mexicasa

EVEN WITH A MAP, El Tamarindo is a little tricky to find. A forty-minute drive from the Manzanillo airport, the resort's private road winds through dusty villages, tropical rain forest, and banana and coconut plantations. The two-thousand-acre nature reserve includes ten miles of unspoiled beaches, coves, cliffs, and reefs. It was originally the home of Mexican banker Roberto Hernández, a prominent conservationist. Designed to blend as unobtrusively as possible with its natural surroundings, the resort features simple, undulating lines, indigenous building materials, and an earthy color scheme. Water pipes and electrical cables are hidden underground. The rustic elegance is especially romantic at night, when the paths are lit by hundreds of luminarias (candles tucked into paper bags). Nearby is the 18-hole, 6,682-yard, par-72 golf course. Carving a golf course out of a rain forest might seem a formidable task, but it didn't faze architects Robert Trent Jones Jr. and David Fleming. "When we started in 1998 it was wild," Fleming recalls. "I was nicknamed Indiana Jones, and we had amazing adventures with the wildlife—jaguars and wild boars, sea turtles and parrots. But don't worry, the dangerous ones don't golf." The spectacular jungle-and-sea golf course was designed around environmentally protected areas. The result inspires and challenges the most jaded players. Fortunately, two waiters maintain a vigil at a bar beside the ninth hole, ever ready to succor golfers with drinks and a barbecue.

The style of El Tamarindo's twenty-nine freestanding bungalows might be called "ZenMex," an innovative blending of rustic palapa architecture with a subdued Asian-inspired palette and sleek minimalist decor.

Each bungalow has its own dipping pool with a mini waterfall.

The dining room's palapa roof is held aloft by a dozen one-hundred-year-old strangler-root palm trunks. The chef buys fresh fish from the boats that pull into the resort's beach. Ceviche, giant prawns barbecued over coconut husks, and sautéed octopus with garlic, green pepper, and white wine are a few of the house specialties.

Open floor plans give the interior a feeling of serenity.

Pleasing curves and minimalist decor, such as a bowl filled with a few exquisite seashells or a pile of smooth gray stones, make for a tranquil entrance into the dining room.

The poolside lounging and dining area includes the simple adornment of a stone pile.

The sinuous "infinity" pool seems to disappear into the ocean.