Azúcar

How long has it been since you looked at a clock? Hours? Days? The hammock swings languorously back and forth in a warm, salty breeze.

One leg hangs off the side, your toes grazing the wood slat flooring of your private patio. Next to you on a table is a plate of chilled raw coconut, a glass of iced tea sweetened with fresh-cut Veracruz sugarcane, a book you waited all winter to read. Above you, huge tropical palm leaves cut across a sky of dense saturated blue. You close your eyes, taste sugar that still lingers on your lips, and listen to the sound of waves crashing into the Gulf of Mexico.

Inspired by Veracruz’s prolific sugarcane industry, Azúcar offers a stunning slow-life experience amid a terrain of lush vegetation overlooking the Gulf of Mexico. Low-lying, thatched-roof palapa bungaloes—each named for a local sugar mill—feature white-washed interiors, broad-slat wood flooring, and clean-lined furniture.
A locally made hammock stretches across every private patio, inviting guests to swing away beneath the palms as the Gulf breezes blow. Or one can meander across the nearby archeological sites, empty beaches, and vast cattle farms. Azúcar’s open-air biblioteca and outdoor spa, round out this laid-back seaside haven—a tribute to the lifestyle of the Gulf as sweet as sugar itself.

“Life is short, and it is up to you to make it sweet.”
Sarah Louise Delaney

For Carlos Couturier and Moisés Micha, building hotels that reflect their surroundings is more than just a job—it’s a passion that drove these two Mexican entrepreneurs from citrus farming and investment banking to boutique hospitality. Avid art collectors who are active in the Mexican art community, Couturier and Micha are passionately committed to investing in the regions in which they build their hotels. “We use a local team every time we build a hotel, and we read the surroundings and their traditions to integrate the local culture into our project,” explains Couturier. Their Grupo Habita collection has grown to include 12 diverse properties, from Acapulco to downtown Chicago.