Belize Blog update
“Cable Woes and Cayo Connection Meeting”  – Wealth Ships
Why YOU Should Visit Belize in January – San Pedro Scoop
15 Top Tips For Sellers – San Pedro Belize – Invest in Belize Real Estate blog

Canadian news – World’s top islands: Frommers picks Tahiti, Belize, Tobago and more – The Toronto Star news paper.

Belize Travel News - Some of you may have seen the good news already but for those of you who haven’t, several Belize resorts scored major points in the trip advisor 2012 Travelers Choice Hotel Awards. Congratulations to all who made the cut.

Top 25 Hotels in the World
1. The Phoenix Resort
3. Hamanasi Adventure and Dive Resort

Top 25 Hotels in Central America
1. Phoenix
2. Hamanasi
3. Xanadu
5 Coco Plum Island Resort
7 Turneffe Island Resort
10 Victoria House
13 Belcampo Lodge
20 Las Terrazzas
23 Chaa Creek
24 Mata Chica
25 Grand Caribe

Belize Rain report by Cowboy Doug of Cowboy Doug’s Pool bar and Grill – text received January 20th 1/2 an inch of rain last night starting at 11:40pm. Don’t forget Tomorrow is pool party day, head on up and say hi to the cowboy.

Saga Humane Society Update
I hope this finds you well and enjoying the New Year.  There seems to be a buzz in the air with 2012, let’s hope it’s a good year for all of us!

Saga Humane Society would like to give a big thanks to Mojito Bar and their great staff for hosting our Pasta Cook-off. Friday the 13th turned out to be a lucky day for the Saga shelter animals with an anonymous donor pledging to match all proceeds from this event; Saga was able to raise just over $3,000. There was a great turnout of visitors and locals who enjoyed all the fine Pasta dishes presented.

Winners were: 3rd Place: Chicken Fettuccini ala Parmesan from Faride Salinas who received a Cutlery Set; 2nd Place: Pineapple Chipotle Pasta from Xenika Nicole Armstrong who received a lovely set of 8 Pub Glasses; and 1st Place: Pork Chow Mein from Sharon Metcalfe who Received a Toaster Oven.

We would also like to thank our other entries for their wonderful dishes. Pasta Fiesta Salad – Pineapples Restaurant; Dill Macaroni Salad – LouAnn LeClaire; Bow Ties a Ragu de Tonno – Rosa LaRosa; Shrimp Roulade with Prosecco Tarragon Cream Sauce – Chap Ross & Kathy Neimic; Tia’s Salad – Tia Hindson; and Veggie Callaloni – Mathieu’s Deli.

Raffle Prizes: Kim Gonzalez won a Full Groom from Pampered Paws sponsored by George’s Kitchen. A visiting tourist won a Rod & Reel courtesy of Captain Sharks. And Eliza and her parents Jessica Waters & Stephen Card won Dinner for 2 plus a Mojito courtesy of Mojito Bar.

Thank you to all the volunteers who helped make this event a success. Heather Beck Janina Canales, Grant Crimmins,
Ingrid Juarez, Joe LaRosa, Rosa LaRosa, Bob LeClaire, LouAnn LeClaire, Ingrid Lima, Katia Marin, Sharon Metcalfe
Lori Purdy, Nancy Rountree, Jonny Woodward.

Saga Humane Society would like to thank everyone for their continued support.

[front page picture of The Phoenix Resort by Matt Lankes and Demian Solano]

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It was not long before  Seleni and Madison came along and wanted to share our toys. They played with the hula hoops and the float rings and were very eager to have us pull them around the pool. As soon as Dennis worked out that the shallow fountain pool was warmer than the big pool kiddy rides stopped and lounge time was on. Looking back, I should have have stayed there and not volunteered to go to the store.

They say bad things happen in three’s well I can vouch for that one. Before our road trip, Dennis came upstairs to cook a chicken carcass for soup, got busy didn’t notice that the water had boiled away. Not long after I suffered from severe burnt toast and later in the afternoon I got my freak accident out of the way for 2012 [and hopefully longer].

Dennis and I were going to pick up smokes for Paul at the store and while driving there I turned to the side at the wrong time, Denis hit a bump and before I could stop it from happening I got spat out of the cart and onto the dirt road. It was pretty funny till I tried to get up and discovered my right foot was likely sprained. I also got my left finger and now I cannot do peace signs or flip anyone the bird for a while.  The silver lining to this dark storm cloud was…. when Paul found out he kissed my sore finger better and immediately proceeded to make sure I had food in front of me and ordered shrimp Quesadilla. He knows me so well good food = tacogirl. Back at our lounge chairs, Dennis did a finger kiss to my knee and asked if Paul had kissed my booboo’s. He said “that is the first thing you do when a girl gets hurt”. I told him he is going to make someone a great boyfriend one day. I cannot even claim party foul on my golf cart accident, while I did have a white rum and cranberry juice in the cart with me, I was no where near drunk or even tipsy for that matter – chalking it up to centrifugal acceleration force and a dumb@ss accident

This unfortunate incident left me researching how stunt men do it. My first Google search was ‘how to fall out of a moving golf cart’ I was not surprised that turned up some interesting stuff including a video of John falling out of a golf cart. I instantly got sidetracked watching videos of Jackass boys and their golf cart antics, this left me thankful that Johnny Knoxville or Bam Margera were not driving or my injuries would have been way worse. I wonder if the golf cart company charged for extra insurance when Johnny Knoxville was in San Pedro.

