Emuna Guest House, Zicatela

Our sleep in the tent was terrible. Mosquitos, motorbikes driving past on the street outside all night, a party going on somewhere, dogs barking. It had it all, except sleep!

We got up early and went down to the beach for a swim, hoping to start the day with some fresh energy. The beach of Playa Zicatela was amazing! 3.5km of sand and incredible 27C turquoise water! We found some available places on booking.com and made our shortlist to go check out in person. The first one was just around the corner.

The front entrance to Emuna Guest House was a rickety gate across the driveway. We rang the buzzer and were greeted by a Dalmatian dog with a boisterous bark. The owner and host of the Guest house, Roberto, welcomed us in to grab a seat and explain our situation. While I was trying to explain the issues I was having with getting our previous nights refunded etc, Roberto cut me off and said, “Just stay here for however long you want and it’s free for the nights you’ve already paid.” Well, that sounded much easier to me than chasing refunds! What a legend!

It turned out to be an amazing place. Our initial 5 days we requested turned into 7 because we had finally found somewhere we felt both relaxed and productive. Very much what we’d been looking for. By the end of our stay, we’d come to feel like it was our home. With our very own Dalmatian puppy “Marley”. Almost every night we would have home-cooked meals with Roberto and chat till late into the evening. Every day we would go for a run on the beach before getting some work done at the table next to the pool. When it got too hot in the afternoon we would head back down the beach and wait to watch sunset over the ocean. Absolute bliss!

The house itself was quite basic. Built in a traditional Mexican method called a “Palapa”, it was very much outdoor living. It had a palm frond thatched roof, air gaps between the walls, floor and ceiling and none of the windows had screens on them. But in this weather it was great. The plunge pool became a ritual multiple times a day because it was the only water cool enough to actually be refreshing. Despite the shower only having one cold tap the water was still warm enough.

By the end of the week, we really didn’t want to leave. Our next stop was going to be the next beach town where we had hoped to find a cheaper room to rent for a bit longer. But it was certainly with some sadness we packed up on our last day.

Our stay with Roberto and Marley had been an experience we had both been yearning for. Slow pace, perfect weather, sunsets over the water and finally, a chance to feel productive again.Read more