May 4, 2005 — About two months ago, we rented a small house in the village of Bernal, Mexico, not far from the city of Queretaro. It’s typical Mexican block construction, mostly about ten years old. The landlord told us before we saw it that it was “muy rustica,” (very rustic) and he was right. But the price was terrific, about $108 US a month, and Kelly was intrigued by the challenge of making a normal house more ecological. Here’s what it looked like when we rented it:

Much of what we have done is painting and whitewashing, the whitewashing being white, sky blue, and a color they call oxidized red… That’s the complete range of colors that we have found for whitewash.

Also, Kelly turned the downstairs patio into a covered space by adding a roof of laminated fiberglass. To keep the sun out, he got a lot of palm branches that the local churches were finished with (right after Palm Sunday) at no cost, and those are on the roof.

Then our landlord (who is watching Kelly’s efforts with fascination and pleasure) gave us an antique rusted metal door-and-window frame. Kelly cleaned it, installed it, painted it, had glass installed, and added screening over the one window that opens all the way — more to control local cat activity than bugs.

We use a curtain made from a woolen bedspread woven here in Bernal to keep the living room cooler. We keep this across most of the morning:

Here’s how the door looks from the small walled back yard. I like how the color on the walls ties the indoors and outdoors together.

The two upstairs rooms will be our offices. I whitewashed mine, painted the cement floor blue, and varnished two doors. Kelly installed them as a long table and added shelves. We’re sharing it for now, as Kelly’s office is still untouched.

The kitchen is pretty much as we found it, with a few shelves added. Remodeling it will wait till we come back. That sink is very low.

The bathroom still needs work too. I forgot to get any pictures of the bedroom. All it needed was whitewash, a bed, and some large bamboo poles we hang our clothing on.

This shows the living room with the kitchen and bathroom doors.

We’re happy here.