Brazil's Uxua Casa Offers Resort Luxury in Tropical Setting

Uxua opened in May 2009 and has already hosted 11 world-famous supermodels during the 2010 Pirelli Calendar shoot, as well as well-known Brazilian socialites and celebrities. Uxua, which in local native Pataxó Indian language means "marvelous," is under the ownership and direction of long-time Diesel Creative Director Wilbert Das, who launched the project as a tribute to the area of southern Bahia which he loves.

Over three years, Wilbert tapped Colonial, indigenous, and Afro-Bahian histories, arts and customs, and collaborated with local artisans using traditional building methods and recycled materials. Textiles, art, crafts, furniture and structural fabrications from repurposed woods and scrap iron were sourced locally. Flowers, spices and fruits from overgrown gardens grace guest rooms and tables. Menus include the catch of the day with a Bahian flair, with local dishes being the emphasis, but also complimented by foods from other regions of this vast country with a taste of Mediterranean fusion mixed in. A selection of international wines and spirits is available along with Uxua's inventive list of hundreds of tropical drinks and cocktails.

Each casa has an indoor/outdoor living room, a gourmet kitchen, one to three bedrooms with en suite bath. The lake-like swimming pool is crafted from 40,000 pebbles of green aventurine quartz thought to have healing properties. The design scheme throughout the property reflects Trancoso's past. Three of Uxua's casas are restorations, having been among the 50 small houses Jesuit missionaries built in 1586, and placed around a village green carved out of the rainforest and facing a small village church on a hilltop overlooking the sea. The Jesuits designed this to be a utopian community to bring indigenous peoples to a state of grace, a history that was largely forgotten until the late 1970s when hippies and naturalists began rediscovering the Atlantic marshes and rainforest along Trancoso's 24-kilometer, eight-beach coastline.

Dining at Uxua features organically sourced Bahian fusion cuisine served at the poolside or beachfront restaurants. A full-service spa features indoor and outdoor treatment rooms and an array of treatments utilizing locally sourced ingredients. The gym offers yoga and pilates, but also instruction in capoeira and local dances taught to individual guests or in small groups, with instruction provided exclusively by local, native instructors. A rustic Beach Lounge is a five-minute walk from the casas.

Rates per casa, per night start from $541 during low season (March through November) and $706 during high season (December through February). Guests fly into Sao Paolo, Salvador, or Rio, and connect via numerous national and international airlines with multiple direct daily flights to Porto Seguro, where a scenic 45-minute drive through beautiful Bahian landscape brings them to the southern Bahian coast, Trancoso and Uxua.