COROZAL NEWS & CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS

COROZAL  o  CONSEJO o COPPER BANK o  SARTENEJA o

FREE ZONE  o  CHUNOX

There are two ways of looking at Corozal Town and environs: Either it’s still a sleepy small town, where very little has changed in the past 15 or 20 years, or else it’s a place about ready to take off, at the edge of the booming Yucatán, with big-time gaming on the way and a bunch of new retirees moving in. You can argue either side, and in Corozal you do get both views, and sometimes from the same fellow.

    On the surface at least, not a lot has changed. True, a couple of new hotels have opened (see below), but some of the other hotels in town are either for sale or barely have their doors open. One of the biggest changes, in 2003, was that the new Gabriel Hoare Market replaced the old vegetable market. I sorta liked the old one, myself. On the other hand, some things are definitely moving in Corozal. The Free Zone is still rolling along. It consists of more than 200 acres, with another 200 acres available for development. There are over 250 businesses in the Zone, including five gas stations, employing over a thousand people. One small casino is open, and the new Las Vegas Hotel & Casino (architects Lee & Sakahara, contractor El Dorado Investments, Ltd.) adjoining the Zone is supposed to eventually have 300 hotel rooms. How much all this has benefited local residents is hard to say. It has generated jobs, but as one Corozaleño put it, “Pumping gas in the Free Zone is not a career.”

Fruta Bomba Ltd. is expanding its Papaya export headquarters with a spanking new commercial building just outside the village of San Joaquin and providing over 900 jobs to the locals.

    One reason Corozal may rock ‘n roll, if it does, is its next-door neighbor, Chetumal. The Mexican government and private investors have poured billions into development along the Cancun-Tulum corridor, and now they’re moving farther  south. Cruise ships now dock several times a week at Majahual.

Chetumal, a city with a population nearly equal to that of the entire country of Belize, may at long last get an international airport. Already, it has a U.S.-style shopping mall, La Plaza de las Americas, which sports ultra-chilled air and a 10-screen cineplex (most movies are in English with Spanish subtitles.) The mall is anchored by a large Chedraui store and by Liverpool department store.

    Supposedly, Wal-Mart will also open in Chetumal. You can get a Big Mac at one of the McDonald’s in Chet and buy your office supplies at Office Depot. If you need to see a doc, you can get first-rate medical care. Dental, too. All at very reasonable prices. Of course, for non-citizens and nonresidents of Belize, the Belize government’s US$18.75 exit fee is a deterrent to crossing the border. Which I guess is the idea.

    One expat couple who retired to Corozal, Roger and Deema Kay Thompson, make this point, however: “We used to do a lot more shopping outside of Corozal—Belize City and Orange Walk along with Chetumal and even vacations to Cancun to pick up some items. But Corozal now boasts three new fully stocked, locally owned grocery stores. Also, back in Corozal after an absence of one year is A&R Variety Store. With these stores close at hand there is no need to go out of Corozal for more than a couple of items.” They note that as residents they don’t have to pay the exit fee.

    On another front, the area is also generating more interest from would-be retirees. The authors (under pseudonyms) of Belize Retirement Guide still lives in Corozal. In my own years of experience growing up on the island of ambergris Caye and now a permanent resident of Corozal — I’ve always touted the Corozal area as the best place in Belize for affordable, safe and comfortable living. Despite what you may have heard, there’s plenty of real estate still available, at relatively inexpensive prices, compared both to the rest of Belize and certainly to the U.S. and Costa Rica, though Nicaragua and parts of Honduras and Panama are far cheaper. The road to Consejo is still lined with undeveloped land. Granted, though, a few places have actually been selling lots. Smuggler’s Den reportedly has only one seafront lot left .  Art Higgins’ Mayan Seaside next door has sold quite a few lots. Lots (not on the water) there have been offered for as little at US$9,000 to $10,000, with financing. There are a couple of little houses already built. Higgins was received me with full information of the developments at Mayan Seaside and was a very pleasant person to speak with.

