Plans

Once we finally got through all the paperwork involved in buying our patch of grass and forest, we got started on the designs for our house. We already had the plans of another house in the community where we are going to build but it was a little bit Colombianised for our liking. All the windows looked out onto the road rather than out back to the view and there was a tiny kitchen with the maid´s room and bathroom coming off it, detached from the rest of the house so not to disturb the masters of the house with such mundane things as cooking! We´re not great chefs ourselves but a spacious kitchen is a must and servant quarters is a definate no!

Wanting to fit into the stlyle of the community of white walls and red tile rooves, we made the changes we wanted to the plans and took them along to a nearby architect office to be made up officially.

Disappointed that their first foreign clients didnt want something a bit more.... exotic, and altogether confused about why someone would choose water from the sky over water from the tap, after long discussions we eventually ended up with a design we were all happy with.

The construction is to made of standard materials (sorry earthship guys) because everything from bricks to timber can be sourced right here in Popayan and as we´re right smack bang in the middle of an earthquake zone, building regulations are surprisingly strict by Latin American standards.

With our planning permission approved and all the legalities taken care of, all we had to do next was find a builder!