to visit Playa Viva on your vacation, you’re already supporting our work, whether on the farm or in the community. If you would like to make a bigger impact, we suggest Adopting a Nest to support our sea turtle conservation work or Adopting a Student to sponsor the education of a child in need in one of our impact communities.

7. During COVID, has the guest count at Playa Viva been lower? How has that altered work with the community?

The guest count at Playa Viva has been significantly lower since the start of the pandemic. It’s meant we’ve had to tighten our belts here while doing our best to keep our staff employed and continue our social and environmental impact work. Thankfully we’ve received support from former guests and other followers. We’ve been able to distribute more than 120 food baskets to families in need at the start of the pandemic. We’ve also been able to take advantage of a more empty hotel to bring school groups to Playa Viva from the local communities to learn about regeneration, permaculture, and sea turtle conservation.

The pandemic has also forced us to adapt our education work in the local communities. Whereas pre-pandemic Ariel (our Education Coordinator) was working in 6 schools with over 150 students each week, he is now working in smaller groups, focusing on tutoring and mentoring in core subjects such as reading, writing and math.

The health and economic crises of the pandemic have certainly been felt here, yet we hope that the opportunity to pause and realign our work and our goals will continue to make Playa Viva more resilient over time.

P.S. When traveling back to the US, Playa Viva can provide the required COVID test right on site.

A COVID-19 Update From Our Community

Despite the rising incidence of COVID-19 around the globe, here in the Juluchuca watershed we are grateful to have had no confirmed cases. But that doesn’t mean we aren’t still grappling with the consequences of the global pandemic.

Our own little corner of the world here on the Costa Grande has adopted new routines just like most other communities. So how are the residents of Juluchuca faring during these challenging times? And how is the staff at Playa Viva?

Thankfully, we have a lot of good news to share as we have adapted our social and environmental impact work given the constraints of COVID-19 and are adjusting plans for our education program in 2021.

Staying Healthy & Staying Safe Through the Holidays

Our tropical climate means that folks rarely gather indoors. Whether you are eating tacos in town or visiting your neighbor, more than likely you will be doing so outside. Over the holidays local travel did pick up, but COVID-19 cases did not appear. Instead, that travel provided a needed economic boost to the local coconut sweets factories and tiendas along the highway.

Extended families got together to celebrate in December and January. The annual Virgin of Guadalupe and Christmas celebrations, usually pueblo-wide events, were smaller this year to prevent large groups of people from coming together. While some residents lamented this change, most supported and understood the importance of respecting social distancing guidelines.

Thanks to Angelica, the owner of the local supermarket, we were still able to have a small Christmas posada (celebration) for the kids in Juluchuca, complete with cakes, fresh squeezed orange juice, piñatas and a raffle.

Our Playa Viva Family

Like Juluchuca, at Playa Viva we are also fortunate to have had no confirmed COVID-19 cases among guests or staff since the start of the pandemic. With all open air rooms and spaces, we spend the vast majority of our time outdoors with the salty ocean breeze constantly refreshing the air we breathe. That’s true whether we’re in the kitchen, common areas or yoga deck.

After our closure in the spring of 2020, our staff are thrilled to have visitors back again. We have seen a resurgence in onsite excursions and activities, such as the farm tour, sea turtle sanctuary visit, and boogie boarding and surfing. By wearing masks and sanitizing surfaces, we keep our guests, ourselves and our communities safe. We’re thrilled to welcome folks back to our small slice of paradise.

Engaging Youth

As our guests and visitors know well, Playa Viva is much more than just a hotel. We are a regenerative project that is constantly co-evolving with our environment and the local communities in our watershed. Because of the pandemic, we have had to make significant shifts in the social and environmental impact work we do in the four local communities where we operate.

As of January 2021, school remains out of session. Though classes are offered online, the reality in rural communities like ours is that students often don’t have enough access to internet, technological devices or family support to succeed in a virtual setting. To help fill the gap, our education work in 2020 focused on small group tutoring sessions to help students maintain the basics of reading, writing and mathematics. For the communities in the sierras, this is especially important; for many students in those remote villages, elementary school is the only formal education they receive.

With classes online and no resources to attend, many children are instead receiving a new type of education. They may go work with their parents in the mango orchards or learn to plant corn and tend to animals.

