LBS Pt. 2 – It’s All Downhill from Here

Progress? We decided to make Little Big Sur a little bigger and added some floors! No, this is an-all- too-typical scene in PV these days -- massive construction. PV is undergoing a transformation which is noticeable at every visit. I’ve never seen so much construction in such a small town. I suppose with more people, comes more regulation. The big controversy is the installation of the dreaded parking meter. Installing meters apparently became a necessity to pay for the new most-beautiful-on-the-beach-parking-structure that no-one-uses because street parking is free.

Still There. Old Vallarta is still there, if perhaps in slightly smaller doses. These pictures are of an Old Town neighborhood called Conchas Chinas (Chinese Shells). Conchas Chinas is a gussied up section in the hills on the southern tip of El Centro sometimes referred to as the Beverly Hills of PV. Needless to say, we can only afford to walk around the area.

Green Season: October signals the end of the rainy season with the jungle at its greenest. It’s also at its fullest in terms of wildlife: red fox, jaguar, wild boar, dozens of kinds of birds, crab, and lots of lizards all live up there. I’ve only seen the crab, lizards and dozens of different kinds of bugs, many of which were making me their meal this trip. This is a picture of our little village in a small cove which John calls “Chonchos.”

Traveling Like a Mexican: KR and I always looked askance at Mexicans in LAX on their way home. Invariably, they looked like they were taking everything including the new kitchen sink in their luggage. We now understand, having gone to Ross the night before our trip and bought the two largest, cheapest pieces of luggage we could find and three huge duffel bags. We then proceeded to stuff them with pillows, flatware, a full set of glasses, flash lights, binoculars, four kinds of board games, dried food, books and paper towels. Somehow we got the bags onto the airplane (no extra charges : )), through Mexican customs (no taxes : )), to Puerto Vallarta, then the 20 miles south to the water taxi pick up point, ONBOARD the water taxi along with 35 other people, and finally OFF LOADED on the beach at Chonchos. And we did it with no breakage and nothing hitting the water! Here, we get help humping the stuff the final 100 yards up the beach.

One Year Ago. Left: Site of Little Big Sur first cleared. Middle: The basic structure is created, with the “innovative” lower deck design. Right: KR and John look happy with themselves.

“Mule Highway” Our version of Interstate 5’s “Grapevine” in LA, we now have a well-traveled foot/mule path used as the primary construction road to our section of the Resort. Unfortunately, most of the way is uphill. Here John and KR pass one of our neighbor’s houses in an early stage of construction. I’m told the neighbor works for Blackwater, which is reassuring as you can never have too much security. Since his place has a commanding view of our cove and coast line, he’ll keep a sharp eye out for any approaching trouble.

On top of the ridge, sits LBS: The “door” is behind the round window. Eventually, there will be some sort of low wall on top of the steps to separate the kitchen bar from he entrance.

View from back patio forward. Little Big Sur might be THE definition of open living, as there are only five walls in the place, and they’re not all connected. Somehow, it’s grown from 500 sq ft. to 1500 sq. ft. of open space, making it the largest casita in the resort. The stairs on the right go to the loft bedroom. The kitchen is also on the right. Immediately to the left of this picture would be the bathroom and bedroom.

Standing in the Dining Room, looking at the kitchen counter and up to the second sleeping loft.

The Deck: Looking at the cement couch and outside bed. Dining room is to the left, ocean to the right.

The Master Suite. Wiring and doors yet to be finished. Bathroom is directly behind the bedroom. The bedroom, like everything else, will be “open.” I’m asked a lot about how to protect stuff from the weather and possible intruders. We’ll use some sort of bamboo type shades around all the major parts of LBS to protect from the elements. As to intruders, I suppose our best protection is remoteness. Not many people get to this neck of the jungle, and those who do we’ll know. We’ll also have some lockable closets for the family heirlooms.

Size matters, at least when it comes to solar systems. Many think that we over-built, as we have four panels to everyone else’s one, six batteries to everyone else’s two, and an inverter. That’s what they think now, but they’ll be jealous once I get my DirecTV, Internet, DVD equipment going. Oh, and perhaps most importantly, we’re getting a world-class blender. Once on stream, I’m thinking of selling my excess electricity to some of my neighbors. “Worldwide Walti Solar Power” has a certain ring to it.

Everything comes by boat, either from PV or Chimo. Here, the kitchen counter top is unloaded with some wall boards. Yes, they successfully unloaded everything.

About a dozen pieces of local Parrota wood have made this curved counter top. Our Mexican Hostess is admiring the work, while Artemio gets the water working in the kitchen sink. Ahh, team work…

More of this to come: After another hard day of supervision, it’s nice to have a cocktail on the couch, even if its cement. Someday it will feel like one as well and the cocktail will have lots of ice.

Lest we forget, we’re working towards our version of this. This is Dennis’ place, often referred to as “The Model Home.”

The Good Brother. Our water taxi “firm” is owned by a family and operated by a pair of brothers. We call Martin the Good Brother as he’s the better driver. This is all relative, of course. While Benito’s skills behind the wheel would be welcome if escaping the Federales, he’s best at helping old ladies and Gringo Tourists on/off the taxi during beach landings.