I am one of the "gringos" having a house at the southpoint of caye caulker. Sometimes I am wondering about this message-board. I know that this board and the meanings which are written here are not representativ for the whole Islanders. That´s the reason why I never did use this message board before. Now I decided to use it because I got the feeling that things are changing and some people like to spread a kind of worriment between Islanders and Gringos.
We Gringos do not take out any money from your community but instead we pay the same ammount of tax like all the others. We did invest some money to help to keep the local economy running, by emploing locals to built houses, by buying hardware and anything else whe need to live while we are on the island. We reccomand your beautyfull Island to friends in order to encourage them to go to CC for vacation (if they do, they also spend money for accomodation, food and fun, this helps also to keep the local economy running).
Talking about the acces to the southpoint. It is not only Gringos who own land south the airstrip, but also locals. So it is a problem for the whole Island. I am also wondering why some people always try to devide the island into three communities - the village, the north and the south. CC is one single Island and people should take care about the whole Island. If the north part of the island need some infrastructure it is a question for all people living at the island. Dont seperate yourselve. If you like to keep or create a good infrastructure and economy for CC you have to take care for the whole Island. I know the most of the Islanders have no problems with Gringos unless they behave in a good way. My opinion is, that is much easier and better to work and stay together. But it´s not only a question about economy and money, but also of the way how people live together and how they treat people. When we decided to built a house at CC we had the feeling, that people did like us. That´s 6 years ago and anytime we come to CC we still have the same feeling. I am sure, that the most "Islanders" feel the same way they did before. So don´t let some people destroy this positiv atmosphere.
It´s not easy to explain opinions in a foreign language, and my english is not as good as it should be. But I hope you understand the meaning.

HJL