[Geoff]

Now Easter weekend in Playa and while sidestepping the holiday crowds on the beaches and la Quinta, finally got a chance to put together a little update on activities in and around the Pueblo SacBe project.

Firstly, the Playa performance of Jesus Christ Superstar which opened April 14 for 5 nights marks the beginning of theatre in Playa. The first night brought out a sellout crowd of most of Playa’s familiar faces. Thanking the crowd after a 5 minute standing ovation, Shane of Media Luna, the show’s producer, noted that he never thought he would see Playa going to the theatre. It was a powerful and moving performance strengthened more so by the fact that all of the cast and crew are from our small but growing community. SacBe’s development team was well represented in the show with Alicia Gomez in the role of Annas and Rosy Farias and Karen Clark singing in the chorus. Karen was also director of photography. Rosy’s 15 year old daughter Iris was the rising superstar herself as Mary Magdalene.

Back in the SacBe jungle where culture is a little less glitzy, a group of Huichol indians have been conducting ritual ceremonies around some of the cenotes for the past few weeks. Both locals and visitors to Playa have taken part in the ceremonies which include music, meditation and a temescal (a Mayan sweatlodge). It is an odd site to pass one of these happy fellows in full traditional garb when hicking on a distant jungle path.

For visible progress there is the ongoing clearing of trees for the roads and gradual laying of sascab giving access to the current block of lots we are promoting for sale. Four new wells have been drilled for water service to some of the existing homes. New bench seating and tables made from polished zapote have been constructed in the Tohocu park providing seating around the cenote and an exotic place for picknicking.

After about 3 weeks of transplanting, most of El Jardin de los Aluxes has been moved from the old 5th ave location north to the jungle. Tohocu, Cathedral and V. of Guadalupe cenotes and the gardens around the Orientation Centre are now plush with exotic plants and various woodwork creations. More installations are underway around the ruin and Pixan park.

Robert, one of our directors, is finalizing design with our in-house architect, Fernando Cassini from Uruguay. He and his partner will be building 2 model homes in Block A of Phase 1. The homes will be an evolution from the unique SacBe condos on 5th Ave, Playa. The design and material use will have the same organic feel but will share more of a Mexican west coast approach and include some unique features like a built-in fish tank. A 1 and a 2 bedroom home will be built. Both are designed so that they can be enlarged later. These are the first in a series of homes to be constructed that use space and materials and alternative home services creatively and still keep the building costs to a minimum.

We would also like to welcome Bill and Jim-Anne who purchased a stunning cenote lot (Cenote Venado) in Phase 2 a few months ago. They are planning to move here completely in the very near future and build a home overlooking their cenote. The cenote was named Venado (deer) a few years ago after a white tailed deer was released there. The deer returned for a long while to drink from the cenote. Bill is here now getting his feet wet, every chance he gets. He is also interested in sharing is expertise in the area of wireless technologies.

Dat’s it for now – we will be more diligent and post updates a little more frequently.