Wednesday, December 31, 2008

Happy New Year

The staff of Ambergris Today thanks everybody for making our newspaper number one on the island and we promise to keep doing our jobs even better in the upcoming year. From all of us at Ambergris Today, we wish you a Happy and Propsperous NEW YEAR and God Bless.

*Please note that this week's edition of the newspaper will hit the streets on Saturday, January 3, 2009. Pick up a copy and see who was named Person of the Year 2008!

Celestial Show Set for New Year's Eve


A delightful display of planets and the moon will occur on New Year's Eve for anyone wishing to step outside and look up just after sunset. Venus, brighter than all other planets and stars, will dangle just below the thin crescent moon in the southwestern sky. It'll be visible -- impossible to miss, in fact -- just as the sun goes down, assuming skies are cloud-free.

Soon thereafter, Mercury and Jupiter will show up hugging the south-southwestern horizon (just above where the sun went down) and extremely close to each other. Jupiter is very bright and easy to spot; Mercury is faint and harder to see, but it'll be apparent by its location just to the left of Jupiter.

Jupiter and Mercury will set less than an hour after the sun, so timing your viewing just after sunset is crucial. You'll also need a location with a clear view of the western horizon, unobstructed by buildings, trees or mountains.

All the planets, along with the moon and sun, traverse an arc across our sky called the ecliptic, which corresponds to the plane in space that they all roughly share. For this reason, you could draw an imaginary line from the general location of Venus and the moon, down through the other two planets, and the line would point to where the sun went down. This line could also initially help you find Jupiter and Mercury.

One last trick: Venus is so bright you can see it during daylight if you know where to look. Given Venus' proximity to the moon on New Year's Eve, this would be an excellent moment -- just before sunset -- to use the moon to help you find Venus and gain bragging rights for being one of the few people to be able to claim seeing more than one planet during the daytime (Earth being the other one).

Tuesday, December 30, 2008

Assistance Needed


Friends and family of Luis Uribio are asking for assistance from the community to donate as much as they can so that Luis can obtain much needed medical attention after an injury left him seriously ill. A member of the San Pedro Dolphins Soccer team, Luis Uribio suffered from a head injury that has left him speechless, temporarily paralyzed and in a semi-unconscious state.

A fund-raising radiothon and food sale is taking place today, Tuesday, December 30, at Central Park. Any assistance that can be rendered to Luis "Wicho" will be much appreciated.

Monday, December 29, 2008

Luxury Yacht

Take a look at this luxury yacht that is docked in front of San Pedro Town. We can only imagine the look of the vessel on the inside and the people who decided to spend their holidays overlooking the shore of our beautiful town.

Lazy Sunday Afternoon Pics
Parasailing Fun!
Searious Adventures' Escape comes back after a day at sea.

Relaxing at the docks

Miss Panama Costa Maya in Music Video



Check out the leading lady in this new music video of Flex/Nigga. It's Anais Solis, Miss Panama at this year's Costa Maya Pageant. More pictures of Anais in our Costa Maya Gallery.

Wednesday, December 24, 2008

Raffle Season 2008

Almost all the Christmas raffles took place this week with great prizes for all. As a show of appreciation to their customers, a handful of businesses hold annual, end of the year raffles. The biggest prizes this year was $10,000 by Castillo's Hardware and San Pedro Hardware and a new golf car by Harmouch Supermarket.

San Pedro Hardware Raffle: First Place $10,000 - George Sierra
Second Place 110CC ATV: Stephanie RuizThird Place Plasma TV: Cesar Aldana
Fourth Place Miter Saw: Gerardo Reyes
Fifth Place Angle Grinder: Gustavo Cardenas


Wally's Electrical Supply
Utility belt won by Manuel Heredia Jr.


Harmouch Center: First Place Golf Cart Manuel Heredia Jr.
Third Place Winner Selene Gonzalez - Microwave Oven
Second Place 30" Stove - Jorge Ortiz
Dalia's Store:
1st Prize Scooter - Noemi Mendez
2nd Prize Stove - GildaValladarez
3rd Place MP3- Miguel Howe
4th Place Ham & Tshirt - Brian Interian

Coral Cable Vision: First Place Computer System - Alberto Wade
Second Place Plasma Flat Screen TV - Eileen Jamison
Third Place Ham & Turkey Basket - Armando Lemus
Fourth Place 3 Months Free Cable - Jovanne Ramos
Fifth Place 3 Months Free Cable - Victor Barbosa

Castillo's Hardware: First Place $10,000 Elvia Staines
Second Place Two Door Stainless Steel Refrigerator - Norman Mai

Third Place Sony Stereo Component System - Deston Swift
Fourth Place Heavy Duty Washing Machine - Terry Guerrero
Fifth Place Makita 18V Compact Lithium Ion Kit - Caye Management

Caribeña Enterprises: First Place Scooter - Estuardo Lima
Second Place Washing Machine - Hob Medina
Third Place 50 Gal. Fuel - Freedom Tours
Fourth Place 20" Gas Range - Lester Lima
Fifth Place 19" Color TV - Seaduced
Sixth Place Microwave - Antonio Perdomo
Seventh Place Ham & Turkey - Isaias Diaz
Eighth Place Blender - Giovanni Reyes

Monday, December 22, 2008

Winners Announced at Harmouch Center Raffle

Harmouch Hardware kicked off the Raffle Season this past weekend with the first of it two raffles for the holiday season. On hand to pick the winning tickets was Jessie Leslie amongst Mayor Elsa Paz and customers of Harmouch Hardware. Emerging the winner of the hardware store's Christmas raffle was Manuel Heredia Jr. (the son) taking home a new Club Car Golf Car. Second place went to Jorge Ortiz who won a stove and Selene Gonzalez won the third prize microwave oven. Congratulations to the three winners and stay tuned for Harmouch Hardware's New Year raffle which will take place on December 27.





Selene Gonzalez claimed her second prize gift - a microwave oven

Friday, December 19, 2008

A Radiant Amigos del Mar

The Amigo's del Mar dive shop over the sea always impresses during the Holiday Season with an array of lights that decorate the entire pier.


Thursday, December 18, 2008

US Ambassador visits St. Peter’s College

On Wednesday, December 10, the senior class of St. Peter’s College had the privilege of having the US Ambassador to Belize, Robert J. Dieter address their class and give them a few words of advice. Present at the event were Her Worship Mayor Elsa Paz, Deputy Mayor Juan Alamilla, Ambassador Robert Dieter and his son. This is the second year that the Ambassador has been visiting St. Peters College and addressing the students of the school. A gift of appreciation was presented to the Ambassador by one of the seniors of the class. The faculty and staff of St. Peter’s College would like to thank the Mayor, Deputy Mayor and Minister of Tourism for helping out in having Ambassador Dieter visit the school.



Wednesday, December 17, 2008

Take Note – Planned Power Outage

Belize Electricity Limited advises its customers in San Pedro Town that the supply of electricity will be temporarily interrupted on Friday, December 19, 2008 as follows:

Time: 9:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m.

Areas to be affected: All of San Mateo Area, Tres Cocos Area,

Playa Blanca Area, Buena Vista Area, Punta Reina Area, Mata Grande and Mata Chica Area.

BEL apologizes for the inconvenience caused but this outage is necessary for the company to upgrade the distribution system in the area. For customer inquiries and services call us toll free at: 0-800-BEL-CARE OR 0-800-235-2273