FAQ

Oaxaca has its own airport. Aeropuerto Internacional Xoxocotlan (OAX). It's a 25 min drive from the CaSa. You may find it easier to fly to Mexico city and get an internal flight on Aeromexico, Volaris OR Viva Aerobus. Another option if you are near to San Diego, cross the bridge into Tijuana and get an internal flight to Oaxaca. We have had others fly to Cancun & Huatulco and do an internal flight to us. We know that flights here are limited and as such we don't have a pickup window. We will meet you no matter the hour you arrive. We do have a 3pm check in time at the CaSa which may help you to plan your visit. We will pick you up and give you options of places to kill time while you wait for check in. We will take your luggage to the CaSa while you wait.

Check in is at 3pm on Saturday. Check out is at 11am on Saturday Your Retreat officially starts at 6pm on Saturday with an arrival dinner. Nannies start at 9am on Sunday. We realize that flights arrive when they arrive and we will pick you up whenever yours gets in. If you arrive before 3pm then we will give you options of places to wait and will bring your luggage to the CaSa. Usually guests choose to have coffee and a snack close to the CaSa. If you arrive after 6pm then do not worry - we will make sure there is food awaiting you when you arrive!

The CaSa has 3 rooms that we use year round and 1 room that is available upon request for private groups or during the big holidays (like Muertos) Please note that all of our king beds can be split into twins upon request. Frida: King Bed, en suite bathroom. Sleeps 2 guests Corazon: King Bed plus twin trundle. Shared bathroom with Alma. Sleeps 4 guests Alma: King Bed plus Montessori Floor bed. Shared bathroom with Corazon. Sleeps 3 guests Our 4th Room Nopal can be made available upon request. It has a Queen bed (cannot be split) and an ensuite bathroom.

We have an amazing group of women who have been vetted by us in various ways. To learn about them all and how we know them please head to our 'About" page

No. For younger children we have 1 nanny for 2 or 3 children max. We always have 2 nannies at nap time so children are never unsupervised. For older children we always have a nanny on site so there is supervision when swimming. Our nannies come up with different activities for older kids.

The CaSa does not have a television. During the hours of 8.30am and 5.30pm the communal (downstairs) area is a screen free zone for children. Nannies are present during these core hours and will provide the entertainment via crafting, swimming, stories and playing. If a child needs down time - with your permission they are allowed to use screens in their rooms. This policy has been made with a great deal of thought and intention. It only takes one child on a screen to bring all children flocking. They shun activities and lose interest in doing anything with the nannies when there's a screen to watch. Some parents don't mind screens and others don't want their children anywhere near them. This can be very difficult to navigate in a communal area as I am sure you can appreciate. We know that there are some circumstances where a screen is necessary. With any policy there is flexibility to accommodate the best interests of the child/ren.

The CaSa is a SMOKE FREE zone. Even in our outdoor areas, even if nobody is around. If you happen to be a smoker we ask that you walk outside of the property to a location where the smoke would not enter the CaSa or Playroom. Thank you for understanding. Oaxaca is a Smoke Free City - you are no longer even allowed to smoke while walking down the Street - just to make you aware of this so you don't receive an unwanted fine!

We buy most of the produce that you will eat at the Abastos market. This is where it is freshest and least chemically treated. ALL of our produce is immediately disinfected (using iodine drops) We do not serve you anything that has not been disinfected. It is common place at all restaurants too.

We provide fresh water for drinking and cooking. It is delivered to us in 5 gallon bottles every week. Please stay hydrated! Oaxaca has a water shortage and much of the water people use in this city is delivered via water trucks directly from the mountains. During peak times a water delivery can be very hard to come by. At the CaSa we are lucky enough to have city water. Unfortunately City water can be unpredictable. Some weeks it is constantly trickling into our holding tanks. On public holidays it often won't be delivered at all. What this means for you? We ask that you be mindful of your water usage. Don't leave taps running for long periods. Our water takes a while to heat (the boilers are a very long way from the showers!) and as such we conserve water to ensure that you can have hot showers whenever you need them! Also if you notice a leak in the tap or a toilet that keeps running then let us know asap! This is also why we do not have a washing machine for your use at the CaSa.

All Guests Saturday: Dinner at 6pm Sunday: Breakfast, Lunch & Dinner Monday: Breakfast & Dinner Tuesday: Breakfast Weds: Breakfast & Dinner Thursday: Breakfast Friday: Breakfast & Dinner Children Our nannies will provide kid friendly meals whenever the children are in the CaSa. From sandwiches, pasta, nuggets, fruit and veggie sticks. We keep it simple so that they are well fed with whole foods that are familiar to them. On babysitting nights when you go out we also take care of dinner for the children. Adults If you decide not to take advantage of babysitting and stay at the CaSa we are sorry but we do not provide meals for the adults. Uber Eats & Didi are great apps for bringing the food to you. There are restaurant options a short walk from the CaSa which you can grab to go from (or have delivered.) We can help you with any of this!

