Villa Estrella is all about intimate seductive communion with the power of nature. The endless surges of the sea and sky, the ocean waves below, the enormous blazing sky, caresses of wind, rustle of palms, the ever changing moods of sun,  stunning starry skies  the night. The passage of moon and planets.  Sensuous luxury for your senses.

Some guests have this special gift.. their words can paint, evoke beauty and express emotions. Villa Estrella brings out that gift. Liza is a beautiful soul who has conducted several yoga retreats at Villa Estrella. Her words transported me, and I just had to share.

Night has settled her velvet cloak over the Pacific coast of Mexico. There are no towns around to blast light into the sky. The beauty of the stars cannot be dimmed.

It is time for bed, but the call of the ocean is a siren’s song. I slip into the cooling waters of the curvaceous dipping pool that juts out over the cliff. There are stars above, many of them.

Stepping out of the pool, I turn off the house lights and the porch lights and slip back into the water, naked this time. A silent symphony of stellar bodies twinkles overhead. It is unbelievably gorgeous. Breathtaking. It is a Stendhal moment of such utter beauty I feel I could pass out.

Another woman shows up, disrobes, and slides into the pool. We hoist ourselves up onto the tiled ledge like the water creatures we truly are, our backsides a cool blue under the gaze of la luna. Waves slam into the rocks below, the water an otherworldly shade of green. The cresting of each wave tosses frothy , salty white confetti into the air, a jubilant challenge that says, ‘Top this’.

We won’t even try.

A third housemate shows up. This was her first retreat, ever. We invite her into the pool, joking no bathing suits allowed. Turns out this grown woman, a mother of three adult children, has never, ever skinny-dipped. Her week of firsts continues as she strips off her suit with abandon, and joins us.

This moment calls for song. None of us would call ourselves ‘singers’, per se, but it turns out we all know the opening lines of ‘Amazing Grace’, and so we sing.

We sing to the ocean and we sing to the stars. We rename ourselves Delfina, Sirena, and Reina del Mar as we float and splash in awe of being witness to the awesome, raging beauty of the Pacific on this particular February night.