February 14, 2011 (Day 3 San Pedro Revisited: Valentine's Day Part I)

I woke up this morning and suddenly realized that I would be spending another Valentine’s Day all by my lonesome. Well—sometimes miracles do happen. Maybe today—or tonight—would be my lucky day!  Nonetheless, my mission for the day (Monday) was to go next door to the San Pedro Town Building and attempt to get “the scoop” on the elusive Caribbean Coves Subdivision. After my first weekend in Belize without seeing the sun, it was nice to wake up to a sunny day on the island (or peninsula actually). I decided to start the day with breakfast, and maybe try to take another bicycle ride later in the day. I was anxious to try my luck with the Town Council. I went next door at about 9:15 AM and met a nice young lady named “Candy”. By yet another bizarre coincidence, Candy was the one who had given my young friend (the future law student) the paperwork I have mentioned previously. As it turned out, he did not really “own” the property after all (as I had suspected). Candy said he had only paid the Town Council the sum of $200 BZ (US$100) for the cost of the survey on the lot he had told me he "owned". Candy said he could buy the lot from the Town Council for $6000 (US$3000) but he couldn’t sell "his" lot to another person. But Candy said that—even as an American citizen—I could buy a similar lot from the Town Council for the same price (i.e, US$3000) as the kid could! Candy was very up front with me and mentioned that many of the lots in the Caribbbean Coves Subdivision were presently underwater, and that a great deal of additional fill was needed before many of the lots would be buildable. Candy also printed out a subdivision map that was stored on her computer, and I studied it for a few minutes. I was not too excited about all the small, landlocked lots, I told her, but I was interested in the availability of any of the larger parcels shown on the map with frontage on the lagoon. I asked Candy if any of those parcels for sale. And, if so, I asked her what the price would be for these parcels.  Candy said that I would have to speak directly to the mayor about this, and that she would be happy to set up an appointment for me. At the present time, she said, the entire subdivision was accessible by boat only, and there was no electricity available or other infrastructure for the subdivision as of yet. Hearing all these negatives made me even more curious about this project, so I asked Candy to set up an appointment with Mayor Elsa Paz. Candy set up an appointment at 2:30 PM that afternoon.   

Over the noon hour I walked over to see San Pedro’s one and only fitness club—The Train Station. I had seen their signs plastered on a number of the walls in town, and I was curious to see what a Belizean fitness club looked like. I met the very nice husband and wife ownership team, and they gave me a quick tour of the facility (it was small by American standards but very nice and well equipped). They told me they made a sizable investment—about US$100,000—for their equipment—and they told me they were surprised (and quite angry) that the government had given them no breaks on the import duty charged (which added another US$50,000 to their investment)—even though they were providing a very important health and wellness service for the citizens of Belize (an argument which I totally agree with). At about 2:30 PM I had my audience with Mayor Elsa Paz. I found the mayor—shown below-- who told me she had been in office for about nine years-- to be very warm and helpful.

The Mayor of San Pedro Town: Elsa Paz

Mayor Paz gave me a similar story about Caribbean Coves Subdivision as Candy’s detailing the lack of infrastructure, etc. The mayor told me that the parcels with lagoon frontage—which were generally between one and two acres in size, were being sold by the Town Council for US$20,000 each.  She mentioned that the buyer would also have to pay several hundred dollars for the survey and a partial release from the blanket mortgage held by the local Atlantic Bank. The mayor said the bank also commonly financed 50% of the purchase price if the buyer put up a matching payment of 50% in cash. I told the mayor that this looked very interesting to me, and she introduced me to Juan Alamilla, one of the Town Board Councilmen, who showed me several of the waterfront parcels that he recommended and even offered to drive me (in his golf cart) to a place on the east side of the big lagoon where he could point out the white sand beaches of the subdivision. I told him I would see him at 9:00 AM tomorrow (Tuesday) morning for my guided tour of the Caribbean Coves Subdivision.

I surfed the Internet recently and discovered that Mayor Elsa Paz has joined some very famous international celebrities in policing offshore oil drilling in the Caribbean. The mayor has been San Pedro’s spokesperson in expressing grave concern about the impact offshore exploration will have on her island community of Ambergris Caye. Gulfport, MS – Oceana and its largest expedition supporter and corporate partner -- Nautica-- were in Gulfport, Mississippi some time ago to announce the findings from the first leg of Oceana’s two-month research expedition in the Gulf of Mexico and discuss Oceana's plans for the remainder of the expedition. Oceana reported on its efforts to document vulnerable habitats from the Florida Keys to Panama City at risk from future oil spills as well as the results of its project to tag whale sharks, a species at risk from the Gulf oil disaster. Nautica reaffirmed its commitment to Oceana by donating $100,000 to support the organization’s upcoming deepwater exploration efforts near the Deepwater Horizon wellhead. Oceana will use cutting-edge science to help map the subsurface oil plume and a remotely operated vehicle (ROV) capable of reaching depths of more than 3,200 feet and filming in high-definition to explore seafloor habitat areas that may have been harmed by underwater oil. The organizations were joined by award-winning actors Ted Danson and Morgan Freeman as well as mayor Elsa Paz and New York-based Spanish model Almudena Fernandez. Oceana in Belize VP, Audrey Matura-Shepherd accompanied the mayor on this visit (shown below with Morgan Freeman and Ted Danson).

Morgan Freeman, Mayor Elsa Paz, Audrey Matura-Shepherd and Ted Danson