Casa Melodia

I am so enamored with our accommodations that I’m dedicating a posting to where Stan and I are spending our days and nights. There is no maid to clean our room, and we can’t call for room service as if we were in a hotel, but it is so nice to be living in and experiencing a real Puerto Vallarta neighborhood. I need to qualify that. Our ‘hood is a real neighborhood, and there are local people living here, but mostly it is made up of gringos. Thus the nickname for this area “Gringo Gulch”: gringo, because of all the whities living here; and gulch, because the houses are situated on the side of the hill next to the Cuale River which runs down to the sea.

We are renting the garden apartment of the house called Casa Melodia. (Yes, they name their houses here.) There is a story as to why it is called “Music House” but quite frankly I can’t recall. Pamela, the American owner, has gotten herself worked up over a party she is throwing tomorrow night, so I’ll refrain from asking.

From the street paved in polished-from-use river stones, you enter a central door. For Pamela and Paul’s home you walk straight in. They have an upper level as well. (The views are truly stunning.) To visit us you walk down the stairs that are just inside the front door. Understand this is by no means a basement apartment, or a hovel like Mustafa’s place. The apartment floods with morning light, glows from the brightly painted walls and almost always carries a light breeze. Windows open from every room to the east or south overlooking the “gulch” and the river.

We have a dining room/office where Stan does his work, and a spacious kitchen. A pantry with turquoise blue shutter doors holds our provisions, and there is plenty of open shelving. The kitchen looks to the living room, which has fun green walls. Off the living area is the bathroom, which has a big walk-in shower, and also a small garden accessible through a side door. From our garden we too have a respectable view of the river, the gulch, and the jungle covered mountains that overlook the city.

Our bedroom is cozy and the bed is hung with needed mosquito netting. We’re sleeping pretty well here, other than the occasional neighborhood catfight (literally) and the rowdy perros (dogs.) The dogs can make quite a racket. Then there are the occasional donkeys. Oh, and the early morning roosters. There is certainly a lot of wildlife!

As nice as all of this is, I think my favorite part is the open windows. I always am envious of a climate where it is difficult to tell where the inside ends and the outside begins. This is such a place. There is no glass on the window openings and there are no screens, only wooden shutters that can be shut against the summer rains. Doors are left open to let in and out the sounds, smells and sights of daily living. So you’re gonna get some mosquito bites. You might be awakened from your dreams by fighting tomcats. And the roosters will likely rouse you before you are ready.

But you will also hear the music wafting down from upstairs – often soft jazz or maybe even Lyle Lovett. You will hear the click click click of the next-door neighbor lighting her gas stove. You will smell onions and peppers frying, coffee brewing, and feel a sense of home in what would otherwise seem a strange place. This to me is living the life.