Our Lodges — Cabins & Glamping at Cahuasquí Retreats

Creation of Shisa House

• The first house

  Shisa House was started in January 2014 and finished in 2017, though there is always something to add or change. It was the first cabin on the farm, built by my fellow community members, with the carpentry done by my neighbor Marcelo. I brought many of the decorations and furnishings back from the United States to add nice touches throughout. I call it the Shisa House because two shisa dogs sit on the outside support beams. They were gifts from a friend who traveled to Okinawa, Japan, where they are part of the culture. They protect the house from bad energy and keep the good energy in. The female shisa has a closed mouth and the male has his open, to scare away evil spirits.

Creation of Talavera House

• Named for the tiles

  The Talavera House is named for the hand-painted Talavera tiles I carried back from the United States over several trips. They line the kitchen and the bathroom, and they show up in small details you tend to notice on the second morning. The house was designed around the mountain views, with two balconies, two bedrooms and large windows facing the valley. Like every house here, it was raised by the community, including neighbors, friends and the carpenters of Cahuasquí, and it was finished slowly, piece by piece.

Creation of La Casita

• The little one

  La Casita is the newest cabin on the farm and the smallest by design, with one bedroom, one porch and one clear view. After years of hosting families in the bigger houses, I wanted a place built for one or two people: a couple on a honeymoon, a writer on a retreat, or a single traveler who wants the mountain to themselves. Every window and door was built in town by my local carpenter friend, every wall went up by hand, and the porch sits exactly where the morning light first lands on the valley.

Creation of The Glamping Higo Platform

• Built around the fig tree

  We call it the Higo Platform because it was built next to an old fig tree, and higo is the Spanish word for fig. An orange tree, a custard apple tree and an avocado tree frame the rest of the deck. Rather than cut them down, we built the recycled plastic decking in among the fruit trees, so guests sleep under their canopy with the sky open above and the valley dropping away below. The river-stone outhouse came next, built entirely by hand from stones gathered out of the creek. It is the most off-grid stay on the farm, and the one guests talk about most.