charcoal-colored backs also call this area home.
I snorkeled gingerly alongside one of these awesome gentle giants as it swam by slowly, sucking
up plankton, an arm’s length away.
At sundown, we walked along the wide
stretch of beach that borders Curtiss’ aptly
named Playa de la Paz enclave and watched the
moon rise behind the conjoined white-painted
buildings that he has conceived with the help
of Guadalajara architect Geraldo Ulate. The
23 residences, with invisible steel and concrete
underpinnings to withstand earthquakes,
resemble a Moresque Mediterranean village
that has grown by accretion.
“I wanted something amazing but also something that belonged here,” Curtiss says. So its
handwrought front gate has a sun and moon
motif. Arched openings, large floor-to-ceiling
windows, trellised roof terraces and sheltered
balconies are borrowed from local forms, and
all these have views of lush yet drought-resistant
gardens surrounding a free-form infinity swimming pool and, just beyond it, the prized sea.
While the Sea of Cortez may be an aquarium, the
skies around La Paz are also a bird-watcher’s paradise. In skies and waterways filled with herons, gray
thrashers and frigatebirds, a pelican, top, is king.
Some birds are enshrined in local weavings, like the
one above, on display near Jardin Velasco.
415 819 5263 . thelandcollaborative.com . 26 Hamilton Drive, Suite A, Novato, CA 94949
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The Land Collaborative
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