My Other House is a Jungle Hut or Maya Palapa Basics 101

In Quintana Roo and the Yucatan peninsula in MexicoMany of the poorest Maya simply put up stick walls
huts are commonly known as palapas and there arewith gaps in between meaning that one can actually
even hotels that advertise beach palapas to Gringossee inside the hut. Great for letting breeze in during
and Germans. Go figure. Some turistas prefer goingthe steamy summers as well as allowing hurricane
native. So do many of the natives.winds to pass through. Not so great for nosey
The whole concept of the palapa developed becauseneighbors.
the Maya of old would farm one area of the jungleSnakes like palapas too. Our lot in the Maya village
for several years and then move to another area.has a large venomous four- nosed snake and
Everything was renewable. The trees they cut forhopefully one day he doesn't get tired of his
palapas would over a 20-30 year period grow backlimestone hole in our back yard and decide to join us
and the Maya would not go back into an area forin our palapa. Sometimes snakes do that when rain
that period of time so the jungle could actuallyfloods them out. Such are the risks of palapa life.
rejuvenate.The roof and frame sit on top of posts dug in the
It all worked well since a palapa could be built in aground. But these aren't ordinary posts. We use
week or two. And jungle men like my friend Pootzapote tree hearts for this. A zapote tree can fall
could build one using just one tool; his machete. Butdown in the jungle and the heart of the tree not rot
things changed. With population increases land wasfor 10 years. Sturdy and durable is an
privatized or more commonly turned into 'ejidos' orunderstatement; just don't figure you can easily put a
communal farms. We live on one and so do manynail in it because it simply is too hard. Palapa doors
Maya.and windows can be made of an assortment of
In one of our huts there is no roof. Hurricane Deanwooden planks; some more modern Maya put
took care of that. It wasn't thatched but we arescreens up to keep out the bugs.
converting. We'll have to go out to the ranch and cutToday's modern palapas have simple cement floors.
some guano or palm fronds for the thatches;In the old days the Maya would build a floor out of
fortunately the wooden frame is intact so we don'tlimestone rock and then crush more limestone and
have to replace that. On the ranch we have an olderput it on top to form a smooth surface. After
palapa and amazingly nothing happened to it; oneseveral months of walking on it the floor would
hundred mile per hour winds could not knock it down.become smooth and as hard as rock.
A hurricane will blow the roof off a well constructedIn our Maya village almost everyone has a palapa
house since the hurricane winds form a vacuum insidealthough the more successful farmers are now
the house and the roof is literally lifted off. Not sobuilding their cinderblock and cement houses. Not me.
with palapas. In a bad hurricane the roof will lift upThose cinderblock houses get too hot. How hot is
until the outside and inside pressures equalize,hot? How about a hundred degrees Fahrenheit with
something more modern style constructions cannotone hundred per cent humidity. A veritable rainforest
do. Because of its natural construction the palapa willsauna; sweating like a pig in the pouring rain.
bend but not break.Unrelenting.
The palapa roof is also cooler than conventionalThe brutal sun, wind and pounding rain cause cement
roofs. What is strange is to see a modern hotel withand plaster walls to crack even with steel rebar
a thatched roof; it's not just the 'look and feel' forreinforcement. I prefer a genuine real palapa. True,
tourists. It's cooler and air conditioning costs in Mexicowhen we build our new ranch palapa in the jungle we
can be very expensive. Obviously a palapa cannot bewill use nails and wire and bolts to hold the roof
air conditioned because it has no insulation.down. During a hurricane nails and wire hold the
The downside to the thatched roof is critters likepalapa together better.
rats and scorpions love to make their nests in theBut for all the modern day improvements such as
thatches. Last night we heard a rat and sure enoughwire and nails the palapa design remains the same
in the morning it had raided our food.has it has for centuries. My neighbors wonder why
Another downside to a thatched roof is that it burnswe don't build a cinderblock house and I can't really
easily so smart palapa builders put their kitchenexplain it other than to say I feel more at home in
outside and away from the hut. Since most ruralmy jungle palapa. Crazy Gringo.
Maya still burn wood, the sparks can easily ignite aWhen in Rome do as the Romans and when in the
dry, thatched roof.Zona Maya do as the Maya. Good advice that makes
The palapa walls can be made of sticks or planks ofsense. Besides, no one can every accuse us of being
wood. Our main palapa has walls made of caobaarrogant or presumptuous as long as we live in a
wood; a precious wood like teak or mahogany. ItMaya palapa, even if the walls are made of some
may be a hut but it's got some very upscale walls.very chic caoba wood.