Entertainment and sports celebrities Beyonce Knowles and Tiger Woods have stayed at the Caye Chapel Island Resort - and so it's fitting now that Belize's political celebrities would do the same. The Cabinet arrived on Caye Chapel on Monday morning, and will stay there 7 days and six nights on a retreat with motivational speaker and lifestyle guru Tony Quinn. But while they retreat, we today advanced - all the way to the coastline along Caye Chapel - trying to figure out what life is like on Caye Chapel on this special week - and here's our story, part reporting, part political fantasy.
Jules Vasquez Reporting,
Caye Chapel - it's 275 acres with about 2 miles of coastline and a world class 18 hole golf course. It's a private island and resort owned by Kentucky coal mining magnate Larry Addington and it is considered one of the most exclusive and expensive destinations in Belize.
This is the island's west side, reclaimed in 1999 to build an 18 hole golf course. Reclaimed we might add without the permission and against the advice of the Department of the Environment and NEAC. A matter that seemed to come up again after Addington donated these sixteen pickup trucks to the Musa administration in 1999.
And perhaps that's fitting because Caye Chapel has always had a special place in government's heart. We're told a young Esquivel administration made a retreat here in 1985 - right after it had won the first time. And now, in the twilight of its second term, the PUP government is here. But where are they?
We scoured the island from north to south and saw no sight of them. Maybe they were in here: this is the 50,000 square foot clubhouse as seen from the marina. It is the center for all activity, including a bar, dining room, day spa and executive meeting rooms. And maybe they were in that executive suite, getting a power talk from Tony Quinn. But still no one came to the door.
And right after lunch there was surely no sign of them outside or on the verandah even. No sign either of them or any human habitation outside these casitas - but giving their lofty executive posts we wouldn't expect them to be here. These are the low budget rooms. How low? About US$450 a night - and all you get to see is the marina and these gas pumps where Ministers we imagine can come and pat themselves on the back every morning, congratulating themselves for lowering fuel prices.
On the south end of the island all we saw was this security golf cart - watching us watching them. But apart from this private security there was no Coast Guard on patrol, no BDF posted - indeed, we must be living in a good country.
And while on the east side the glistening sea beckoned, and the lovely white beaches laid in wait - there was not one Minister there to take it in. Not a sun-tanned John Briceno, not a sun blocked lathered Ralph Fonseca lying out on the spectacular manicured beach - and we checked that woman swimming in the water is not Sylvia Flores. We didn't even see the Prime Minister taking a puff from his cigar on the thatched pier.
We imagined the Ministers perhaps taking an afternoon siesta or a lounge, under the vaulted ceilings or in the Jacuzzi that you'll find here in these beachfront villas, advertised for US$1450 a night. But imagine was all we could do because we saw no one; immaculate beaches, but completely deserted. On this day, our Ministers were maybe busy levitating in Tony Quinn's mind temple, or maybe here, in the owner's house discussing coal mining prospects in Belize because they were certainly not here on the on the golf course at the 18th hole. In fact it seems that indeed, like Vegas, what happens in Caye Chapel seems to stay in Caye Chapel.
Government has not said who is footing the bill for the retreat.