I also found some interesting stats on golf cart occupant ejections from Technology Associates Engineering experts website. Based on CPSC statistics, roughly 40% of golf cart accidents involve a person falling out of the car, and many of these accidents involve young children. In addition to ejection accidents, approximately 10% of golf cart accidents involve a rollover and statistics indicate that such accidents are roughly twice as likely to lead to injuries requiring a hospital stay as non-rollover accidents.

Passenger Ejections – One common scenario for a passenger ejection accident occurs when a cart, traveling near its maximum speed, is turned sharply to the left. During a sharp left turn, centrifugal acceleration forces tend to force the passenger to his right, which can lead to ejection. Sharp turns are less likely to lead to a driver ejection because the driver has the steering wheel to hold onto and can always anticipate when he is about to initiate a turn.

Golf carts are typically designed with rectangular or semicircular bars that rise up from each side of the car’s bench seat and are designed to serve as both handholds and hip restraints. One of the deficiencies of this design is that the location of the handhold (i.e. at the outboard edge of the seat) is also the fulcrum about which an ejected passenger will tend to rotate. Therefore, this type of handhold, even when used, does not provide the passenger sufficient leverage to prevent ejection. Another possible deficiency is that the side restraint is often not large enough to prevent ejections.

And so ends my story of how I grounded myself on Sunday funday driving along the north Ambergris Caye road with Dennis. I would like to remind everyone to be careful when driving golf carts around town, especially if you have kids on them and pay attention to the laws of gravity . Off to make our morning juice and ice my foot.

[p.s. tech troubles with file names on camera, one pic not showing in order.]

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Today we are heading for some r&r up north and looking forward to a nice country drive and playing games at the big pool. I been flipping between work and packing a beach bag, so far I have a book, backgammon, jenga, Frisbee and hula hoops. Going to go get a few float rings ready in case it warms up enough to go in the water.

Time for a juice break, just texted Dennis to come up for some, he is my current clean eating encouragement guy. Making us papaya, banana, orange with moringa leaf, powder and chia seeds. Been doing various combos of apple lime, watermelon,  banana with leaf, powder and seeds all week.

Hope you are having a great Sunday.

The patient who is saving her Chardonnay for you.

Sunday drive

Belize poker info from Pedro’s Poker Club

Hello Everyone and Happy New Year!

I hope everyone has had a great holiday and recovered sufficiently from their New Year’s celebrations.  Pedro’s Inn has been supplying us with numerous tourists for our games and we’ve had no shortage of poker action.

Up this week at Pedro’s…

Ladies Night is back
Free LCD TV’s
Win your tournament entry

And now for all the details…

Sunday

We’re kicking this week off with our new $30 NLH Satellite Tournament.  This single table tournament awards up to 2 people a seat into our regular Sunday $110 No Limit Hold’em Tournament.  To play, be sure to be at Pedro’s early because we’re starting right at 2pm.

At 3pm, we’ll be running our regular Sunday $110 No Limit Hold’em Tournament in which you get $6000 chips.  For an additional $10 dealer bonus, you can start with an additional $1500 in chips.

At approximately 5:00 we’ll be kicking off a 1/2 US NL Hold’em cash game.  Free drinks and food apply for cash players and we’re still trying to give away a TV.  If your action is called all the way down with a straight flush made with both your hole cards, you take home a new flatscreen LCD TV.

Monday and Wednesday

Our regular 1/2 US NL Hold’em begins at 7pm. As with our Sunday cash game, free drinks and food apply and you qualify for the TV giveaway.

Tuesday

Ladies Night is Back!  Ladies, get ready for some more fun and relaxed poker fun. The game kicks off at 7pm and we’re giving out free drinks and food.  At the request of some of the ladies, we’ll be removing the betting limits and lowering the blinds.  The game this week will be 1/3 Belize No Limit Hold’em.  You can buy in for between $50 and $200 Belize.  If you need some help understanding what all this means or need to know how to play, be sure to show up by 6:30pm and I’ll give you a bit of a tutorial.

And I’m happy to announce that we’ll be running Ladies Night on a regular basis.  Plan for it on the second Tuesday of every month.

