Villa Incognito

A few people have asked for a tour of my parents place, so here it is. They call it Villa Incognito, after a book by Tom Robbins.

This is the front yard. It is landscaped with several purloined plants, at least one of which had to be removed from its original location by a pickaxe. The table is used every night around 5:30 for happy hour with the neighbours.

Happy hour is so regular that one of the local dogs/resident donkey-chasers shows up every day around 5PM. We rarely see Carlito before that, but he knows bites of gouda are on the happy hour menu.

This is the entrance/kitchen/dining/living room.

The kitchen has a utility room mosly given over to scuba equipment. What it doesnt have is a hot water heater. Apparently most people here dont have them because of the expense. According to the parents, water costs approximately one zillion dollars per litre here. On days when we are allowed to take showers (mostly the pool is used for rinsing) we use the "cold" water tap. Since many of the pipes are exposed, the water is sun-warmed.

All of the mess here is mine. I am pretty sure my mother would make me add that as a disclaimer before approving this post. She gets crazyeyed when she looks at my clutter.

My mother has chosen a Miami Vice-inspired colour scheme for the place. 

And the back entrance, to the pool courtyard, which is caged in for our protection. Since we steal wifi from the neighbour, the chair here is the only place with reliable signal. In fact, I'm in it now.

Now lets go upstairs!

There are two bedrooms, both the same size, both with huge closets, en suite bathroom (we are watching a lot of HGTV here. the bathrooms are really in the closets.)

This is the balcony view for the poolside bedroom.

This is the other bedroom. The windows and doors are left open to get wind through the house. This is the only thing which keeps it from being unbearably hot. On days with no wind, we are allowed to use the AC units for sleep.

I took this picture just after sunrise few mornings ago, when the bright woke me up long enough to grab my phone, take a picture, and go back to sleep. I wound up repeating this three times, no idea why.

You can tell this is my bathroom by the copious quantities of sunscreen.

View from the balcony on this side.

No vacation house of my mother would be complete without detailed instructions at every turn.

The cage around the pool patio is used mostly for drying swimsuits. It gets filled up depending on the activity. I have daytime, nighttime, and ocean bathing suits. You can tell which ones they are if you are familiar with my colour choices. My mother has a similar system, but brighter suits.

Because it is off season, most of the units arent currently occupied. Right now, it is just us and the neighbour and a kiteboarding couple renting across the way. So most days the pool is pretty dead.

Most nights it is too, though we usually swim before bed. My parents are upset because normally they turn off the breaker for the pool lights so they can skinny dip. Someone caught on and now the breaker box has a lock on it. There has been talk of bolt cutters already.