The pandemic has renewed our focus on resilient systems and this means that we are placing more emphasis on our environmental education work. Thanks to our fantastic team of volunteers, this past fall we welcomed several school groups to La Tortuga Viva to release turtles and learn about marine conservation.

On weekends we have been organizing trash cleanups around Juluchuca and at the lagoon and beach. On Wednesday afternoons, we offer the kids outdoor workshops that incorporate art and music to promote self-connection and environmental awareness.

Our youth soccer team is still thriving, and this past December we hosted an inter-pueblo tournament featuring players from all four communities in our watershed.

Next Steps in 2021

Our vision for 2021 is that these workshops, classes, cleanups and sports teams will strengthen the already existing web of community connections among youth and their families. Connections that are vital for healthy and resilient communities to thrive.

It is still unclear when students will be back to in-person school, but until then we are committed to continuing to work with youth in small groups in the safest way possible to ensure that they have the tools they need to thrive. Whether it’s learning math, creating art or planting trees, the plans for our education program in 2021 are focused on consistent engagement and co-evolution.

If you would like to support our education programs, please consider making a donation to our Regenerative Trust. And when you feel safe to travel again, we hope to see you in person at Playa Viva.

Why We Travel

This pandemic has begged the question, “Why do we miss travel?”

As a child, I did not travel much, except through what I saw on TV. I loved nature shows like The Undersea World of Jacques Cousteau and Mutual of Ohama’s Wild Kingdom with Marlin Perkin. Shows like this transported me to amazing places where I could see people interacting with nature and the communities around them. Movies, TV, and magazines were all my window to the greater, wider world. Pop culture first showed me what it meant to be a traveler.

Travel always seemed simultaneously nostalgic and exotic. Westerners (like me) would be wearing khaki safari gear as they arrived on the back of a camel or an elephant to the tent or the hut of someone who was completely different from the traveler themself. So while this was a kid’s view, it’s how I came to understand that cultures and people existed who were very different from my own.

Modern Travel & the Pandemic Stopgap

Today, travel is different. The pandemic has made person-to-person contact dangerous. In many ways it has been a great reset button because this break from traveling has allowed us to ask the question, “Why do we travel in the first place?”

Friends of mine who used to hop on a plane to attend a business meeting across the country are now asking me, “Why did I do that?” Many of us agree that it is important to be present, in person, to build trust and relationships. But now we can see how so much of our travel, especially for business, can be replaced by technology.

Meanwhile, this pandemic has given me an opportunity to connect deeper to where I live. It started with me going into my backyard and pulling weeds and tending to our garden. That activity grounded me as I got into a routine and rhythm of being home (a relative rarity for me). I began to connect to my neighbors, to my local community. As I walked the dog, I would meet neighbors who just got dogs, and as our dogs sniff each other, us “owners” would get to know each other too.

I’m sure like so many of you, this is the longest period of time you have spent in one place. Hopefully you were able to harvest the bounty of your own neighborhood.

The Host/Guest Relationship Element of Travel

Yet the question of “Why do we travel?” kept calling to me — returning to the front of my mind even as I enjoyed my time at home. And there is a part of that question that speaks to me so strongly: “What makes for a good host, and what makes for a good guest?”

My wife loves to host people. Our home has always been a “crash pad” for her friends and family — and now kids of friends and friends of friends. Some of those guests are “better” than others. What makes one better than another? Simple things. Some clean up when they cook; others leave a mess in the kitchen. Some arrive with just their luggage, and others appear bearing gifts. Some come for just a place to sleep, and others come to share their lives. The simple truth is that it takes being a host, hosting a lot of guests (bad ones and good ones), to know what it means to be a good guest. And of course it’s subjective.

In this exchange, this interaction, between guest and host, lies the truth behind why we travel. We travel to be good guests to the places we go. To reflect well on the families, communities and cultures we come from, and to learn about how other people live. To meet their families, understand their communities and learn from their cultures. This is what we are all missing from our lives right now. This connection and reflection.

Types of Travelers

I was recently invited to be a guest lecturer (over Zoom, of course) to a class at San Francisco State University on tourism to talk about our endeavors, Playa Viva and Regenerative Travel. I’ve guest lectured many times before and rather than speaking at students, I prefer to have a dialogue. Ideally engaging them on their level and having them approach me with tough questions.