We ask for your dietary requirements before you arrive and build a menu tailor made to the group that accommodates all preferences. We put a lot of time into creating this menu which includes Oaxacan/Mexican dishes as well as some more familiar foods. We provision for your Retreat ahead of your arrival and for this reason we are not able to drastically change our menu to include items which we have not provisioned for. We do not share the menu ahead of time as we do sometimes tweak things using the ingredients we have - to ensure maximum guest enjoyment of our food! If there is something that you would like to add to your plate you are welcome to purchase it and bring it to our chef to prepare. We thank you for your understanding.

Yes! All of our chefs know how to treat your diet and allergies with the seriousness they merit. We will ensure that there is no seafood / nuts in the house during weeks where people have allergies. Our chefs have experience in vegetarian and vegan diets. We keep multiple types of milk in the CaSa including Whole, Lactose Free, Almond and Oat. Please let us know at time of booking if you have any serious allergies or dietary needs.

We keep plenty of fresh, local fruit in the house which the children will be given between meals when they are in the house. We do not buy processed food or ready made snacks. We provide meals (upto 3 a day) which are thoughtfully shopped for before your arrival but do not include 'snacks' as many children think of them. There is a wonderful mini supermarket very close to the house. You are welcome to buy supplemental food there which you can put in the guest fridge. Please let our nannies know if you're out and would like your children to receive these items.

We know that kids can be picky eaters. We also very often witness those picky eaters being a lot less picky when they are around other children at the CaSa Our chefs are great at making plates more appealing to the children by breaking down the adult meals into parts, keeping sauces separate etc. We have plates with compartments to make sure things 'don't touch'. We do not cater to individual likes and dislikes as that would become an overwhelming task for our chefs. If your child really doesn't like what is on offer then we have pasta/toast/quesadillas etc on standby. (simple, easy to make food) We prefer to let them try what is on offer rather than immediately offering pasta etc. There are exceptions. Talk to our chefs. They are lovely and will work with your family. We will not let your child go hungry. * If your child will only eat Annies mac n cheese for example then feel free to bring some from home and we will happily prepare it for your little one if needed! ** We will not be serving anything spicy. (We have hot sauce for you spice lovers!) We also serve both familiar and local dishes.

The CaSa has a pack and play for every room We have 3 high chairs. We have unbreakable plates/bowls/cups and cutlery. We have a play area with different toys to entertain different aged children. The CaSa has games. (Uno, Jenga, Twister, cards, puzzles etc) We have pool toys and floaties. There is a Boppy for nursing Mothers. The SoMos CaSa is well equipped to entertain and host children of all ages.

We have Car Seats for your use at the CaSa. The only seat we do not have is an Infant Seat if you come with a very small baby! Our fleet includes: 1 Diono Radian converted to booster for bigger kids, a Cosco Scenara, a Foonf Klek (forward facing), A Graco Extend to fit and there is also (usually) a Ride Safe Vest also available. You can use these in our vehicles or excursion vans. We do not allow them out of the house for taxi use as we cannot easily replace them if they are lost or stolen (especially the vest!) Car seats are not required in Mexico and often taxis do not have the clips (and they've locked the buckle part of the safety belt under the seat!) This means that trips into town have to be done without car seats. For airport pickups - we cannot guarantee that there will be a car seat. Pickups are done by one of our staff or a trusted driver in a new minivan. We do everything we can to avoid you having to get an airport taxi as they often involve standing in line for over an hour. If you want your child guaranteed to be in a car seat for the 25 minute ride to the house then you will unfortunately have to bring one for this part of the journey. As to strollers - we have one at the CaSa for use. Mexican side walks are often hard to navigate but if your child is anything like mine then you will suffer through rather than have to carry your child. It's doable but can be taxing at times.

We use my minivan for groups of 6 and under. It has a latch system on 4 of the seats, shoulder belts and is an 8 seater. For larger groups or those who need more than 3 car seats we hire a van. While we endeavor to secure modern vans - none of them have shoulder seat belts. All are lap belts. Sometimes companies have sent us older vehicles due to break downs or renting the fancy vans out to hotels. It doesn't happen often but it is a possibility. Occasionally we have to use an older van (especially during peak season) which does have 3 spots which do not have a lap belt. It's a 14 seater and our groups are rarely this large! While we try to avoid transportation that doesn't meet our standards - we can never guarantee that something won't happen that will put us in a less modern van. We do however only use drivers we know to be safe. We require drivers to assure us that they will not be on their phones. That they will drive safely and not take risks with our guests.

