by John Lamkin
Sitting here watching the sunrise on the lagoon—Laguna Bacalar--I recall the time we arrived by canoe at the little cove here and decided that this would be an excellent spot to build a house. It was covered with scrub growth, weeds, some trees, coconut palms and the jungle was trying to reclaim it. Now, looking from the terraza of the house, it looks manicured, with lawns, flowers, intentional landscaping and the jungle held at bay. We had the house built by a Mexican architect friend with the unlikely name, Shiva. It's small, sets back about twenty meters from the water and has views of the Laguna from every room except the large bathroom which has its own indoor garden. It took awhile to manifest after the canoe ride, some looking at other places in Mexico, but it happened. It helped that it was on part of the land we already owned.
It seems there comes a time in a man's life when he has the strong urge to build, maybe something for 'posterity'--to make his mark on the land. I found locations for two other homes in somewhat the same manner as the Laguna house. The first was what they called a 'camp' in Nova Scotia. Back in California, where I came from, it would be called a cabin. I bought the 149 acres sight unseen. I had always dreamed of having a place, tucked away in the woods, surrounded by tall trees. After traveling to Nova Scotia and a long, adventurous canoe ride up the Barrington River, I located my land. Walking around it, I decided “tucked away in the woods” would be rather dark and not for me, so it ended up on a knoll of tundra-type vegetation, overlooking the woods on all sides, the river below and the river branch behind (at least the small hillock that rose behind the branch). I hauled materials in the six miles from town by ox cart and built the 'camp' without power tools. When I left Nova Scotia, I sold it to a neurosurgeon from Maine that wanted to escape the “rat race.”
The next cabin location I found in New Mexico, outside of Taos—across the Rio Grande. With a map in hand and friend that knew the land, I walked around, came to a high, sagebrush covered knoll with a 360 degree view of the surrounding mountains. To the east was the crack in the ground that was the Rio Grande Gorge and beyond that Taos, Taos Indian Pueblo and the Sangre de Cristo Mountains. “This is it!” I said. I checked the map, went to the court house and found the owner of the piece who lived in nearby Ranchos de Taos and bought it—1/4 acre. I still have the land and the 'cabin' that I built little-by-little over twenty some odd years. It's beautiful now, surrounded by trees and greenery—still has that 360 degree view. The house, Casa Juan Galan, has its own web page.
At this age will I still search out new locations for my dream house and start again?
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John Lamkin is a freelance travel journalist and photographer based in Taos, New Mexico. When not in Taos, he can be found roaming mostly in Latin America and writing about it. He has written for many newspapers and magazines, and is a contributor to several online publications. Mr. Lamkin is the editor of Soul of Travel online magazine. He is a board member and Global Membership Chair of the International Food, Wine & Travel Writers Association. His website is: www.TravelWritingAndPhotography.com
