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Joined: Mar 2002
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*** YEP, AMBERGRIS IS A DUMP -- Kathleen Peddicord, Waterford, Ireland
A reader contacted me last week to ask why we recommend Belize's Ambergris Cay. "It's a dump," she wrote.
To clarify: We don't recommend Ambergris Cay. We used to. A dozen years ago as a travel destination...when it was a sleepy fishing village...and more recently as an investment opportunity, when the timing was right to buy and hold for appreciation. A lot of International Living readers have made a lot of money (maybe six or eight times their investments) buying raw land and flipping it a few years later.
Today, no, I wouldn't recommend you plan a vacation to Ambergris. This island, particularly its former fishing town of San Pedro, has been overbuilt in the worst way. And it's too late to invest in beachfront here, which sells today for as much as $2,200 per front foot.
P.S. What about Belize beyond Ambergris? We're big fans. As a friend in the country likes to say..."the news from Belize is no news...and that's the way we like it." Not much happens here, and not much has changed in the 12 years since I first visited. Belize remains a wide-open frontier with large tracts of undeveloped land in its interior...a good place to disappear, if only for a couple of weeks. A rugged, undeveloped country, it attracts the world's misfits, contrarians, and most independent of spirit. Belizeans and the expats who've adopted Belize as their home don't like to be told what to do and don't tolerate much interference, from the government or anyone else. They make their own way and solve their own problems.
Belize has worked for years to find a way to package itself for the world's tourists. It has a lot to offer, after all--some of the world's best diving and snorkeling, Mayan ruins, rain forests, caves to explore, rivers to kayak...
Its marketing efforts, I fear, may finally be paying off. My brother-in-law, a stock broker, told me recently that friends on his trading desk asked if he'd like to join them for a quick weekend trip to...you guessed it...Belize. Oh, no, I thought...
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,054
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Just keep in mind the source -- International Living newsletter is hardly more than an infomercial in print for real estate and offshore-business hucksters.
--Lan Sluder
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Joined: May 2001
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It is hard for me to take anything that lady says seriously. Most of her articles are thinly disguised advertisements or get rich quick schemes. She may be right sometimes, but I always question her motives.
I get the impression that the whole purpose of her articles is to get "investors" to book a trip with International Living. Maybe they will be organizing one to Belize in the near future.
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Joined: May 2000
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You REALLY don't think that, in Belize terms, San Pedro has become over-built and over-priced??? Cho! I'm surprised at you. While Ambergris may be a big draw for first time visitors, I think the future of Belize tourism is on the Mainland, particularly down South.
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The future of Belize tourism is down south? In my opinion, only in the long term -- maybe 20 years. Now, if an international airport were to be built somewhere along the southern coast, the time frame would become much shorter, but I don't see an airport being built. I've been covering Belize for 12 years, and every year I've talked with people who see this terrific future for tourism in Placencia or PG or Hopkins, and they explain why they are building or buying a little hotel there instead of "over-developed San Pedro." I always suggest they go look again at Ambergris Caye, which has been the leading tourism destination in Belize for more than two decades. Nope, they say, Ambergris Caye isn't for us, too developed, we're going south. With only a few exceptions, such as Robert's Grove, Hamanasi and some others, two or three years later these people are ready to sell out and try to recoup some of their losses from low occupancy and weak seasonal demand. Whereas hotels in San Pedro keep chugging along, generating decent occupancies and acceptable profits for the owners. Just my shilling's worth. --Lan Sluder Belize books and publications by Lan Sluder: Belize First Magazine ( http://www.belizefirst.com) Fodor's Belize & Guatemala Guide (new 4th edition coming this summer) Adapter Kit: Belize (the first and only comprehensive guide to living, retiring, working and investing in Belize -- a best-seller on Amazon.com) San Pedro Cool (the first and only visitor guide to Ambergris Caye) Belize First Guide to Mainland Belize UpClose Central America Belize Book of Lists
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Joined: Aug 2000
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Speaking of down south has anybody been to the new resort in PG El Pescador.
Mango
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 3,054
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The Essene Way was developed by an Orlando health food supplements magnate and religious sect member as a religious retreat and "millennium escape." Things didn't work out in 2000 the way he apparently thought they would, nor did the retreat plans develop.
--Lan Sluder
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Joined: Sep 2000
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Lan is right, IL is solely for profit and while the occasional bit of unbiased info occasionally comes through the hype, the "recommendations" this zine makes are based on who is paying for them. It is quite hypocritical of Peddicord to bad mouth AC for "overdevelopment" while hyping far worse "overdevelopment" projects in other places. For example, the zine gives big time hype to a levittown type project in Bocas del Toro Panama ("Isla Solarte") that gives true meaning to the word "overdevelopment" because they pay her to do it. For a more unbiased and far more interesting source of expat oriented material, I suggest visiting the Escape from America web site. It too takes advertising and also has a lot of hype, but lots of good info not found elsewhere can be seen there if you take the time to look for it. As far as Belize is concerned, Lan's materials and this board are far more reliable sources of info as they are not advertising driven.
Susan Guberman-Garcia, Attorney at Law. Phone: 510-792-2639 Fax/Voicemail:: 510-405-2016 Email: [email protected]
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Joined: Mar 2001
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_ _ _ _ _ _ _________________ _ _ _ _ _ _ But then what do I know, I am but a mere caveman
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Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 734
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Welcome back Susan Once again I have to agree with you 100% Jeesh, this is getting scary. I saw the mighty vessel by Hustler Pier or Seven Seas--cant remember. Looks in good shape considerng... Where is it now? Jim
Jim
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