South of the Border, Under the Sun

The ceramic plate at the entrance of this burgundy home welcomes you with a toast “Roinische”, a composition of two Gaelic words, meaning “share water”, and giving a warm welcome to every guest. Active life by the ocean, rich and colorful waters of the Sea of Cortez, friendly town and relaxing environment brought Betsy and Kevin from cold but beautiful Alaska to this piece of land south of the border, under the sun.

The story goes back to 1994, when Betsy and Kevin discovered a calm bay with beautiful sunrises and merlot sunsets. This was the place they chose to build their future home at. Previously non-inhabited area, the bay was named after Kevin’s origins, Bahia de Irlanda, or Irish Bay. Now, Bahia de Irlanda has become a small friendly neighborhood, located on the coast road to Punta Pescadero, with beautiful ocean front homes, each offering calm refuge to their dwellers.

Our hosts built their home from the scratch. When imagining their future home, they wanted a healthy house, the one which will take the advantage of everything the nature had to offer. It was therefore somehow natural that they designed it by feng shui rules; somewhat by the book, but mostly following their own intuition and common sense. And although it sounds more complicated than that, that’s what feng shui is all about.

When you enter their home, everything seems to be in place, organic and natural. Lush gardens lead you to the heart of this colorful home, full of energy and good spirits. Dog Keno welcomes you wagging the tail curiously, while cats faithfully execute their tasks; the head of the cat crowd Max will check you up by slowly opening her right eye and appearing to care less about your presence, but thanking you with gentle purr if you pet her; playful and youngest Pepperoni will be watching your step from under the chair and will approach only for play; and Rika – you will see her white coat and cat-ish appearance only when the clock ticks the feeding time.

Literally, the word feng shui means “wind” and “water”. Like wind and water, it involves movement and circulation of the energy (ch’i) through the home (or environment) so that its movement resembles a gently flowing stream or a pleasant breeze. Betsy designed their home where ch’i flows freely from an octagonal spacious room with dining area, living area and kitchen to other spaces in the inside and connects them with the outside area.

In order to enable the energy to flow, the Roinische home incorporates round corners and octagonal spaces. The house is oriented in a way to accommodate the local winds. An angled roof and windows on all sides mean that the house brings cool breezes through one end and out the other. Air-conditioning is used only seldom in this home.

When creating their home, Betsy paid special attention to colors, which play an important role in feng shui. They help enrich every area of our lives, aesthetically, psychologically and physically. Yellow is representative to the sun and its life-giving warmth. It encourages feelings of optimism and cheerfulness, which you will find plenty in the main room. Kitchen is colored in red, a color of luck, strength, activity, passion and positive energy. Green, the color of plants and associated with growth is a calming color. Betsy used it in an alternative dining room, office and game room. Main bedroom is dressed in purple, a color which by many cultures is considered a royal color, reserved for the wealthy and powerful. In some western religions it is linked with spirituality, and in China purple is considered o be a fortunate color – some say even luckier than red.

Furniture in Betsy and Kevin’s home seems a mosaic of old and new, of origins and traditions, modern time, of different cultures, habits and events, brought together from many winds. You will find pieces of furniture brought from Alaska, where Betsy and Kevin lived for 28 years, some inherited from great grand father, grand mother and parents, others brought from mainland Mexico, Guadalajara, and some handcrafted with indigenous and local artisans. Terrace boasts with a compass pointing the sides of the sky; under palapa you will find a Celtic nod, reminding of their roots. Betsy will proudly show you some great pieces of famous Corning glass, and her collection of glassware inherited from her mum, grandma and great great aunt.

Big open spaces, great energy flow, colors that boost your mood in every space, inside and outside decoration and lush gardens make the Roinische residence a very pleasant retreat. The home is strategically located next to the ocean; the mornings invite you for long walks, day ocean breezes offer diving and kite sailing trips, and at nights the sound of the waves lulls you to sleep. And as our hosts would say: it cannot get better than that!