***********************Newsletter: October 20th, 2004**************************

Hi Neighbors,

This newsletter includes:

• Recycling Drop-off Center established!!!! (this is great news for our future)
• Information about Environmental Impact studies and your property
• Learn Spanish in Mahahual
• Taxi and bus service in Mahahual
• Corrections from previous newsletters
  
  RECYCLING DROP-OFF CENTER (your support desperately needed on this ASAP)
  Great News -- we finally have a partial solution to our garbage problem. Fide Caribe has approved land for the use of a Recycling drop-off center, but we as a community need to help develop the drop-off center. There are currently no municipal taxes being collected, so there are no funds available from any government agency to build fences and bins to place the recyclables in. We are asking you, the property owners in the area for some small donations to help develop the recycling drop-off center. In the long run this will save us money because of the cost to dump garbage in the land-fill. 80% of our garbage is recyclable so we feel this is another factor in enhancing the value of our property. I've provided details below.
  
  LOCATION: About kilometer 20.5 on the Jungle Road. This is a great location because everyone coming from Ubero, Punta Herrera or Placer passes by this spot. To give you a landmark, the access road to Placer is about 22.5.
  
  STIPULATIONS TO USING THE PROPERTY:
• Must have a locked gate to avoid garbage dumping
• All users will receive keys
• Must have a sign stipulating usage
• Must be maintained by the community
• Glass, Cardboard, Plastic bottles and aluminum cans will be recycled

Many local businesses and agencies are already involved in this:

• Fide Caribe -- donating the land
• Matehual material yard -- provide supplies at cost to build the recycling drop-off center.
• Hotels Mayan Beach Garden, El Placer del Caribe and Paradise Lodge -- donating labor to clear the land and construct the recycling bins.
• Amigos de Sian Ka'an -- management for building the bins, labor to paint signs and educational seminars for workers on how to recycle.
  
• We are looking for donations to provide the funds for the signs, the fence and locked gate and the bins for dividing the recyclables. Estimated cost for the bins are about $400. Signs are estimated at about $50. We don't have an estimate for the gate and lock, but it won't be more than the bins.
  
  WE NEED HELP. It is really necessary to solicit help from the community because the alternative is what is happening in Cancun. They did not set up a recycling system and now their land fill is full and they have no where to put the garbage. People are not in the habit of recycling and this is becoming one of the largest problems in the city. It is our choice, but the solution today is to develop a community supported recycling center and avoid this problem. If you feel you can donate some money towards this effort, we'll make sure you are credited. All funds spent will have a full accounting provided. Our goal is to have the recycling center built by Nov. 6th at which time there is going to be an education seminar on recycling, so we are asking for some help today! If everyone donates just a little, it will truly be a community effort.
  
  Thanks for your support in this. Email me directly if you want to donate and I'll send you instructions on how to get the money to me. You can either do it via charge card or mailing a check to an address in the US that I will send you .

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STUDIES:
You may or may not have heard that you must conduct an environmental impact study on your property before building. There are many people who will say they can do the study, but make sure they are certified. The Amigo de Sian Ka'an and the Environmental Station from the University of Quintana Roo are certified to do this. There is an office in Mahahual. The cost varies depending on the size of your property and what you want to build. A hotel will cost more than a small home as the environmental impact is greater. You must first decide what you will build and then get the study done. I will be conducting an interview with a representative from the University in an upcoming newsletter so that you know some of the specifics and what you will can expect out of a study prepared by them. Good news for us Gringos, they have a representative who speaks very good English.

LEARN SPANISH IN MAHAHUAL:
Great news for us that are struggling with our Spanish. The Environmental Station from the University of Quintana Roo is conducting Spanish classes on Wednesday evenings in Mahahual. They are located about 2 km south on the Mahahual beach road. At this time there is no charge for the classes.

TAXI AND BUS SERVICE TO AND IN MAHAHUAL
You may already be aware, but there is now a every-day taxi service in Mahahual. What that means is that you can now get taxi service on days other than Cruise ship days. This also means that you can take a bus into Mahahual and then get a taxi to your destination. The bus makes three round trips a day from Chetumal and stops in Limones as part of the round trip.

CORRECTIONS FROM PREVIOUS NEWSLETTERS

• Incorrectly reported that the Cancun hotel zone was evacuated during hurricane Ivan. I heard from the general manager of the Westin that although this was reported in the paper, this did not happen. There were some small hotels that were evacuated, not the large ones in Cancun.
• We had reported that we could NOT dump garbage in the land fill and therefore our only recourse was to burn. This is not so. We can take our garbage to the Mahahual land fill, but we must recycle everything that is possible (see article above on recycling center). The hours are 9-5 Mon-Fri.

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