We ended up building a house that I designed, out of rammed earth, rocks, brick, cement and wood.  Since the local electric grid is already generated by wind and water power, we decided to hold off on a solar electric system, but are using solar hot water, composting toilets, rainwater catchment and grey water irrigation.  We have started building hugelkultur beds, since there is a substantial dry season here, and we hope they will require less watering.  The soil is quite poor (litttle topsoil) and rocky here, so we have will need to build a lot of soil through composting, planting ground cover to mulch in, chop and drop, etc.  It is the beginning of the rainy season, so it's time to plant fruit trees and attemp a vegetable garden!  Since it will take time to build soil, the vegetable gardens will be an ongoing, slowly building project...

We don't have a guest cottage (yet) but do have a flat pad (it's a mountainous region!) for camping, with a 'bodega' for secure storage, an outdoor sink and shower, and a dry toilet could be built quickly nearby.  We are just getting started with the land, and could use help and/or experienced input.  The climate is sub-tropical, the land all from slightly to steeply inclined, the soil very rocky with a high level of clay, and we have a very wet (approx. November/December-March/April) and a very dry season (July-September), with two transition (ideal) periods in between...