The casa by the sea

Today I drove our rental car up to the property we’ve rented for the month.  The online pictures of it didn’t give me the clearest idea of the layout, and I was also curious about where exactly it was in relation to where the movie is set i.e. the village of Chicxulub.

I left Samantha, Tania, and Emma back at the B&B in Merida to sort out some last minute business, and did the 50 minute drive to the casa.

The bad news is, although it was listed as being in the Chicxulub area, that was a pretty loose description.  It’s about 16 km from the village, and about as far from any village as one can get on the coast of the Mayan Riviera.  Definitely not walking distance, and the bus only goes by a couple times a day, so we’ll have to rent a vehicle for the whole time we’re here – something I was hoping to avoid.

On the big plus side, our property is in the middle of what was once a coconut plantation, and our nearest neighbors are hundreds of yards away on either side.  That’s way more privacy than I’m used to for this area.  Also, the grounds themselves are quite varied with open sandy spaces, little mounds, and various trails and pathways among the palms and shrubs.  Lots of good shooting opportunities there.  There are small flood lights at the base of several of the palm trees.

The pool is almost an infinity pool, and it sits atop a small hill at the edge of the beach.  It has a deck and a palapa and a clear view down the coast for miles in either direction. Excellent!

We have the use of a small beach house (casita) right on the beach, a basic kitchen/bathroom/bedroom affair.  The larger house about 80 feet further up has 4 bedrooms and 4 bathrooms, a large kitchen, combination living/dining room.  A big back deck, and a big balcony off the master bedroom.  I’m not crazy about the colour scheme.  Every room and hallway in both houses is white with blue trim, so we’ll have to find simple ways to make rooms look like they are not part of the same house for other required locations, like the Cancun hotel room scene.

It’s really beautiful here.

I was met at the gate by maybe 30 local mongrel dogs, all very yappy.  They were all variations on the standard small brown domestic Mexican dog I see everywhere I go here.  I’ve just never seen so many in one place.  I hope they don’t bark while we’re shooting.  I led them along the path to the caretaker’s house just inside the gate, where I’d been told I could pick up the keys to the property from Carlos, the caretaker.

A woman met me and I managed to get the message that Carlos had gone to the village to get milk for the ninos.  No idea where the keys were or when he’d be back.  Oh well.

I whiled away some time wandering around shooting BTS with my small old digital Sony videocam, then suddenly fell asleep in a hammock for a couple hours.  I woke up around dusk completely confused.  I was on the deck of an abandoned house on an empty beach where?  Oh, right.  Had a moment or two of post-apocalyptic angst.

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