The annual Costa Maya weekend in San Pedro begins tonight with the selection of Miss Costa Maya on the old football field. 6 women from 6 Mundo Maya countries including Belize, are competing for the crown. In preparation for tonight's show, the contestants were let loose inside Wing's Store in San Pedro. It was a combination of beautiful women and shopping for clothes. Our 7NEWS team was there to capture it and Keith Swift has the story.
Keith Swift Reporting,
These queens from Honduras, El Salvador, Mexico, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and of course Belize all want to be the next Reina De La Costa Maya. But for a brief 2 hours yesterday afternoon all the queens really wanted to do was shop, and they each had $500 certificates to do it with. But these queens didn't come here to shop - they came to win a pageant. They say it is more than just about beauty and glamour, for these contestants the Costa Maya contest is a celebration of their culture, our culture.
Teresita Gomez, Salvador
"It is very important for me because we're not just looking at beauty, we aren't looking at the beauty of women but we are also celebrating the Mayan culture which is integrated into everybody."
Cindy Cajuste, Mexico
"I am so happy because first of all I am representing my countries, sharing culture with the other countries and I am having so much fun so it is great to be here. It is an opportunity to share our cultures and also having a great experience and personally I never came to Belize before so this is a good opportunity for me to come to this wonderful place and have fun and make friends and everything. So it is more than a pageant, it is something that you learn in your live and it stays forever."
Belgica Palomo, Costa Rica
"Of course it is a little bit more than a pageant. It is of course more than just beauty. It is the sharing of the Central American countries along with Mexico. It is all of us being together, joining as one and it is celebrating what is just ours, the Mayan heritage."
Still it runs deeper than culture and history for 23-year-old Lissa Sanez from Honduras. Sanez says she is not here for Honduras, she says is representing all the women of Costa Maya.
Lissa Sanez, Honduras
"Honduras is a very nation and I feel very confident that I can do a good job, not only representing Honduras but also representing women in general. Honduras has beautiful women and has very strong and motivated women, the same way Belize does and we are all both sharing the same culture, the rich Mayan culture. And we both share the same thing so I am very happy to be here to represent women."
Anahir Rocha is from Nicaragua. She says the biggest hurdle for her was that she couldn't speak fluent English. That has been solved but now she has another problem, she has fallen in love with Belize.
Anahir Rocha, Nicaragua
"I feel very happy to be here. At first I was a little nervous and a little scared to come and participate in this pageant because I don't speak English very well but the warmth and the love that the people of this country has shown me, have made me feel just at home. They've made me fall in love with this beautiful country."
Tonight Ninfa Juan will have the home court advantage. She is representing Belize.
Ninfa Juan,
"I feel very proud to be here and I am very happy to see the way our Belizean people have treated us, they've all been very professional, very friendly, and it is just a wonderful experience."
And of course this story wouldn't be complete without returning to where it started.
See What The Girls Bought Inside Wings: [On Demand}
The translation in the story was done by Kainie Manuel from the San Pedro Sun. We'll tell you who won in tomorrow night's newscast.
7NEWS produced for broadcast by News Director Jules Vasquez
Edited and Prepared for the internet by Keith Swift