 Bill Wildman, Belize’s best surveyor, real estate guy extraordinaire and overall fine fellow who developed Consejo Shores many years ago. Bill has been developing Consejo Shores over the last 35 years. A super guy, his development boast 70 custom homes of mostly retired US and Canadian Citizens.  Jenny Wildman is in Placencia handling real estate sales on the peninsula. They have a new address in Placencia: Bayshore Limited, 100 Embarcadero Rd., Maya Beach, Stann Creek District. There are three or four houses under construction there now at Consejo Shores, to go with the several hands full of homes that are already there. There’s even a new little 9-hole golf course  at Consejo Shores. The only beachfront lots remaining are a couple of re-sales up near Consejo village, but there are some lovely big lots with water views in the US$49,500 range. I think of all the places  in Belize over the years, I still like Consejo Shores the best. I don’t know why I’ve never bought a lot there. Maybe I will, one of these days.

    Next to Consejo Shores, at the site of the old Don Quixote Hotel, a new fertility and genetics clinic, Reproductive Genetics Institute, is being built. It’s one of some 20 clinics in the U.S. (Chicago, Boston, Denver and elsewhere) and around the world (Russia, Cyprus, Belarus and elsewhere). RGI performs in vitro fertilization and embryo transfers, pr-implantation and preconception genetics diagnosis for families at high risk for producing children with genetic disorders and other testing for genetic disorders. A principal of RGI is Uri Velinsky, based in Chicago.

COROZAL DINING
   The food scene in Coro hasn’t changed much. Café Kelá on First Ave. across the street from the bay is still the best in town, although this summer, due to an addition to the owner’s household, hubby Stefan is holding down the fort and the restaurant is open only by advance reservation. You can eat well there for under US$10. Tony’s is still pretty good (fajitas are the way to go here), and the seaside setting is pleasant. We are saddened to hear of the death in August of long time owner Tony Castillo. Next door, Corozal Bay Inn’s outdoor restaurant gets a good bit of business for drinks and meals, and there’s a new waterfall backdrop for the restaurant. One of my favorite joints, Cactus Plaza, on 6th St. South is renovating and adding another floor and appears, unfortunately, to be moving more towards being a bar and nightclub than a restaurant. TJ’s restaurant wasn’t open when I stopped by, but I’m told it serves breakfast and lunch six days a week and attracts a good number of foreign retirees for morning coffee. The guesthouse and restaurant are for sale.

    My family and I had a huge, filling dinner with multiple appetizers, drinks and main dishes for almost nothing at Patti’s Bistro, next to the undertakers. But don’t worry — the food is good and a real bargain. Out in Consejo, Smugger’s Den still gets some activity on weekend nights.  A must taste is Butchies Bar & Grill. The tastiest ceviche in town. Located right on 1^st Avenue across the park.

COROZAL LODGING
   Yes, you’ll find a few changes in the lodging end in Corozal Town: Hok’ol K’in Guesthouse, TJ’s and the Hotel Maya. Tony’s Inn is at least informally on the market for several millions. Rosita May of Maya’s also has a campground now. Nestor’s has changed hands again, and the rooms are undergoing a major renovation. I’m told a nice young couple now owns it, and we wish them well, but frankly, I don’t quite get it. You’re not going to be able to ask much more for rooms at that location in the middle of town, away from the water. But the renovations will be an improvement. Also an upscale B&B at the South End, Villa Americas, with rates of US$315 a night in-season .

    Also in the same South End area as Tony’s, (sometimes called Gringo Trail), there are several welcome additions to the lodging inventory in Corozal:

    Corozal Bay Inn, Almond Dr., P.O. Box 1, Corozal Town;  has been around for several years, but owners Doug and Marie Podzun sold their original funky units (now renovated, called Hotel Paradise, and offered up by the new owner, locally known as “Herman the German,” as mostly weekly or longer-term accommodations, at affordable rates) and have created a charming new cabaña colony by the bay. Doug and Maria — she’s originally from Mexico, and he’s a Canadian by birth of German heritage who moved to Belize with his family when he was a youngster — have built 10 attractive cabañas on the water. The cabañas, painted in colorful tropical pastels, are surprisingly spacious and have bay thatch roofs. While most of them are situated to catch the breeze from the bay, they do have air-conditioning (though on a hot day the A/C units may struggle to cool all that open space under the thatch), tile baths, two comfortable beds in each cabaña, and 27” TVs with cable. Two units at the back connect, making them ideal for families. Doug had several hundred dump truck loads of sand brought in and created a tropical beach on the bay. There is a seawall, but you’ll love the water view and the concrete pier. You can sit by the pool, sip something cold in the redone outdoor restaurant and bar and, if you have a wireless laptop, check your e-mail, as Corozal Bay Inn boasts one of the only hot spots in Belize. All in all, the Podzuns have turned their place into one of the nicest spots to stay.