This time around, I was immediately asked to describe our type of traveler. Who was our customer? Who was our guest? I recounted a story of how I sometimes wait at the airport to receive guests with Johnny, who takes guests to Playa Viva. I told the students how I could, by sight as people got off the plane, divide the arriving passengers into three groups. Group 1 will go directly from the airport to their hermetically sealed, all-inclusive resort and the most local, Mexican thing they will experience is an avocado on their cheeseburger. Group 2 will go to a hotel in town, and they will wander through tourist areas but still venture outside the hermetically sealed comfort of the all inclusive. Group 3 will stay in a hotel like Playa Viva. They will get out of the tourist area and will interact with locals on a one-on-one basis and get to know the local culture and how people really live in Mexico.

One student posed a question that concerned me. He asked, “What about the guy who takes one vacation a year? He saves all his money to take his family to Hawaii for a week. Doesn’t he deserve to just sit on the beach and drink his Mai Tai and enjoy his all-inclusive vacation?” I didn’t have the guts to tell him what I really thought. That the “guy” doesn’t need to go all the way to Hawai’i to have that experience. Nothing about his experience will be about Hawai’i. The person who serves him may not be from there. The hotel he stays in probably won’t be owned by a local Hawai’ian host. The luau and the dance might be billed as “authentic,” but the experience will be the same as going to a luau at Disneyland.

Why does that “guy” travel? He doesn’t have to be Jacque Coustaue or Karl Perkins. So how can we get that “guy” to push his reset button and get out of the comfort zone of the community-detached, all inclusive? How can we get him into the neighborhood and engaged in the essence of the place? To immerse himself in the local ecosystem and have a real cultural exchange with new peoples?

Why does that guy travel? Why do you travel? I travel to be a good guest. To arrive with a gift to share something of my culture with the locals. To sit with them and learn and share and tell stories. To go into their gardens, walk their neighborhoods, learn about their views and cultures, and share all that I can.

To me, that is what it means to be a Regenerative Traveler. That is why I travel. Please join me in not only being a good guest but in being a good host.

Natural Building Starts From the Ground Up

At both Playa Viva and Casa Viva, we take pride in designing and building natural structures to minimize the impact on our environment — and to maximize these structures’ sustainability. Our permaculture team also plants and maintains abundant and local plant systems that allow us to harvest our own bioconstruction materials on site. And we use local labor and resources to not only build our infrastructure but to support our community.

We want to help curb the pull felt in our pueblo, and in rural communities around the world, to construct primarily with concrete — a material with an enormous carbon footprint. A generation ago, homes in Juluchuca and in nearby Rancho Nuevo were built in the traditional wattle and daub style using materials from the local ecosystem. These homes were constructed with the hands of multiple generations of the same family.

Modernism tells communities like ours that building with earth, clay, straw and cow manure are antique techniques. Ones that should be forgotten and replaced. However, our regenerative boutique hotels (and our philosophy toward sustainability in general) seek to remind our team members, our community, and our guests the value of local knowledge, of working with our hands and together in community, and turning what many consider waste (coconut hulls, cut up straw) into tasteful walls, common spaces, and roofs.

The Story Behind Being Made in Mexico

When choosing materials, Playa Viva sets the standard for “Made in Mexico” and “all natural.” As a result, each corner of the hotel contains the handiwork of local artisans and a history, both natural and cultural, of the country. From fossilized sea stones to an ancient building technique gaining popularity worldwide, every structure and fixture tells a story.

TECHNIQUES

Natural building, or bioconstruction, is a discipline within the world of architecture, building, and permaculture. It seeks to integrate infrastructure into the natural environment and ecosystem where a building or project exists and to connect members of the build team to a sense of place.

Cob

Cob is an ancient building technique that utilizes clay, sand and straw (or other locally sourced fibers). Cob homes are commonplace throughout Europe, in parts of Mexico and around the world. The raw materials are mixed thoroughly together, in many cases with the feet of the builders young and old alike, and applied wet onto the walls. In the common spaces at Playa Viva, you will see three different cob wall mixtures. The color variations come from the clay base used. When building the Playa Viva walls, the construction team collected clay from the veins alongside local riverbanks and roads, identifying a rainbow of clays from bright orange to deep purple. The team experimented with mixing in other organic materials such as shells, manure and plant detritus to change the aesthetics and durability.

