Leaving the town of Catemaco, you travel south on a paved highway for about 5 miles to the turn-off that passes through 2 small villages, circling the south side of the lake. The well-maintained dirt road passes through small ranches, tobacco fields (this part of Veracruz is known for cigars of export quality, grown from Cuban seed.), skirts the lake, and then, after about 4 miles, ascends to our property. The road does not completely circle the lake, due to a steep mountain ridge that is impractical to put the road over, so the number of vehicles passing our land is limited to people going to the small village of 50 people, 2 miles past our property. The road ends there. The beer truck comes and goes once per day--enough, if you plan well. 

Geographically, this part of southern Veracruz is well-protected from hurricanes for a couple of reasons:  most hurricanes that do pass over the Yucatan peninsula, either weaken significantly and then are moved more northward so that they bypass the southern gulf region, or if they do head south into the gulf, we are protected by the 5000 foot plus mountains of Santa Martha national park, 5 miles to the east of us, between us and the gulf.  For this reason, the jungle is tall canopy that you don't see in the hurricane-alley that is the Yucatan peninsula.

Our land is made up of 2 plots. The plot that is on the road, where the house is, is 1.85 acres. This seems quite large, because it is surrounded by jungle and pasture, along with a tree farm. The views are expansive. The previous owner donated a large piece of land to the state of Veracruz for a forestation project. This is a low intensity nursery operation that grows tree saplings for distribution around the state for reforestation projects. The water for their operation is pulled from the lake, by a large pump, and stored in a large stone cistern on the mountain top behind our house, up on the hill top. This makes a great place for happy hour, and to watch the sunset.  We make the short climb up the hill with wine and snacks, along with some folding chairs, to watch the sunset, and the view to the north, past the town of Catemaco on the opposite shore, to the parade of volcanoes and mountains beyond. It is an incredible view.

For household water we are fortunate to have a very reliable well just outside our front door. It is 90 feet deep, the classic wishing well looking structure, dug into the bedrock. The water is fresh and clear. It has a nice clay tile roof that Jeff and I built, and looks great in the outdoor patio and landscaping that we have made, in front of the house. We have a submersible pump in it, and use it to fill our tank on a column behind the house. Lake water is available to water the lawn, when and if necessary. The well has never been dry in the 9 years that I have owned the property.

The house is a jungle lodge style construction, set into the hill, with concrete block lower walls,(3 feet tall), and hand sawn 12" wooden plank walls above that. There are wooden shutters on all of the windows.  No glass and no screen in the windows, because there are NO MOSQUITOS. It is cool at night because the house is at an elevation of 2000 feet plus, above sea-level. A/C is unnecessary. During the day, we open the shutters throughout the house, and the breeze keeps it pleasant inside. At night, we often grill in the yard and watch the stars. Fireflies still survive there. They compete with the distant lightening that you can see from thunderstorms over the mountains to the east.

The house is rustic but a great style. It is about 1000 sq. feet in size. I re-wired it and put in a breaker panel, so all is safe. I also re-plumbed it with copper line, and installed a hot water heater for the kitchen and bath.  It has two bedrooms, a master, and another with two beds.  So, it sleeps 5 people, as is, with plenty of room for more beds. The interior is natural wood, with palm fiber fabric on most walls, and a woven bamboo ceiling. The kitchen is open to the living room, with a sit down bar in between.  It is a great house for entertaining, because the many windows are large, and open to the patio outside.  When cooking in the kitchen, you can talk to people relaxing by the fire outside.  It is fully furnished, with local beds and new, comfie mattresses. The kitchen has a gas stove- new, fridge- new, prep tables and storage. The bedrooms have wardrobe closets and dressers for clothes. We added a large storage closet for bikes, tools, ladders and fishing gear. This house would be perfect for someone who was visiting occasionally while another home was being built on the other land, by the lake.

Outside the house is a collection of the most exotic tropical plants that you can imagine. Expensive tropicals that we see in the States are native to this area, and grow to crazy sizes. The variety is amazing.  We have crotons over 15 feet tall, huge philodendrons, with orchids and bromeliads in the trees.  We have a large variety of fruit trees on the grounds: coconut palms, avocado, orange trees, tangerine trees, pomelo (a type of grapefruit), lychee, nanchee fruit, limes, for quick margaritas, bananas, coffee bushes and chili shrubs. We have a hand press for making our own OJ in the morning, from our own trees. Also, we have 90 foot tall mango trees on the larger plot by the lake. There is a type of flowering tree that has orange blossoms that attract flocks of green parrots. They roost in the trees, eating and arguing for a time, until they fly off to the mountains. Hummingbirds are in the yard frequently, because of the number of flowering plants and shrubs.

This almost-2 acre plot is maintained by our caretaker, Narcisso, and his wife, Maria. The open areas are planted in St. Augustine grass, and are beautiful. President Salinas Gortari landed his helicopter on one of the lawns, in the late '80's, to dedicate the tree farm, and to talk ambitiously, about the re-greening of Mexico. This tree farm has made a large contribution to that effort.Narcisso and Maria live in a small house on our land, about 100 yards from the main house.  Narcisso has worked on the property for over 20 years. He worked for the previous owner, there, so he knows the land very well. He is a great source for information about all of the native plants and animals that live in the area.  He does a very good job of keeping the grounds around the house, and makes sure that the fences on the main property are maintained.  He also provides a "vigilance" service, so that things do not disappear from the property.  We also have a large roofed storage area, suitable for a boat, uphill from the house

The driveway becomes a road, around behind the house, and after about 200 yards, arrives at the property line of the rest of our land. This piece of land is 24.76 acres. The main plot of our land is undeveloped, with huge trees and thick jungle cover. A deep, forested canyon with a spring in the bottom and a small creek, with moss and fern covered boulders, looks like Eden. The road is a very well-engineered dirt road, with road cuts into the steep hillside. Constructing it would cost $50,000 U.S., or more. Often, as I walk down to the lake, I see many different types of butterflies, including the classic, tropical Blue Morpheus, with its 4 inch cobalt blue and utterly black wings, just bopping along in the breeze.

The only other party that has access to this road, are the workers from the tree farm, and only to maintain their pump at the lake shore. The road ends at the lake. This part of the land would be perfect for sub-dividing, as each parcel would have lake frontage, and access from the road that passes along behind, or through. We have over 7,400 feet of lake frontage,-- over 1800 yards. This would allow the construction of several homes, on large pieces of land, without seeing neighbors.  With a boat, you could be in Catemaco for dinner in 15 minutes! Cell phone calls to the US can be made from this side, as you can access the tower across the lake, in Catemaco. Many of the locals have satellite internet, and TV.

Laguna Catemaco: Mexico’s Best Kept East Coast Secret