It Was All A Dream…
The story of how we found our dream home in El Pescadero. :)
In October 2021, my partner Drew and I were staying at a house rental in Cerritos with a group of close friends. It was our annual trip to the area (we’ve mainly stayed in Todos Santos and have been visiting for a handful of years), so it was fun to play “tour guide” for our friends who hadn’t visited Baja Sur!
At the very end of our stay, our friends had left and we had two days remaining. In the morning, we went to Cerritos Beach so that Drew could get a surf session in. While waiting for him to get his gear out of the car, I snapped a photo of a sticker that I saw on a white truck: “Casa Hygge” it said. (It isn’t unusual for me to take photos of random finds – I’m always on the hunt for new-to-me small businesses, projects, art, and all things “cute”.) When Drew was ready to go, we exchanged hellos with a couple that just came from the beach.
After the surf sesh and beach time, we headed back to our car and headed to breakfast in Todos Santos. On the way, I searched for “Casa Hygge” online and came upon what looked like a development that was to be built. Once we got to breakfast, we looked at the website more thoroughly and realized that yes, the development is yet to be built and that we were 100% interested as the renderings were gorgeous, the vibe seemed right, and the price was better than anything we’ve seen. (Drew and I had been casually looking for the last year or so and even went to see homes in-person the last time we were in the area.) I sent an email inquiry right away about seeing the property…
The next day, we received an email response and set up a time to meet the owners of the development that afternoon. So exciting!
It took a bit of time to find the property because of Google Maps taking us to the wrong location (if you know Baja’s dirt roads, you know there are many and they can be confusing!), but as we pulled up, we saw the white truck that had the “Casa Hygge” sticker on it. The owners we were meeting were the kind couple that we briefly met in the Cerritos Beach parking lot the morning prior! Fede and Ditte were their names and they were extremely warm, fun, interesting, and intelligent. We spent the next few hours baking in the Baja afternoon sun talking to them about life and the community they were building.
Casa Hygge would be 13 studio bungalows and a 2-bedroom home on a plot of land with amazing amenities, covered parking, close proximity to the beach, and private. The people they were attracting were creatives, entrepreneurs, surfers, and foodies – all like-minded, adventurous, and lovers of Baja California Sur.
Needless to say, we were completely buzzing with excitement.
In just over a month, we were under contract and on our way to owning our own little piece of Baja!
•••
Fast forward to October 2022, we were on our annual trip to Baja and we stopped by Casa Hygge to see the progress. A few of the bungalows had been completed and the others were very much still in progress. We met Fede and Ditte at the property and were able to climb a ladder to the top of our bungalow! So magical to see the massive progress that was made in only a year and to see it before it was completely done.
•••
In Spring 2023, all of the bungalows were completed and we were able to visit for over a week.
To have a home base in one of our favorite places to visit…
To be able to add personal touches…
To be able to name the bungalow…
To be able to see others enjoying what we initially saw as a bare plot of land…
To walk to the beach in late afternoon to watch the sunset…
To hear the birds enjoying the palms and other plants on the property…
To see how the gardens have grown in only a few months…
…was so incredible!!!
A true “pinch me” experience.
Drew and I are forever grateful for Fede and Ditte – for their vision, efforts and determination, long days and nights, special touches throughout Casa Hygge, and of course our growing friendship with them… Grateful for the friendships we have made with the other wonderful owners of bungalows at Casa Hygge and for the small business we are building as time goes on. In our first two years of existence, we’ve been featured in Condé Nast and Forbes, are Super Hosts on Airbnb, and have had many amazing guests enjoy our little casita.
It goes to show…notice the little things, have dreams and goals, smile and say hello to strangers, be open to new possibilities, and take chances on unexpected things.
Thank you for reading about the beginnings of Cielo Pacífico (our bungalow) and Casa Hygge. We hope that our story and this blog will inspire you to visit us and explore the endless beauty in Mexico! Stay tuned for more.
With love,
Rachel + Drew