As our farm infrastructure continues to develop, we plan to further explore these techniques. Learning from the success stories and asking members of our community to remind people of the healing powers of working with earth. There is nothing comparable to the accessibility and resiliency of these structures.

If you, your children, or someone you know is interested in getting your hands dirty with us, reach out about our Volunteer Program (3 month minimum stay) or inquire about our work before you book your next trip!

Wattle and Daub

Wattle and daub traditionally consists of a woven latticework of flexible wood or bamboo (called wattles) filled in and covered with a mixture of mud, clay, animal dung and chopped straw. Through a “truth window” at Casa Viva, you can sneak a peek inside our walls to see where we experimented with finding a use for the many coconut hulls that litter our landscape. We stacked this free resource thick and high between bamboo frames. Then covered the earthen walls with cob and varying natural plasters.

MATERIALS

Wood

Wood is an abundant material in our area that we use extensively for our hotel rooms, common spaces, and yoga platforms. This incredible, renewable and relatively easy-to-use resource is a mainstay in our building infrastructure. All the wood that we utilize in our structures is sourced and milled in our region and oftentimes collected from felled trees after big storms roll through.

Clay

This plentiful material is one of mankind’s oldest building materials. It is used in most if not all of our buildings. See if you can’t find the hand-designed dancing figures on a wall during your next stay at Casa Viva in Troncones. Clay has enjoyed a resurgence in recent years throughout the world as builders and homeowners better understand the variety of benefits of using this ubiquitous material. Mexico has a rich history of building with earth using techniques such as wattle and daub and Adobe. We are proud to be a part of the movement of revaluing earth as a commonly used building material in our adopted country.

Straw/Natural Grasses

If you look closely at the walls at Playa Viva, you can identify this local resource in the plasters and inside the structural integrity of our open air structures. The materials are free and ample in our environment. To use them is to value them in new, revitalized, and regenerative ways, and more than likely, prevent them from being burned.

Regenerative practices are rooted in turning problems into solutions. What better way than to turn trash into art? In cob construction, the straw/grass acts as the rebar would in a concrete structure. It essentially holds everything together. In this case our structures, but perhaps in the future as more people begin working with it, will also hold together our larger community.

Bamboo

Bamboo has become one of our favorite building materials over the years. Even though at this point in our story we have purchased much of the bamboo that we build with from other farms in Mexico, we have also planted multiple patches and species of this
magical grass on our reserve. We use it for a variety of building and non-building applications.

Bamboo’s versatility, functionality and flexibility are unbelievable. When you visit Playa Viva, you will see that we use bamboo for just about everything, from light fixtures in the pathways to furniture and tunnels draped in passion fruit plants.

Palm Leaves

Fronds from the native palm, Sabal mexicana, create natural waterproof and resilient thatched roofs, which you will find on all of the casitas and beachfront palapas at Playa Viva. The fronds are cut six days before they are used, dried in open fields under the Mexican sun, and then placed in layers beginning at the base of roof beams. The main Playa Viva architect specifically designed the palapa roof frames for maximum earthquake resilience. (The treehouse designed by Kimshasa Baldwin is equally sustainably sourced.) And as part of the native vegetation restoration project and for future use as a sustainable building material, our permaculture team replants native palms seasonally throughout the property.

On Your Next Visit

It is pretty easy to lose yourself among the creativity of the architecture in Playa Viva. You could spend a whole day exploring the landscape room by room. Each space with its unique touches and an opportunity to identify a locally sourced building material that you might have overlooked in its natural setting. We invite you to explore — to touch the walls, to lay on your back and observe the patterns of the thatch roofs, to walk through nature or explore the permaculture farm and find those patterns repeated again.

If this article inspired you or you have been thinking about building with earth where you live but do not know where to start, please reach out to our Permaculture Manager, Amanda Harris. She is happy to help connect you to builders in the United States and parts of Latin America.

Playa Viva or Casa Viva: Which is Right for You?

As you dream about your next winter getaway, you may be spending extra time thinking about the kind of vacation you want — the location, the amenities, and the design of the space. You may also be considering the sustainability of where you choose to visit and your proximity to nature and outdoor activities.

With our two eco-lux, beachfront hotels, Playa Viva and Casa Viva, we often get questions regarding their similarities and differences. While both have comparable architecture, sustainability principles, and open air rooms and common spaces, they offer a few key differences.

