WENDELL & PATRICK
Patrick was born in north west Pennsylvania right on Lake Erie. Winters there are cold and dark. After attending Penn State University he went to Denver to live and work for a couple of years then decided to move to Orlando Florida, near his grandmother, and Walt Disney World. The weather there is semi tropical. Working in hotels he began to travel seeing some of the places he had always dreamt of. He was able to go up the Amazon to stay at the Ariau Towers Treetop Resort. He stood at the feet of the giant Christ in Rio de Janeiro, the one seen in every movie. He visited with friends living in Paris, spending time living the Parisian life rather than just touring it.
Wendell was born in the tropics in the state of Hawaii. After a childhood close to his grandparents the family moved to San Diego California. While pursuing his master degree in theatre arts he was able to attend classes in London and in Mexico City. Living close to the boarder of Mexico he grew to enjoy and admire the diversity of the Mexican culture. A long time client and friend Ivan Sabido of Travel Wings invited Patrick to represent his hotel at a trade show in Merida Yucatan. This was Ivan’s home city. Patrick had never heard of the city of a million people. The trade show was a great success and afterwards Ivan and his partner Silvia introduced Patrick to their many friends and family member in the area. The grand tour of the area by the people who lived there was exciting. Along the way he saw a poster advertising the phenomena which occurs on the equinox at the Chichen Itza pyramid. The hook was that it would occur on Patrick’s birthday the following September.
Returning home, after just three days in Merida, Patrick announced to Wendell that he wanted to go to Merida for a vacation in September. They went and again Silvia and Ivan arranged everything to make it the perfect vacation. They went to Celestun, Uxmal, Progreso, they went to concerts, great restaurants and many fun activities.
Retuning to Orlando they reflected on the vacation. Two weeks passed when the traditional vacation statement was made. “I could live there,” was stated then debated. Both in agreement, they surfed the internet to look at real estate and decided they could probably afford a small vacation home. But how much would they use it, two or three weeks a year? What if we were to move there full time? A nice thought but how would they be able to support themselves. Jobs in that area are reserved for the citizens of the area, as they should be. Well they could open a business, but what? How would they finance it? What did they know how to do? Twenty years in the hotel business and the natural thought was that they could run a hotel of their own. That sounded like too much work plus they could not afford a hotel, but they could buy a house and operate it as bed & breakfast. There it was the perfect idea. A small business which could generate income enough to survive on while allowing free time to enjoy life in Merida was the solution.
A compass was placed on a map of the city and a circle drawn extending six blocks from the Zocalo Park. This is the distance most tourists will walk comfortably before wanting a break. The map was faxed to a friend in Merida with the message that they would fly to Merida in about six weeks and they wanted to find a house within that circle. Six weeks later they flew back to Merida, looked at a dozen houses and chose the house which would become:
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The Villa Tievoli
After the house was purchased they contacted another friend, a local architect, Carlos Basol. The project was then placed in his hands. Convert this house into a fully functional bed and breakfast. The guys then returned to Florida to make arrangements for the greatest adventure of their lives.
