The land at Bodhi Mente: villas, fruit groves, guadua and a well near Tayrona
Bodhi Mente is a boutique eco-hotel on 13 hectares in Mendihuaca, Magdalena, Colombia, near Tayrona National Park, with two villas. This page shows what we have built on the land and the stories behind each place.
Main entrance
The first thing you see from the Troncal del Caribe: a teak gateway wrapped in green.
- 11 kinds of plants (Bodhi Mente). Count them on your way in: the entrance alone has 11 different types of plants.
- A rare welcome (Bodhi Mente). The small bottle palm by the gate belongs to a species from tiny Round Island, off Mauritius, where it is critically endangered in the wild.
- Built in teak (Bodhi Mente). The entrance is made of teak, the same wood as the villa decks. Its natural oils keep out water, rot and termites, so it weathers the coast without varnish.
Main road
The road that winds through the land, held in place by a grass with extraordinary roots.
- Roots like rebar (Bodhi Mente). Along the road we planted vetiver grass. Its roots grow straight down instead of spreading out, forming an underground curtain that holds the soil when the big rains come.
- Three metres in a year. Vetiver roots can reach 2 to 3 metres deep in their first year, and on average they are about one-sixth as strong as mild steel.
- Grass you can smell. Those same roots are distilled into vetiver oil, a classic earthy base note in perfume.
Villa 1
The first of our two villas, designed around one idea: nothing should stand between you and the view.
- A wall of glass (Bodhi Mente). The front is floor-to-ceiling glass, 3.4 metres tall, in six panels. It's laminated safety glass: two sheets bonded together, like a car windscreen.
- A deck that floats (Bodhi Mente). The deck is cantilevered: it reaches out over the land with no columns underneath.
- Teak and steel cable (Bodhi Mente). The deck floor is teak and the railings are thin steel cables between wooden posts, so even the railing barely interrupts the view.
Villa 2
Villa 1's twin, with the same glass front and floating deck, and a structure made to last by the sea.
- Standing on rock (Bodhi Mente). Its eight footings, each 1.3 by 1.3 metres, sit directly on the solid rock beneath the land.
- Made for salt air (Bodhi Mente). We chose solid concrete slabs over metal decking because they stand up better to the salty sea air.
- A quiet roof (Bodhi Mente). The roof is made of thermo-acoustic panels that keep the heat out and soften the sound of tropical rain.
Bodhi House
For now, Bodhi House is our reception: this is where you check in when you arrive.
Pack HQ
Headquarters for the four-legged part of the team.
- Meet the team (Bodhi Mente). Julieta is our avocado expert and Susi is our sapote alarm. Look for their work in Avocado Bay 1 and Susi's Corner.
Monte Despierto
Bodhi means awakening. Our mountain is waking up too: it's planted with more than 26 different kinds of plants.
- 26 kinds and counting (Bodhi Mente). On this mountain alone grow more than 26 different types of plants.
Avocado Bay 1
The first of our two avocado groves, and the favourite stop of our resident fruit inspector.
- Julieta's favourite (Bodhi Mente). Julieta, our black dog, is the resident avocado expert. She goes out, picks the best ones and eats them before we get the chance.
- Flowers that switch. Each avocado flower opens twice: first as a female, then it closes and reopens as a male. Different varieties keep different schedules, which helps them cross-pollinate.
Avocado Bay 2
Our second avocado grove. Together the two bays hold 18 avocado trees.
- A living fridge. Avocados grow on the branch but only soften after they fall or are picked, so they can be left hanging for weeks.
- 18 and growing (Bodhi Mente). Between Avocado Bay 1 and 2 we have planted 18 avocado trees, more than any other fruit on the land.
El Platanal 1
Every Caribbean kitchen needs a platanal. This is ours.
- A giant herb. A plantain isn't a tree. Its 'trunk' is made of tightly rolled leaf bases with no wood inside, and the plant can still grow 6 to 7 metres tall.
