This month we talked with Nanana Teixeira, owner of Casa dos Arandis, a small and exclusive boutique hotel located in Maraú, Bahia. This paradise is on the Marau Península, a tropical peninsula with 40 kilometers of semi-desert golden sand beaches, coral pools, freshwater lagoons, forests and mangroves.
The idea for the project was born during her honeymoon when she first visited the Marau Peninsula, fell in love with this magical place and decided she wanted to live and build something there. After five years, Nanana and her husband, Cacau, bought a beach front area and constructed three bungalows with reclaimed wood to start their dream, leaving behind their life and families in Rio de Janeiro. “Casa dos Arandis has this energy that I love and a lot of love…It began 10 years ago and we still live here and still work here, and we stay with our guests, helping, talking, sharing our life,” says Nanana.
Casa dos Arandis is known for the famous couple’s love for their guests. They welcome, care and offer all their love through hospitality. They want you to feel at home, enjoy yourself and relax in the rhythm of nature with a cozy atmosphere providing unforgettable experiences.
They also have a very close and special relationship with the local community. The first thing they had in mind when they started the hotel project was to work mostly with local people because they have the expertise and knowledge of the area, much more than them or even professionals from larger cities, because their goal was to learn with them through their roots, culture, care and process. In addition to giving them the opportunity for a job to support their families.
But it wasn’t easy professionalizing the staff with the excellence in the services they would like, but it worked, because, as Nanana explains, “Everybody loves it, the guests love it! A guest tells me: ‘I talked to the bartender and he lives near here and he comes to work by bicycle on the beach or walking. Everybody is smiling and everybody loves to work here,’ and I say yes, that’s the reason, because we gave this opportunity, to work, to learn, so they love it and that’s the best thing.”
Nanana also worked for five years at the “SUS” (small public health hospital) helping women in general during pregnancy, providing information and advice, offering yoga classes, but, most importantly, giving them love and support.
Casa dos Arandis has as its basic principle the practice of sustainability by interacting with nature and local communities in a responsible manner, respecting and preserving the environment through the support for educational, socio-cultural and environmental projects. Nanana gave us some examples: “We won the best standart sustainable and green practices award in Latin America three times… We have an organic garden, we eat organic food, we serve organic food to the guests. My husband is a strong environment man. He takes care of the area, of the neighborhood, and he has very strong feelings about sustainability and green practices.”
Nanana and Cacau are so connected to nature all the time, blessed to live in this paradise and to be able to help the local people, the environment and also the animals with their love and care.
The place is so magical that travelers arrive with so many plans, wanting to do a thousand things at once that the next day they don’t feel like doing anything but relaxing and enjoying the place with these passionate people around them, the energy and getting the feeling ofwanting to never leave.
You can visit any time of year, because it’s always sunny here. Still, Nanana has a few tips on how to make the most of the trip: “The best time to go is when there’s a full moon or new moon because those are the best times for you see to the natural pools.”
And also she explains that Buddhists say that if you go to a place and arrive with your arms just partially open, you’ll only receive that amount. But if you arrive with both arms wide open, you’ll receive a huge amount of feelings and love back.
She concludes that, “Casa dos Arandis is special and different because it has soul… We get some feedback that we did something wrong, we run to fix it, but we’re normal. We’re ordinary people, so why are we different? We have soul! When the guests arrive, they feel the energy, the love, the smiles, the place, the environment and it’s different. They say they feel this energy, the passion because we put all our love into every bungalow, every wall, the garden. We put a little bit of ourselves!”
So we see that clearly you don’t need to have all the experience in hospitality, but if you have an immense love for your project and purpose in life, you can build a beautiful successful hospitality story like Nanana and Cacau. Learn more about this hotel at our website.
