LA CHOZA de Dom Pedro — literally, Lord Peter’s Hut, finally finished construction after 37 days.
The project started on August 28, and with the workers’ requested days off and the stormy days, we finished on October 21.
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The treehouse on the hill is stately in the category range of treehouses.
I mean, La Choza is unlike many treehouses.
It has a sense of quiet dignity, and huge impressiveness to it.
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La Choza is mainly hard wood—acacia, star apple, mahogany, on a balete tree.
The roofing is nipa; and the attic is bamboo.
But at 36 feet from its base, it’s imposing.
And the view from the top is just awesome.
Again, it’s standing on a hill facing a ricefield.
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I should not be telling you that the treehouse cost me a little over a quarter of a million.
Most of the trees used for lumber were from my farm.
If I bought lumber, it probably would have cost almost double.
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Anyway, the treehouse is done.
That I have given the green light for a little dipping pool is another matter.
And how small the pool is going to be is subject to interpretation.
I let my carpenters interpret that.
If they enjoy building it, that’s all that matters to me.
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Building a house, even just a treehouse, is not easy.
Everybody should try it.
I mean, it constitutes dreaming, perseverance, change, adaptation, evolution, and a sense of accomplishment.
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I like the idea of a P45,000 bamboo-and-nipa house evolving into a P250,000+ treehouse.
It sounds ambitious, rich, crazy.
But the dream is beautiful, grand; and when it is done, the satisfaction is great.
Of course, there are misgivings.
But again, it is a process, it is an evolution.
It is life.
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Too much is missed by people who do not build treehouses.
I mean, they can build the pyramids of Egypt, the Great Wall of China, the Burj Khalifa, the Empire State Building.
Or they can build a treehouse.
But if you don’t build these, what are you building?
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Some people think that building schools is honorable.
I let them think that way.
I let them build schools from their own pocket, or from the government treasury.
But school for me is more idea, more people, more community.
Whereas, a treehouse is more personal, satisfying, fulfilling.
Satisfying in the sense that it also means living the dream.
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From the idea of the La Choza de Dom Pedro to its completion, no one has really said to me that it was a terrible idea.
All I heard were positive thoughts about it.
I’ve documented most of the process of building my treehouse on social media.
The only inquiry I got was from a friend in the US.
Why are you building a tree fortress?, my American friend asked me.
Flippantly, I replied, “Because I can, because I’m rich!”
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I like the Peter Pan-esque idea of a treehouse.
I like the idea of living even a few inches closer to nature.
I like the idea of living on trees like monkeys.
But most of all, I like the idea of living unlike the ordinary, common, poor people.
Unlike the Filipino masses.
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As a person of a certain age, I do not know how much I can enjoy my treehouse, La Choza de Dom Pedro.
Or my third floor penthouse at my Casa Dom Pedro de Dumangas.
Or how much I can just walk my way from one property to another.
But I am not worried.
I will ride the wind for as long as I can./PN