Thursday

Thursday is our new Belize Nights at Pedro’s.  We start at 7pm with a $55 NL Hold’em tournament with a $5 dealer bonus. The tournament has a $500 guaranteed prize pool, so be sure to come down and play. After the tournament we’ll spread our 1/3 Belize NL Hold’em cash game. The game has a $50 Belize minimum buy-in and a $300 Belize max.  Of course we provide the free food and drinks and like all our other cash games, you qualify for the LCD TV giveaway.

There is plenty of opportunity to play this week at Pedro’s. I hope to see you all there.

Jason

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If you regularly read the tacogirl blog, you’ve probably dreamed of living on Ambergris Caye. Maybe it’s time to test it out… Or dip your toe into an investment… If you’re considering living here, the first step is to decide whether you’ll rent first, or invest in a property right away.

Most of the on-line international lifestyle e-zines will suggest that you rent first. This is a very good idea for people who don’t really know the island well. The exception is if you’ve visited Ambergris Caye several times, know the area well, and have an investment approach in mind. In that case, if you run into a good deal, it may be best to grab it while you can.

Investing vs. Living on the Island

If you’re considering an investment your perspective will be quite different than if you plan to live here.

For example – a couple in their 70s first visited the island in September of 2010. They took a tour of the island. They were immediately charmed by our Isla Bonita… Jim and Nancy knew that they wanted to invest and spend part of their time here. But given their age, they didn’t want to waste precious time. They quickly did their homework, then returned to the island within a month.

On their second trip Jim and Nancy found a one bedroom condo in an older development. They snagged the condo for under $140,000 US! Then they renovated it. Since then they’ve returned several times – to enjoy their time here.

If Jim and Nancy had waited a year, they now would pay about $200,000 for a similar unit.

Test Drive the Island Lifestyle

Possibly you’re ready to explore living on our quirky little Caribbean island. In that case, it’s best to rent first, even if just for a month. Get past the “Margarita Madness” phase. Find out if you’ll love the island lifestyle. Azure blue waters, balmy Caribbean breezes and tasty tropical Pina Coladas make for a memorable vacation. But it’s best to honestly look at the day-to-day lifestyle of fulltime expats…

While you’re renting, pay attention to the cost of living on the island. Be sure to shop at a variety of stores. Determine if you can realistically afford to live here. Ambergris Caye is reasonable compared to many areas of the USA. It’s cheap compared to other Caribbean islands. But it’s not cheap. There’s an add-on cost for shipping goods to the island. After all, this is a tourist mecca. So the prices are higher than on the mainland. But expats who live here will be happy to share their ideas for cutting the cost of living here.

The next thing is to check out a variety of neighborhoods. Talk to expats who live here full time, or most of the time. You’ll find out that some lovely neighborhoods have serious issues to consider.

For example, my husband and I love the north side of the island. But we sold our property up north years ago. We decided to build our home in town. It’s a major hassle to drive back and forth on the unkempt north island roads. And we wanted to participate actively in the wonderful community. So we’ve opted to spend time up north on the weekends, instead. Now it’s like a mini-vacation to head north for the day.

If You Decide to Rent

If you’re planning a visit in November, it should be fairly easy to find a decent rental, at a good price. On the beach you will pay over $900 US/month. Off beach, I’ve known people to find a place for as low as $350 US/month (for a small unit in a home). Usually, you’ll pay over $700 US/month for an off beach unit.

In the high season, owners will usually demand more. And there is less property available to rent. Keep in mind that there are few places available for rent for only a short 1-2 month period. Most owners will only rent for six months, at a minimum.

Ask expats who have lived on the island for several years to suggest a reputable property rental/management specialist. Rental management specialists have the largest rental property inventories to choose from.

Once on the island you’ll also hear about places for rent by word-of-mouth.
Future Guest Blogs

I will be doing ongoing guest posts for tacogirl blog about property and real estate topics on Ambergris Caye. Future topics will include “beachfront vs. off beach” and “buying a condo vs. a house”.  You will also find my other bi-weekly blog posts, about the Ambergris Caye lifestyle, on Grand Baymen blog.

Bio

Ann Kuffner is a full time resident of Ambergris Caye and a Qualified Retirement Person in Belize. She and her husband bought property on the island in 1999. She moved to Ambergris Caye full time in 2008. Prior to that she worked as a VP of marketing in a fortune 500 company.

She gladly left the stress and strain of corporate life far behind…

She is now the Belize Correspondent for Live and Invest Overseas. Ann also contributes articles
to International Living.

Ann has totally changed her life and loves living on Ambergris Caye. She’s a regular speaker at international lifestyle conferences. She enjoys speaking about the Ambergris Caye lifestyle. She is a travel and copywriter, with many published articles and contributions. She now regularly blogs, as well.

