More about The House in Mazatlan

I capitalized The House because it is so special.  The original building is from the 1860's - one of many huge homes built by wealthy German immigrant families.  It was a complete wreck when the current owner bought it about 12 years ago, and was also much larger.  He divided up the building into three and sold off two.  Then he restored the house to historical standards for this old city area of Mazatlan.  The red tile floor you see here is original and extends throughout the house and patio.

The main house itself is spacious and open, with 25 foot ceilings.  It really has only one bedroom, but there is a loft bedroom too, with a small spiral staircase up to it.  Kitchen, dining, living, bathrooms, bedroom all lie in a row facing out to the patio and courtyard.  Across the courtyard (and I'm not sure this is an original building) is a two-story building with a full studio apartment on each floor (called casitas) and a roof-top patio above.  But the main attraction of this place is the courtyard with its many and varied tropical plants and trees and vines.  There is a fountain in the center which is not functioning now but still adds to the ambiance.

The patio and courtyard are wonderful for entertaining. Three huge iron doors (seen in the picture) open the house up fully onto the covered patio and courtyard, providing total easy flow between them.  We have hosted several cocktail parties and potluck suppers over the winter and it never fails that everyone enjoys themselves immensely and comments on the relaxed and beautiful old world atmosphere.  The house is truly the envy of many expats.  How lucky we were to be able to rent it, and at a reasonable price.  We have reserved it again for next winter.

This winter, my husband, Mike, has been able to work remotely from here on a consulting contract for a company back in Canada.  He uses one of the casitas to work from.  How wonderful the opportunity to do that has been for him.  I hope it can be arranged again for next winter!  I remember my first winter here (see my first post in the blog).  I spent most of the winter by myself that time, and it was a good experience for me.  But part of my motivation to do it was to lay the groundwork for future winters here, hoping that we could eventually design our lives to be: exactly what they were this winter.