Now we needed to situate our design on the property.

Most people were telling us to put it on the western part (front of the lot), closest to the beach. We chose to put it nearer the east side or the back of the property(away from ocean) so as to give us a larger front yard and patio area, fire pit, walking paths and gardens.

Cristina would help me measure and stake the first phase construction.

That pesky piece of volcanic rock you see towards the left side would just have to be broken down and removed we decided. (We would later discover it was only the very peak sticking out of a massive slab of lava overflow underneath so we pivoted, boring into the rock instead to embed rebar in concrete and so incorporate it into our footings and foundation)

The marked square on the SE corner was for the footings to firmly support the planned 6 inch thick “losa” which would hold our water tank (tinaco) – made of low density polyethylene – to be elevated and enclosed, high up off the ground. That way we could just pump from the ground level pila to the tank/tinaco up on top, giving us constant pressure, even when the power was out.

(I clearly remember now how happy we both felt that day to see the outline of what would become the first phase of our future home)