Denis Larsen - Our Friend in Need
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For many of us, Denis Larsen, proprietor of Casa Hamaca Guesthouse in Valladolid, Yucatan, Mexico -- and a delightful raconteur ;^) -- is one of the most kind-hearted and generous people we know. Recently, he celebrated his 80th birthday. Unfortunately, in the last year, he has been suffering from serious financial stress, painful physical illnesses, and the depression that spins out from these challenges. We are deeply concerned about his peace of mind.
Denis first came to the Yucatan 22 years ago for a week-long volunteer trip to build concrete roofs for owner-inhabited homes in small fishing villages on the Gulf coast. He fell in love with the people, the climate, the food … with everything … even sleeping in a hammock (hamaca). The second year, he came for two weeks and the third year, he joined the board of trustees of Mano Amiga, the group that coordinated the volunteers. He came to the Yucatan as often as 6 times a year helping to find projects, measure them, calculate materials needed and then order the materials to be delivered in February or March each year when the volunteer groups from the USA arrived.
Denis had been renting a room on Isla Mujeres between projects and began providing pro bono massage for the locals. The locals who used these free services brought gifts to thank him…bottled water, apples and pears (exotic fruits on Isla Mujeres), shrimp and octopus.
In 2004, Denis was selected from a world-wide pool of approximately 3,000 applications to provide massage services at the Athens Paralympics. Sixty therapists were invited and forty-eight were able to go to Athens as volunteers. As did the others, Denis paid for his air transportation, his hotel and most of his meals. The Paralympic Committee “paid” him with three uniforms, one meal a day, a subway-museum pass, and a 21-day post-graduate course in massage for the disabled.
When Denis returned to Isla Mujeres, his focus of massage turned to helping commercial SCUBA divers with the “bends”. Again, he offered his services pro bono. His clients included divers whose little finger could no longer bend to persons confined to a wheelchair for life. One day a client let Denis know that the next day he was going to receive oxygen therapy at the local hyperbaric chamber. Denis immediately contacted the medical doctor in charge of the chamber to see if he could provide massage services to his client while in the chamber. The MD was okay with that. Denis contacted the Divers Alert Network (the world-wide central information source of dive medicine) at Duke University and asked if he could provide massage to a client in a hyperbaric chamber. Their answer was “yes” provided it was at least 72 hours after the accident/incident, and they commented that no one had ever asked that question before. So, for each of the next two days, Denis and his client took an hour-long dive in the chamber where Denis provided massage throughout the dive. The client reported that, as a result, he could walk easier and with less pain.
In 2005, Denis realized that he did not really like living on a small island and started looking at options in the Mexican states of Yucatan, Campeche and Chiapas. On his third visit to Valladolid, he found a property he thought he could work with. He purchased the property with the idea of having some sort of business but not knowing just what business it would be. In December 2006, after much planting of the grounds and rebuilding of the main structure, he moved in and opened what was to become Casa Hamaca Guesthouse in late 2007. Since then, Casa Hamaca Guesthouse has received TripAdvisor’s Travelers Choice award four times and its Stamp of Excellence more than 10 times.
Denis continued to do volunteer work including organizing hearing clinics, distributing reading glasses, donating space for the local social services organization to provide craft classes for both youngsters and adults, providing swimming lessons for over 100 local children, teaching basic massage for free, delivering more than 200 dispensas (two weeks-worth of food basics and household essentials) and hosting various workshops. In 2011, he helped to organize and open the Valladolid English Library and has donated the space for its book collection and its activities since then.
Just over a year ago, Denis was informed that what he thought was a life-time annuity was, in fact, a fixed-term policy and that the monthly checks would stop. Denis himself says that he has never been the best of businessmen, and this check was the cushion that kept Casa Hamaca afloat during the lean months. Without the annuity check, he has struggled to make ends meet.
On the 14th of July 2019, Denis had gone to the municipal market as he does every day to shop for the guesthouse. He and a friend were jointly carrying a very heavy bag of fruit when he mis-stepped and fell on a curb breaking his upper right arm in two places and injuring the radial nerve. Surgery a few days later left him with a metal rod snaking down through the three pieces of bone from his shoulder to his elbow. He is slowly regaining the use of his right arm and hand but still cannot do many things. The accident, compounded with his financial distress, put Denis into profound depression.
