Restless satisfaction
A quiet moment in the long process of turning jungle & coastline into a functioning resort.
When I look at this photograph, I feel proud of where ipyum is today. At first glance, the image shows six buildings in various stages of completion — three overwater guest houses and three beach guest houses. A couple have looked like this for almost two years now. Some are still clearly under construction, while one or two are now getting very close to completion.
On the right side of the image, the Home structure rises above the shoreline, still encumbered by scaffolding as work continues. The next major step there will be the solar canopy. We already have the panels, batteries, inverters, wiring, and breaker boxes; what remains is mounting the canopy itself and completing the final integration of the system.
Visually, this part of the project has looked somewhat similar for quite a few months now — perhaps six months or more. But the most important progress often isn’t visible in a photograph.
What this image does not show is the water system. Hidden underground and deep in the jungle, around 800 metres from the guest site, our team has built the freshwater system that now brings spring water down from the hills, beneath the ocean, to the main site. The spring itself is located on another part of the ipyum property, which stretches for more than a kilometre along the coastline. The entire system is sustainably solar powered. This spring water supply system is a major achievement for the team — physically difficult, technically challenging, and completely transformative for the future of ipyum.
The photograph also does not show a massive new service structure — our Workshop — currently under construction roughly 200 metres further down the beach, behind Home in the photo. We intentionally placed it at a distance from the guest area because woodworking tools, machinery, and fabrication work are noisy by nature. Guests come to experience quiet, wind, water, and nature — not the sound of construction equipment. At the same time, we still need to continue building and improving ipyum over the next few years, so this is our strategy for balancing both realities.
That second area will eventually become a fully fledged service zone for ipyum, including workshop facilities, operational spaces, staff accommodation, and a service jetty for receiving supplies, as well as allowing staff and vendors to enter and exit ipyum without disturbing guests.
The image also hides another reality of life on site: the temporary workshop that has carried us through the last two and a half years. It was built quickly using galvanized steel roofing, which deteriorates rapidly in the extreme coastal conditions here. Salt air and tropical exposure are unforgiving. Today, the structure is in rough condition, but rather than rebuilding it, we decided to focus our energy on creating the permanent replacement.
And finally, this photo does not show Camp. Camp is the temporary heart of the project and will continue to be when we launch — our staff accommodation, kitchen, office, storage areas, generator room, fuel storage, construction supply areas, toilets, showers, and kitchen garden. Over the last six months, Camp has quietly evolved in dozens of small but meaningful ways. We added ceiling fans, reorganized workspaces, improved storage systems, upgraded living areas, upgraded electrical, plumbing, and sanitation systems, and made daily operations far more efficient and comfortable. None of those changes are dramatic from the outside, but together they represent the gradual transition from a rough construction site into something far more organized, stable, and professional.
That is what this photo really represents to me. Not just six small guest houses. But the accumulation of thousands of small decisions, improvements, mistakes, repairs, experiments, and long workdays by a team that has continued moving forward step by step. There is still a long way to go, especially when it comes to finishing the interiors of our guest houses and Home. But for the first time, it truly feels like ipyum is becoming a functioning place — not just an idea. And if the next six months go well, I believe we will welcome our first guests into a working resort by December 2026.
