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Property
Owners
> Archived
Newsletters > March 2007
Costa
Maya Newsletters: of primary interest to property owners on the Costa
Maya, - Rio Indio - Placer - Uvero - Punta Herrera - Xcalak and other
points along the coast
***********************Newsletter:
March 3,2007**************************
CONTENTS:
* Message board for Costa Maya Neighbors
* Electricity efforts
* New development on the Costa Maya and surrounding area
* Learn Spanish month
* Articles of Interest in the news
* Garbage on the beach - a Costa Maya Clean-up committee
* Spotlight on your Neighbors
Hi Neighbors,
What a difference a repaired road can make! When a beach road starts
getting bad, you live with it. You don't realize how bad it is until
it rains and you find yourself crossing lake McChristy, or the numerous
Sapphire lakes and stalling out with wet points or loosing your brakes.
Numerous potholes are appearing on the jungle road both north and
south of Mahahual, and the condition of the roads in old Mahahual
are horrible. However, the Beach road north of Mayan Beach Garden
has just been graded. The process for grading is a lot more involved
than I had previously thought. They first send a team to cut back
the brush that is growing and narrowing the road to a single lane.
They then break up the road to even out the hills and valleys. After
grading the road, they pass over it with a compactor. The process
is fairly expensive for a 4 kilometer stretch of road and we are happy
to publicly thank the realty company of TransCaribbean for organizing
and paying for the grading. In an effort to give them a well deserved
"plug" I looked at their website and found their archive
of past newsletters. A couple of them are particularly interesting
covering the geological history of the Yucatan and some flora and
fauna. TransCaribbean's
newsletter archives. My trip to Mahahual is now significantly
shorter than it was two weeks ago -- THANKS. (Oh, sorry for the missed
newsletter in February!)
You can find this issue of the newsletter and archives of past e-newsletters
at this location:
http://www.mayanbeachgarden.com/PropertyOwners_Newsletter.html.
MESSAGE BOARD FOR COSTA MAYA NEIGHBORS
If you haven't yet, please check out the message board this month.
New neighborhoods have popped up and now include Puerto Angel, Cazona,
Uvero, Punta Pulnticub, Tanquila Beach, Rio Indio, Placer, San Jose
and Sapphire. There seems to be some lively activity in the "neighborhood"
section of the message boards. People are looking for their neighbors
and starting up discussions with each other on-line. This is fabulous
in my book and the primary reason for the message board. Please take
a second and check if your neighborhood is represented. If not, add
it as a new Topic.
Thanks in advance for supporting the neighborhood!
Topic: Neighborhoods: http://www.costamayalive.com/Forum/viewforum.php?f=13
We were again severely hit by pornography spammers last month.
Bridget Montolvo, neighbor with lots in Cazona and Xcalak has volunteered
to be a moderator and clean this up. Thanks Bridget!
ELECTRICITY EFFORTS
Last month we asked for you to join in an effort to bring electricity
to the beach. We've had a sad response to our request for documentation
receiving only a handful (however, a big thanks to those that have
sent it in!). Many of you email me all the time asking when we are
going to get electricity. I'm not going to answer that question ANYMORE!
;-) This will only happen if we do it as a group. We are trying to
join in with others who are fighting Fonatur's claim on all of the
electricity. The efforts of the Costa Maya Property association already
appear to be making headway, because the fisherman at km 55 have been
recently granted electricity. If you remember, I had mentioned that
they had written a letter to the governor pleading their case. We
congratulate them on this success!
Some of you may think that the petition is only for the area around
Placer. This is not true. We need to collect information from everyone
on the Costa Maya. If you want electricity, please don't sit back
and assume that your neighbors will do this for you.
In order to be included, the following information MUST be submitted
for EACH property owner (legal descriptions and names are NOT enough):
- Name of owners as shown on your passport or FM3
- Name of corporation if owned by a corporation, or name and location
of your Fide Camiso Bank trustee
- Predial papers (your property tax statement)
- Copy of cadastral (the official document that shows the square
meters of the land, the legal description and the structures on
the land, as well as the appraised value of all.)