No. However, stairs are present in the house and while we can block them off with a gate it won't be screwed in so will require eyes on the child. If you would like a dedicated Nanny for your child please let us know and we can add a charge for this. We are working on options for tweens and teens. We understand that they don't need a Nanny and it can be less fun at the CaSa for them if you don't take them with you. Watch this space as we are working with a couple of tween families to come up with solutions for this!

We certainly hope so! Come with an open heart and friendly attitude and how could people not get along! We love that our guests often stay in touch or even come back and vacation together again. We of course expect everyone to be respectful of one anothers parenting styles (even when they don't align with our own) and remember - we are all doing the best we can!

We do not have a machine for your use at the CaSa however - we will collect your laundry on Tuesday and return it to you on Wednesday. Please place it in the laundry basket in your room and bring it downstairs on Tuesday morning. Do not place CaSa items in the laundry - we do those at the end of your stay. If you need your laundry done more than this then there is a laundromat a 3 minute walk from the CaSa. They do a good job but refuse to wash underwear?!

We do have a pool. It is in the main area of the CaSa. Half of the pool is exposed to the sky. It is solar heated. We do get a lot of sunshine in Oaxaca - however during overcast weeks the pool does get cold The pool is enclosed using child proof locks (purchased in USA) and high walls to ensure children cannot get inside.

Yes! We have the fastest wifi available at the CaSa. We also have signal boosters so there is a wifi mesh that covers the entire house and terraza.

No you don't. You can split the trip into 1, 2 or 3 payments so long as we receive the final payment more than 60 days ahead of your trip. The first $700 of your payment serves as a non-refundable deposit. Anyone who pays in full will receive a $100 discount for doing so. *this does not apply to discounted retreats

The best way to get money out here is via an ATM (but ALWAYS decline the exchange rate the atm offers you). A lot of guests take money out at the airport when they arrive here. Check which of your cards have the best exchange rate before you get here. Most places accept cards but Street Food Vendors and Markets will only accept Cash. Tipping when you go to dinner is quite normal. 10% is the norm and anything above that they are very grateful for. It is completely at your discretion as to whether you tip our staff. They are paid a living wage and as such are not depending on anything extra. If you would like to tip them they always appreciate it but never ever expect it. It's hard for us to advise how much to bring out but here's some items you will need to budget for. Prices are quoted in MXN as exchange rate fluctuates. Taxis into town and back ($100-120) Meals on excursions ($100-150) Money for return taxi to airport ($350) Dinners/lunches: You can eat out for as little as $100 or as much as $2000 depending on where you go. Street food is abundant and delicious and a multi course menu with drink pairings can cost as much as $100 USD. You can find all ranges in between!

We do not give a discount for shorter stays on our scheduled Retreats. We do however make sure to reschedule the massage for you if you miss it for any reason. If you have a private group and want to come for a shorter time period then we will work with your group to come up with a price that reflects the time you spend with us.

Yes Contact us for pricing and details

Warm Layer: The CaSa is open to the sky above the pool and as such can be chilly during October-December in the dining room. Please bring a warm layer with you. We have blankets but we want you to be aware that it can get cool - especially after hurricanes! Sunscreen: While you can buy it here, the selection is limited and sometimes hard to find. Bug Spray: Sometimes it sells out. If there's a brand that you know works for you - please bring some. Diapers: They are available here but the brands (and sizing) can be a little different. If you have a favorite brand then bring them. If not then there are stores close to the CaSa where you can purchase them. Swimming: long sleeved rash guard type swim suits for little ones with SPF and a hat. Hierve el Agua asks that we do not wear sunscreen so we respect this by covering up! Sleeping: The nights cool down (except in May/June) to a comfortable temperature. We do not put blankets in the pack and plays so if you need a cover for your little one you might want to bring a light sleep sack or a warmer one in Oct-Jan Car Seats: We have 3 car seats BUT the taxis for airport pickup/drop off do not have them. If you are not comfortable with this then you will need to bring your own. We do not have an infant car seat - just one Cosco Scenara which can be used for smaller guests. Stroller: We have two strollers at the house for your use. It's a travel type stroller and not ideal on our paths which honestly are best suited to all terrain strollers. However, if your child hates to walk like mine did - it's worth using! Snacks: Organic snacks are in short supply here. We feed the children fruit/crackers/cheese etc. We do not feed the children any dyes/artificial ingredients/soft drinks etc. Please feel free to bring your childrens favorite snacks from home.

Airport pickup is included in the price of your Retreat. We will meet you at any time you arrive. We do not use airport taxis as the wait can be long. We will give you instruction on how to connect with your driver before you arrive. Please see above FAQ on Car Seats for further info. We arrange your airport drop off but the cost is not covered. We use regular taxis and they send someone different every time. It is not possible for us to transfer funds as we do for the pickups - for this reason the cost is not included. If you need a car with a credit card reader - let us know and we will arrange that for you! Taxis are available at all hours of day for drop offs.