Ann enjoys helping potential expats figure out if this island will be a good fit for them… She is the lead blogger for Grand Baymen Belize. She also leads their Chill Weekend island tours. Feel free to comment on Ann’s posts. You can also contact her at kuffnera@gmail.com.

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Weather you are thinking of renting,  buying or even just a vacation, I am sure you will enjoy today’s pictures – view from a luxury penthouse condominium on the beach. I thoroughly enjoyed my tour from Cowboy Doug and we both agreed we could see ourselves living there in a heart beat – I am sure many of you will too.

It was hard to narrow down my pictures for a few reasons, Grand Caribe penthouse is huge, there were so many interesting details to photograph and what a view. To the east overlooking the Caribbean sea and largest pool in Belize, and fantastic sunrise option. From some of the second floor rooms, there is a great sunset lagoon view to the west and north south road view.[will title pics later t aking a break]

Don’t forget to check out taco cam page with 24h Live streaming Belize webcam – sunrise, Caribbean sea, Barrier reef, dock and occasional boat view. Stream Courtesy of Storm Chasers Belize.

Pictures taken with my Cannon PowerShot S5 IS

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I finished up my work early today so I could do out with Dick and Paula to celebrate his birthday. Since it was his day we gave him carte blanche to choose what ever he wanted to do. Paula and I were happy that going for a swim at the beach was what his top pick and we all agreed a nice walk down to Banyan Bay area was a perfect way to celebrate.  We hung out on the dock and got chatting with a nice couple who was repeat vacationing. The November weather was perfect and the water at the end of the dock was gorgeous. It was so shallow that we were able to sit in the sand and relax, I felt like I was at a tropical spa. Afterward we decided that fish and chips at El Divino restaurant was in order, so we walked to Banana Beach Resort for lunch. They make the best fish and chips there and the staff is always friendly and making us laugh. [ If you go fishing and have a big Catch you can take it to El Divino and they will cook it up any style, forget the price but it is very reasonable. Our friend Mary did that when she was here and ordered family style sides to go with the fish]

On a slightly different note, I found an interesting article that many of you will enjoy  – Expat stereotypes: Do we deserve them?

We are all aware of the different stereotypes attached to local groups when we are visiting or living in their country, but it seems to be less often discussed how we expats might also easily be stereotyped. Obviously the locals in a city where many other nationalities are congregating can generalize about each group, and and the expats themselves can also group the others together as well. To read the full article go to Expatify.com

Hare are pics from our walk and beach time, a small part of me fell in love with Ambergris Caye all over again today as I was thinking about how it took us 15 minutes to get from my front door to the end of the dock and tropical paradise.

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Got photo update from tacoboy who is watching the action live in Vegas right now.  Bob is in 5th place right now.

They just showed some great Belize footage,  ESPN interview with Bob.

Bob made the call, showed J-8 and wins the pot. He’s up to 35.5M

Unfortunately not long after Bob got short stacked and ended up getting taken out by Stazko.

Bob’s last tweet of the night - BobBounahra – It was fun while it lasted. Thank you all for your support. Thank you Belize!

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Back later with more pictures going webcam Dick on coconut phone so he can see the place and  go relax  for a bit. I was thinking to go for a swim but the thought of a cat nap in a luxurious king size bed facing the sea is winning.

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Paul called Cindy and said we should make a break for it when the rain stopped, we got as far as Banyan Bay and took cover  – Good thing sexy pirates are waterproof. Tropical living tip – if you think it is going to rain or you are going on a boat always pack Zip Locks for dry bags. I packed a few in my Halloween tool kit just in case.

Was a super fun night, lots of great costumes all over town. Thanks to Cindy for taking pics at Roadkill, we were starving and stayed at Pedro’s to eat pizza.

I got the best surprise seeing Courtney Sage at rocks with Mary, she came on a surprise visit for Mary’s birthday.

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Banana Beach pool was very relaxing and a perfect mix of people turned up to enjoy the afternoon.

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Belize food news

Pedro’s Sports Bar is doing a sausage and beer Oktoberfest night tonight 4:00pm – 12:00am. Pedro’s 1st Oktoberfest! Join them for Brats, beer and Jager bombs! All you can drink draught beer 30$ (until the kegs run dry), Bratwurst, mash and onion gravy, Jager cocktails and of course, oooompa ooompa music. There will be a Great prize if someone turns up in Lederhosen.

El Divino at Banana Beach Resort just announced the Sunday morning drink special is 2 for 1 bloody Mary’s from 10:30 until 2pm.

Banana Beach resort pool party info

Join Crave Restaurant and Lounge Wednesday October 19, 6pm-9om. Taste and vote for your favorite Seafood dish for $10. Or enter your favorite Seafood. -Proceeds support SAGA Shelter Animals – Entries due by 6pm and ready to serve 60 sample sized portions. Facebook invite.

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