- Contact information
Ted Garcia has volunteered to help compile this information. He owns
property in Placer and knows the power issues we all face. There are
three methods to convey the information:
1) scan the documents and send them via email to Ted at TGarcia@appletonideas.com
2) Fax them to Ted (Please include cover page with Ted's name)
3) make copies of them and mail them to the following address:
Ted Garcia
201 E Clearfield Ln.
Appleton, WI 54913
Ted is located in the United States. Please be sensitive of his time
and resources and do not call him just to "chat" about this
action. We really appreciate his efforts in compiling this info.
NEW DEVELOPMENT ON THE COSTA MAYA & SURROUNDING AREA
You can't help notice all the new construction going on. Most of
the activity seems to be in the area around the port. This is mainly
due to the influx of activity generated by workers who come in to
service the cruise ships. It's really a happening place - sans atmosphere.
Several new restaurants and bars have opened up along the strip as
will as a series of small stores. I hope a new tortilla shop opens
- not because I don't like the one in the Old town of Mahahual, but
because driving into town is a real pain. Still, its clear what a
difference a little urban planning, electricity and decent roads can
make.
Prime retail space for rent The two story building that TransCaribbean
has just remodeled has retail space for rent. The space is located
next to the cats Meow, very close to where the taxi's pull up. I am
pretty sure it is all air-conditioned. Contact Kerry Wilson at 983-834-5606
if you are interested. Its one of the best locations in Mahahual town.
ATM -- False alarm last month about the ATM. We can't get
any more information except that there will be one and we don't know
where the ATM machine went. BUT Kim (my illustrious spouse) talked
to the bank manager of Banamex last week who said they were putting
an ATM in Mahahaul. What we don't know is WHEN and exactly WHERE.
Meanwhile, the ATM at the new gas station in Bacalar just opened.
This means that you won't have to go into the center of Bacalar to
get cash.
LEARN SPANISH on-line
I've been asked to repeat the link to the Spanish program that I
mentioned last month called "Linked in Spanish." Although
they sell Spanish CD's (This is the Spanish program I ended up purchasing)
the free on-line lessons and quizzes are fairly in depth. I like it
because it uses what you know and keeps adding new things, "linking"
them together and repeating it -- the quizzes are good as well.
http://www.learnspanishtoday.com/cmd.php?Clk=1134753
ARTICLES OF INTEREST IN THE NEWS
CANCUN
BEACHES DISAPPEARING AGAIN.. Cancun, Feb 22 - Despite massive
efforts to restore the beaches of Cancun by pumping sand onto the
beaches, they are again eroding. This article is well worth reading
as it teaches what can happen if you artificially impact the environment.
It is a lesson for us here on the Costa Maya.
REFORMS TO WILDLIFE PROTECTION LAW SIGNED - Friday 02 Feb 2007 Felipe
Calderón, Mexico's new Right wing president signed into effect
reforms to the national wildlife protection law despite lobbying efforts
from the tourism development industry and 16 state governors. The
reforms, approved by Congress in December, restrict construction and
development activities in coastal mangroves. The new regulations took
effect on Friday, Feb 2nd which also happens to be World Wetlands
Day. Governors from 16 coastal states took out full-page ads in several
national newspapers calling on President Calderón to veto the
bill. Hoteliers and developers are expected to file injunctions to
protect investments they have already made in coastal properties,
especially in Quintana Roo near the resort city of Cancún.
The new reform singles out tourism projects, specifying that "any
activity that inhibits the capacity of mangroves to recharge its natural
ecosystem, or cuts off their natural flow from rivers, dunes or adjacent
maritime zones is strictly prohibited." Projects that seek to
protect, restore, investigate or conserve mangroves are exempt from
the provisions of the new law (not sure what that means, but sounds
like a loophole!).
CENTER
FOR DISEASE CONTROL WARNING OF SALMONELLA CONTAMINATED FOOD PRODUCT:
If you have purchased Peter Pan and Great Value peanut butter with
a product code located on the lid of the jar that begins with the
number "2111" please discard it. These products may have
distribution in Mexico or may have been brought into Mexico in luggage.