- Not in our tree count (Bodhi Mente). Because they're herbs, not trees, we leave plantains out of our trees-planted counter. We'd rather keep it honest.
El Platanal 2
Our second platanal, because one is never enough on the Caribbean coast.
- Cook first. Plantains are a group of about 75 varieties of banana that are eaten cooked: patacones, tajadas, chips or flour.
- One harvest each. Each plantain stem fruits once and then dies back to the ground. A new shoot from the same base takes its place.
El Cocal
Ten coconut palms swaying in the sea breeze.
- Bends, doesn't break. Palms don't make wood or growth rings. The trunk is a bundle of fibres, which is why it bends in a storm instead of snapping.
- A second life (Bodhi Mente). One of our palms died after a fire was lit too close and burned her roots. Her wood became the plant signs you see around the land.
El Nisperal
Our níspero trees, the fruit that once gave the world chewing gum.
- The original chewing gum. The bark gives a white latex called chicle. The Maya chewed it, and from the 1880s to the 1950s it was the base of commercial chewing gum.
- Wood that sinks. The wood is so dense it sinks in water. The ancient Maya used it for temple beams because termites can't get through it.
Susi's Corner
Our sapote trees, guarded by the smallest member of the team.
- Susi's ripeness alarm (Bodhi Mente). Susi, our rat terrier, loves this fruit. She is the one who lets us know when the sapotes are ready to pick up.
- The scratch test. Growers scratch a tiny patch of skin. If it's red underneath, the fruit is ready to pick. Then it needs five to seven days to soften.
The Teak Trail
A path lined with teak, the same wood you walk on in the villas.
- You've stood on it (Bodhi Mente). Teak's natural oils keep out water, rot and termites, so it lasts outdoors without varnish. That's why our villa decks are built from it.
- Mint family. Teak belongs to the Lamiaceae, the same family as mint, basil and oregano.
Citrus Bay
Ten oranges and ten mandarins, side by side.
- Green and ripe. In warm climates like this one, a fully ripe orange can stay completely green.
- Mother and daughter. The wild mandarin is one of the parents of the sweet orange, so Citrus Bay is a family reunion.
La Catedral
Stand inside a guadua grove and look up: the tall canes close over you like the roof of a cathedral.
- A grass, 30 metres tall. Guadua is a bamboo, which makes it a giant grass. Its canes can reach 20 to 30 metres.
- Colombia's building cane. It's the most important bamboo in tropical America and the main building material for many homes in Colombia and Ecuador.
El Susurro
Our second guadua grove. Come when the wind picks up and listen to the canes whisper and knock.
- From right here. Guadua is native from Venezuela to Peru, so this bamboo is at home on our coast.
- Cousin of the road grass. Like the vetiver along our road, guadua is a grass: the same family, at a very different size.
Water well
All the water in the villas comes from our own well, 25 metres deep.
- 25 metres down (Bodhi Mente). The well goes 25 metres into the ground, about as deep as an eight-storey building is tall.
- A 1 km journey (Bodhi Mente). The water that reaches each villa has travelled about 1 kilometre through our water system.
- Warm on sunny days (Bodhi Mente). There's no water heater. On sunny days the water gets warm during the day; on cloudy days it stays cool.
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Good to know
- Where is Bodhi Mente?
- At Km 39 on the Troncal del Caribe in Mendihuaca, Magdalena, Colombia, near Tayrona National Park. The land covers 13 hectares.
- What are the villas like?
- There are two villas. Each has a floor-to-ceiling glass front 3.4 metres tall and a cantilevered teak deck with steel-cable railings, so nothing blocks the view.
- Is there hot water?
- There's no water heater. On sunny days the water gets warm during the day; on cloudy days it stays cool. It comes from our own well, 25 metres deep, and travels about 1 km through our water system to each villa.
- What else is on the land?
- Groves of avocado, citrus, coconut, plantain, níspero, sapote, teak and guadua bamboo, a mountain planted with more than 26 kinds of plants, and a road protected from erosion with vetiver grass.