As you consider your next vacation, we invite you to explore Playa Viva and Casa Viva to decide which is right for your next trip.

Location and Amenities

Playa Viva is located 45 minutes south of the Zihuatanejo/Ixtapa airport, situated on a mile of pristine private beach and with 200 acres of coastal forest to explore. At Playa Viva, you are truly immersed in nature, falling asleep to the crashing waves and waking up to a morning turtle release. We offer all-inclusive packages that include three gourmet, farm-to-table meals a day, snacks, non-alcoholic beverages, and morning yoga six days a week. Our holistic host lives onsite to offer massage and other wellness service. All available to you without having to leave the comforts of our space.

Casa Viva is located in the small surfing town of Troncones, which is located 45 minutes north of the Zihuatanejo/Ixtapa airport. At Casa Viva, we offer an onsite chef to prepare delicious meals for you, or you can walk out the door and head into town to explore nearby restaurants and bars. At Casa Viva, you have the opportunity to rent bikes to explore the town or arrange surfing lessons to grab a wave. If you are looking to get a massage or participate in a yoga class, you’ll find several options in Troncones.

Accommodations

Playa Viva has a total of 12 oceanfront, open air rooms, with the ability to accommodate up to 35 guests. With a large common area, pool, and two yoga platforms, we offer plenty of space to spread out. Playa Viva is equipped to host yoga retreats, small weddings, and family reunions, as well as solo travelers, groups of friends, and couples. Our unique treehouse has attracted visitors from around the world.

Casa Viva is smaller than Playa Viva, with just three rooms and a sleeping porch. The property accommodates a maximum of 16 guests. All rooms are open air and offer a view of Troncones’s beautiful beach, famous for surfing and marine life. Casa Viva also includes an intimate common space, pool, and jacuzzi. Like Playa Viva, Casa Viva is also prepared to host small yoga retreats, weddings, and family reunions.

Design, Sustainability, and Social Impact

Both Playa Viva and Casa Viva were built with sustainable materials and designed by the French architect Michel Lewis. His design includes the use of sustainable wood, bamboo, and adobe finishes, as well as amber lighting and palapa roofs.

Playa Viva takes the concept of sustainability one step farther — to actually regenerate the local watershed and communities of which it is a part. Playa Viva is 100% off-grid and includes a permaculture project to support our farm-to-table kitchen and reforestation goals. Playa Viva also supports La Tortuga Viva, a sea turtle conservation project run by a team of 14 local volunteers. Finally, Playa Viva engages the communities in the local watershed in education projects, youth sports, and permaculture initiatives.

We invite guests to get involved in these projects. Whether it’s walking the land with our Permaculture Manager Amanda Harris, learning to relocate vulnerable sea turtle nests on night patrol with our Turtle Sanctuary Coordinator Lorenzo Locci, or participating in an environmental education project with our Social and Environmental Impact Manager Colleen Fugate. At Playa Viva, we offer many ways to engage and give back while on vacation. We take care of the details so you can be present in the experience.

Casa Viva’s proximity to the town of Troncones means that guests looking to engage in sustainability or social impact projects have the opportunity to reach out to local NGOs to volunteer in the community. Our staff at Casa Viva are happy to recommend projects and various ways to get involved.

Playa Viva or Casa Viva? You can’t go wrong.

The answer is clear. Both Playa Viva and Casa Viva offer eco-luxury accommodations allowing you to unwind, relax, and reconnect. Whether you want to explore the town of Troncones at Casa Viva or enjoy the seclusion of a private beach at Playa Viva, our attention to detail and beautiful natural surroundings mean that with either option, you can’t go wrong.

Visit Playa Viva Through Our Guests’ Lens: Photo Contest Winners

At the end of our season every year, we host a photo contest.We love seeing Playa Viva through the eyes of our guests. Because each submission represents one small part of the meaningful experiences that Playa Viva guests always talk about — with other guests while on property and with their loved ones when they return home.

Time and again the photo submissions align with the emotional and mental transformations that come about as part of our guests’ time here. You would think it impossible to capture those sentiments in a photo, but the way that our guests either zoom in on certain details at the resort or take a wider lens approach to the beauty here represents so much more.

A trip to Playa Viva may help you zero in on a part of your life that needs attention. Or it may be the impetus you need in order to release an unhealthy obsession over life’s other details. Whatever you need, we hope you find it here.