Using the Barefoot Architect by Johan van Lengen to get a few ideas during the design process.
Designing an Eco-friendly Cabana in Northern Nicaragua
Building in Nicaragua – Palm Fronds for the Thatch Roof
Accessing the palm fronds for the thatch roof turned out to be one of the easiest things we’ve had to do so far. There’s a property nearby owned by a friend full of the right kinds of palms, so we simply had to have a chat with the caretaker there and negotiate a fair price …
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Building in Nicaragua – Is Cutting Mangroves ever Sustainable?
Mangle, mangle, mangle! We were told we needed to get some varilla to support the palma (palm thatch leaves used for our roof). So we said “OK, where do we get that”? We could either buy it from a local guy or at the market for 30 Cordobas (cords; exchange rate = 22 cords/US$) per …
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New Ocean View Eco Community in Northern Nicaragua
It’s been brewing for a while and now we’re going for it. We’re planning an eco-friendly community on an amazing piece of land consisting of two ridges, a hilltop, and valley situated behind a bay with great waves and a beautiful beach within easy walking distance. There’s an estuary on one side of the bay …
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Building in Nicaragua – Eucalyptus Plantation and Roof Assembly Video
The video footage of the Eucalyptus plantation experience and the start of the roof assembly.
Building in Nicaragua – Eucalyptus Plantation Politics
The house progresses rapidly. It’s amazing how quickly the eucalyptus posts can be assembled into home shape. Our nine supporting pillars were bought, cut, delivered, and cemented into place within four days. For the rest of the roof structure we needed thinner diameter eucalyptus and drove a few Kms down the main highway towards Chinandega …
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Building in Nicaragua – Shopping for Eucalyptus Video
A video summary of shopping for the eucalyptus posts that will become the pillars for our cabana in Nicaragua.
Building a Cabana in Nicaragua – Eucalyptus posts
Lately our home base has been a thatched roof cabana at El Coco Loco, the Eco-hotel where we run our women’s surf and yoga retreats. Since the guys at Coco Loco have been letting us crash there in between retreats, whenever their 5 cabanas are full with paying guests we get relocated to a tent, …
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Building with Bamboo – Making Esterilla
Esterilla is essentially flattened bamboo and can be used as flooring, wall paneling, and anything else where you need a strong flat material. In Ecuador we saw it used as walls in many local homes. We happened to come across a few guys actually making the Esterilla and stopped to check it out. Click play …
Treehouse Envy
The Best Beer in Ecuador
Hiking through permaculture farms and admiring bamboo structures makes one quite thirsty. Usually, quality hoppy libations are inaccessible in Latin America, which is why we were so ecstatic to happen upon Cafe Flor and Roche's Brewery in Canoa, Ecuador. We'd heard rumors of locally brewed IPAs on tap served with burritos. It was just what …
Hiking the Jama-Coque Ecological Reserve in Ecuador
While visiting the Rio Muchacho farm we met a silvaculturalist (tree specialist) named Noah who suggested we check out the Jama-Coque Ecological Reserve. He gave us some vague directions and we followed a dirt road through some squishy mud, left our rental car in the care of a pack of pigs, and hiked into the …
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Rio Muchacho Organic Farm Tour
Holly Beck and Kim Obermeyer tour the Rio Muchacho Organic Farm in Ecuador, milking cows to make cheese, carving mate bowls, climbing huge trees, and checking out the bamboo structures. http://www.riomuchacho.com
Koh Ra Ecolodge Thailand
Holly and Kim in Thailand, hanging out at the Koh Ra Ecolodge and cruising Phuket.
Eco:Design:Life 