Mexico City bed and breakfast, Mexico
How this holiday makes a difference
Environment
We decided to open this eco-friendly, sustainable bed and breakfast because of our experience living "green" and helping to develop the environmental movement in Mexico. To us, this initiative has become even more urgent as Mexico City is facing a water crisis never seen before. Water resources are exhausted in the region, ground water is overexploited and the local government is trying to find ways to bring water from locations farther and farther away from this city located at 2,300 meters altitude (7,550 feet)!
We think government has to play its role and we have to change our habits. Therefore we decided to transform this historic house into a more eco-friendly one. We use some new technologies and other ancient Aztec ones that allow us to save water and energy. We recycle water from the roof and showers, and use solar panels for our water-heater system.
And of course we try to tell our guests to use as little water and energy as possible as we try by using LED and energy safing light bulbs.
To try to avoid waste the best possible way we used a lot of old furniture from flea markets and refurbished them or even designed our own lamps and furniture from recycled materials f.e. from old wood we found in the basement of the house.
Community
Tourism done in the "wrong way" as it is in some places, like the huge, industrial tourist complex in Cancún, can be devastating. At "El Patio 77", we want to promote another way of travelling that is more respectful of nature and humanity.
So we always recommend our guests favorite places in the city that are off the beaten track and allow you a deeper understanding of Mexican Society and daily life like local markets or a walking tour through our neighborhood where we recommend little shops and galleries.
We also buy our fruits and vegetable on the local market to support small providers and local agriculture. The coffee we serve in the morning is from a fairtrade organic cooperative in Chiapas we want to support. This coffee is also for sale for our guests.
As well one of the owners is working with an NGO called "Luum" which supports rural communities and their artisans with a 3-year program which allows them to live in a more sustainable way and commercialize their products on fairtrade markets and in our hotel. And he organizes a local Farmers market for small producers outside of Mexico City selling their organic products which are used in our breakfasts as well, like vegetables, tea or marmelade.
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