Public health officials in multiple states in the US, with the assistance
of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the US Food
and Drug Administration are investigating a large outbreak of Salmonella
infections. Interviews comparing foods eaten by ill and well persons
show that consumption of Peter Pan peanut butter was statistically
associated with illness and therefore the most likely source of the
outbreak. For more information on this CDC warning please go to:
.MEXICO INVESTS IN TOURISM : Cancun, Mexico, Feb 15 Mexico wants
to give a shot of 1.3 billion dollars to its tourist sector this year
with important investments, in order to become among the five most
visited countries of the world in a short time, said national executives.
Miguel Gomez Mont, president of the Fund to Foster Tourism (FONATUR),
made this declaration to specialists and reporters on Feb. 15th. Eleven
Mexican states will benefit from the monetary infusion, as the plan
is to surpass the 22 million foreign tourists last year with more
varied offers. Cancun hopes to build a zoo, not only for tourists,
but also for the almost one million people living in the municipality
of Benito Juarez, which once was a small port and fishing village.
MB NOTE: no mention of the Costa Maya in this announcement, although
several areas were specifically called out.
COSTA MAYA 2nd MOST POPULAR CRUISE SHIP DESTINATION: According to
recent statistics released by Mexico’s Tourism Secretariat (Sectur),
some 6.5 million passengers arrived to Mexico’s ports in 2005.
The most popular port is by far on the island of Cozumel, located
just south of Cancun in the Mexican Caribbean. According to Mexico’s
Communications and Transportation Secretariat, 754 ships arrived to
Cozumel in the first ten months of 2006, carrying some 1.5 million
passengers. The second most popular port is Costa Maya on the Mexican
Caribbean, which received 263 ships, carrying more than 500,000 in
the first ten months of 2006.
NEW
ARIPORT CLOSER TO COSTA MAYA? The Mexican government intends to
open up bidding for another airport to serve the rapidly growing tourist
destination of the Mayan Riviera. That would mean that a portion of
the traffic at ASUR's Cancun and Cozumel airports -- those tourists
who are headed for destinations in the Riviera (and Costa Maya) --
may deplane at a new facility, cutting traffic and therefore revenues
at those two airports. Officials in the state of Quintana Roo have
long been advocating a new airport to better serve the destination.
Read the entire article.
COSTA MAYA CLEANUP ORGANIZATION
The saga of cleaning up the Costa Maya continues. Long-time readers
of this newsletter not only know we are trying to put together a recycling
program but have donated money to the cause. For many months I reported
on the status of the project just to have it disintegrate with the
changing of Mayors and leadership of the chamber of commerce. A meeting
has been scheduled for March (not sure of the exact date) to launch
a government sponsored program specifically targeted at cleaning up
the beaches. I'll find out more specifics at the meeting, but if I
understood correctly, the organization is organized and funded by
the Municipio Opon P Blanco. This is a big departure from the failed
local attempts that were started over two years ago which had grass
roots support but were not a legal entity so couldn't collect funds,
receive money from the government or hire anyone. I still have some
funds that are left from donations from all of you. If it turns out
that this organization is the right one to donate to, I'll do so and
report here. If not, I'll consider another route.
SPOTLIGHT ON YOUR NEIGHBORS
Sorry, I don't have the spotlight ready and since this is already
SOOOO late, will have to include it next time. If you have never checked
out the Spotlight -- do so now. http://www.mayanbeachgarden.com/PropertyOwners_spotlight.html
DISCLAIMER
The editor of this newsletter (me) makes no claims that the information
here is completely true. I am not a news reporter, Spanish is not
my native language and this is not my primary business, but rather
a service to the neighborhood. If you find something untrue PLEASE
let me know and I will print a disclaimer. I try to verify the information
but even the newspaper prints up rumors, so I can only report what
I read and hear. THANKS!!!!!
Until Next month...
Regards from your Costa Maya Neighbor
Marcia
Mayan Beach Garden, Boutique hotel on the Costa Maya
www.mayanbeachgarden.com
************************************************
Updated:
26-Oct-2008
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