This is a time when those of us who know and love Denis can give back to him in a way that is more than just words in a post. (Those who don´t know Denis would surely love him, too.) Contributing to this campaign, no matter how small the donation, will not remove all the pressures but will relieve some of Denis´s financial burden and let him know that we treasure him.
Denis first came to the Yucatan 22 years ago for a week-long volunteer trip to build concrete roofs for owner-inhabited homes in small fishing villages on the Gulf coast. He fell in love with the people, the climate, the food … with everything … even sleeping in a hammock (hamaca). The second year, he came for two weeks and the third year, he joined the board of trustees of Mano Amiga, the group that coordinated the volunteers. He came to the Yucatan as often as 6 times a year helping to find projects, measure them, calculate materials needed and then order the materials to be delivered in February or March each year when the volunteer groups from the USA arrived.
Denis had been renting a room on Isla Mujeres between projects and began providing pro bono massage for the locals. The locals who used these free services brought gifts to thank him…bottled water, apples and pears (exotic fruits on Isla Mujeres), shrimp and octopus.
In 2004, Denis was selected from a world-wide pool of approximately 3,000 applications to provide massage services at the Athens Paralympics. Sixty therapists were invited and forty-eight were able to go to Athens as volunteers. As did the others, Denis paid for his air transportation, his hotel and most of his meals. The Paralympic Committee “paid” him with three uniforms, one meal a day, a subway-museum pass, and a 21-day post-graduate course in massage for the disabled.
When Denis returned to Isla Mujeres, his focus of massage turned to helping commercial SCUBA divers with the “bends”. Again, he offered his services pro bono. His clients included divers whose little finger could no longer bend to persons confined to a wheelchair for life. One day a client let Denis know that the next day he was going to receive oxygen therapy at the local hyperbaric chamber. Denis immediately contacted the medical doctor in charge of the chamber to see if he could provide massage services to his client while in the chamber. The MD was okay with that. Denis contacted the Divers Alert Network (the world-wide central information source of dive medicine) at Duke University and asked if he could provide massage to a client in a hyperbaric chamber. Their answer was “yes” provided it was at least 72 hours after the accident/incident, and they commented that no one had ever asked that question before. So, for each of the next two days, Denis and his client took an hour-long dive in the chamber where Denis provided massage throughout the dive. The client reported that, as a result, he could walk easier and with less pain.
In 2005, Denis realized that he did not really like living on a small island and started looking at options in the Mexican states of Yucatan, Campeche and Chiapas. On his third visit to Valladolid, he found a property he thought he could work with. He purchased the property with the idea of having some sort of business but not knowing just what business it would be. In December 2006, after much planting of the grounds and rebuilding of the main structure, he moved in and opened what was to become Casa Hamaca Guesthouse in late 2007. Since then, Casa Hamaca Guesthouse has received TripAdvisor’s Travelers Choice award four times and its Stamp of Excellence more than 10 times.
Denis continued to do volunteer work including organizing hearing clinics, distributing reading glasses, donating space for the local social services organization to provide craft classes for both youngsters and adults, providing swimming lessons for over 100 local children, teaching basic massage for free, delivering more than 200 dispensas (two weeks-worth of food basics and household essentials) and hosting various workshops. In 2011, he helped to organize and open the Valladolid English Library and has donated the space for its book collection and its activities since then.
Just over a year ago, Denis was informed that what he thought was a life-time annuity was, in fact, a fixed-term policy and that the monthly checks would stop. Denis himself says that he has never been the best of businessmen, and this check was the cushion that kept Casa Hamaca afloat during the lean months. Without the annuity check, he has struggled to make ends meet.
On the 14th of July 2019, Denis had gone to the municipal market as he does every day to shop for the guesthouse. He and a friend were jointly carrying a very heavy bag of fruit when he mis-stepped and fell on a curb breaking his upper right arm in two places and injuring the radial nerve. Surgery a few days later left him with a metal rod snaking down through the three pieces of bone from his shoulder to his elbow. He is slowly regaining the use of his right arm and hand but still cannot do many things. The accident, compounded with his financial distress, put Denis into profound depression.
This is a time when those of us who know and love Denis can give back to him in a way that is more than just words in a post. (Those who don´t know Denis would surely love him, too.) Contributing to this campaign, no matter how small the donation, will not remove all the pressures but will relieve some of Denis´s financial burden and let him know that we treasure him.
Organizer
Harriet Rich
Organizer
