Guesthouse / Inn - La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico
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From Baja to Guatemala
Over 20 years has passed since I set out from my old home near San Francisco in search of a far-horizon. As a sailor in love with the sea, I was in search of a well-found sailing ship that would take me off to far-away places, perhaps to the South Pacific, perhaps even further over oceans unknown. (I thought that I might earn my passage by tempting the captain and crew with my varied culinary skills).
My search began in the small beach village of La Paz, nearly 1,500 miles south of San Francisco. Although my future didn't unfold quite according-to-plan, everything that came to pass was exciting, greatly-challenging, and richly-rewarding. Over twenty years ago, my search for adventure began and then ended in La Paz where I found love, peace, strength, and a base upon which my current goals in Guatemala are supported.
La Casa Mexicana was originally named Casa La Paceña (home of a woman from La Paz). The old house was a sad, nearly-unsalvageable ruin when I first visited her. At the time, I was the only one who could see the potential and inner beauty lying beneath the years of built-up grime and refuse. Surely, the old house was speaking just to me! Through the years of painstaking and costly restoration, I've discovered that the house not only offered me work, it supported my creativity and became my 'work of art'; it was often my nemesis, teacher, healer, and she became my friend. During some very difficult years, the house nurtured and matured me and I will be forever grateful.
Today, the old house, La Casa Mexicana, has been refurbished to its former glory; others say that it has been beautifully-embellished and improved-upon far beyond the original. The enormous, derelict, old house, with its spacious rooms, high ceilings, and Spanish/Art-Deco charm, inspired me to dare to do my best.
However, the most important gift I've found here in this magical place of La Paz, beside the vermilion sea, is the love and acceptance of the Cervantes-Viscerra/Santamaria family who adopted me as one of their own. Over the years, they held me close and then closer to their hearts. Today, I am the very proud 'Tia Arlaine' of nine nephews and three nieces, the loved and appreciated older 'sister' to 5 women and 5 men who are the brothers and sisters of my heart; and I will always feel that I am the daughter of the honorable Architect Rafael Cervantes Viscerra who opened his arms to me when I'd asked for permission to adopt his proud family name as my own.
Miracles do happen under the Baja sun!
Today, my 'family' in Mexico supports my new work and adventure taking place in the remote highlands of Guatemala, where a growing number of wonderful people from all over the planet - those wishing to become change makers - have joined me in OUR desire to make a profound difference in the lives of the forgotten children who languish and often die in our own back yard!
We are presently developing an educational youth camp (Niños del Lago) where over 3,000 highly at-risk children will annually find a respite from their daily lives of struggle, hunger, and fear. At Niños del Lago, the children (7-11) will find supportive mentors and hope for themselves as well as for their war-ravaged country. Guatemala is known to be one of the most beautiful places on Earth as well as the land of eternal spring and eternal tyranny.
I hope you will want to know more about Niños del Lago - Guatemala. Please visit our official website (below) as well as the not-for-profit Niños del Lago Travel where you'll learn all about our dynamic Insight Travel fund-raising tours in the Guatemala Highlands.
Website: www.ninosdellago.org
Website: www.ninosdellagotravel.org
Thank you for taking the time to read my little story, and whether our paths cross in La Paz (under the Baja sun) or in the beautiful green highlands of Guatemala, you will be warmly welcomed to places that change lives and offer rich-rich rewards to those who desire to know and experience more about our world.
Arlaine Cervantes
Panajachel, Lake Atitlan, Guatemala
August - 2007
Deluxe Mexican Hospitality and the Sea at Your Feet!
Marvelous Bay Views - One Block from the Bay of La Paz
Calle Nicolas Bravo #106, La Paz, Baja California Sur, Mexico
Local Telephone: 125.2748 Call from USA: 011-52 (612) 125.2748
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