Innkeeper's Story

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Opting Out

from Agua Azul la Villa B&B Inn

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Sometimes a negative turn of events can be a catalyst to something incredible. I had fantasized about running a B & B but without an action plan or time frame. After a series of corporate mergers and downsizings, I found myself unemployed causing my husband and me to seriously reevaluate our lives. We decided to drop out of the rat race and change our lives dramatically.

As we were not quite ready to cut the umbilical cord I found a temporary job while Rick, who was self employed, began winding down his business. We redecorated the two spare bedrooms in our home where we operated a B&B in preparation for our move. During this time, Rick sat on a committee with the City of Calgary Tourism and Convention Bureau, setting standards for the B&B industry. All of this gave us the confidence we needed to know we were doing the right thing… in spite of what our friends and relatives believed and endeavored to communicate to us.

Ultimately we wanted to live in a warm climate, which meant leaving Canada. We narrowed our search to the Pacific Coast of Mexico but in 1999 the abundance and quality of information on the internet was not what it is today. Instead of surfing the net, we traveled from Sonora to Oaxaca living like gypsies and investigated every opportunity. After several months we began to despair of not finding the perfect place and were discussing possible compromises.

Finally we arrived in Huatulco, a pristine eco-resort developed by the federal government to promote tourism with some of the best infrastructure in Mexico. Rustic charm can wear thin quickly and dependable electricity, clean running water, and paved streets are a real plus. It was the beaches however that really sold us. Spread along 20 miles of rugged coastline are nine bays with 36 immaculate sandy beaches, many are virgin beaches only reachable by boat. The coral is not as colorful as the Caribbean but the variety and abundance of tropical fish more than compensates and unlike northern Mexico the water is warm enough to swim in all year round. We have two seasons, dry and wet, but as we only get about 35 days with rain annually, Huatulco is a perfect year round vacation destination. This is where the Sierra Madre Mountains meet the Pacific Ocean and I doubt that you could find more dramatic landscapes anywhere.

We purchased land in a residential development overlooking a tiny sheltered cove, and built Agua Azul la Villa, a 6 guestroom Bed & Breakfast that cascades down the side of a hill. From the time we left Canada to opening the B&B took about two years. The building and the bureaucracy was not easy, but that is a story for another time. From the moment we opened our doors we have not looked back. We would do it again in a heartbeat and our only regret is that we did not opt out of the corporate world sooner.

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