Salvadorans Celebrate Their Independence

Our neighboring country of El Salvador celebrates its independence today, September 15, and last night the Salvadoran Community in San Pedro held a short presentation at Central Park to commemorate their 197th patriotic celebrations.

Dignitaries present to witness the flag raising ceremony were Ambassador of El Salvador to Belize, San Pedro's Mayor Elsa Paz and Miss San Pedro 2008 Lisette Vasquez. Food and drinks typical to El Salvador were also on sale at the event. Congratulations to all Salvadorans on their Independence Day Celebrations!

Reef Radio Karaoke Winners Week 5

The last week of eliminations at Reef Radio's Karaoke Competition saw a group with great voices and even better performances, that had the judges on the edge of their seats. Coming out on top were two females with great voices Alma Encalada and Glenda Gentle.


These two ladies advance to the finals which will take place next week Thursday. With all the top singer in line for the top $2,000 grand prize it is going to be a tough battle.

There is still one spot open for the finals and this person will be selected by online voters at www.thereefradio.com. One of those people who did not make the cut in the elimination rounds still has a chance at karaoke gold. The one with the most votes automatically advances to the finals. Vote for your favorite that did not make it in this week's competition. See you at Jaguar's for the finals!

Other non-qualifying contestants:




Video highlights:

Belize City Carnival

Here are a few pictures highlighting the Belize City Carnival Parade that took place on Saturday, September 6 as part of the country's September Celebrations.

September 10th Celebrations

The Battle of St. Georges Caye Day was celebrated on Wednesday, September 10th with the coronation of Miss San Pedro 2008, a school uniform parade and a family fishing tournament. Lizette Vasquez was crowned by outgoing Miss San Pedro Angie Alamilla and her first task as the New Miss San Pedro was to award the winners of the fishing tournament that took place at the end of the day. A 202lbs shark was reeled in by Flor Bradley and the winning boat weighed in over 200lbs of fish. Here are some of the highlights of the day.

Launch of Andy Palacio Foundation

On Wednesday, August 20, 2008, the Andy Palacio Foundation was formally launched at the Bliss Centre for the Performing Arts in Belize City. In April 2008 a group of friends and family members of the late Andy Palacio met to discuss a way to move forward with promoting, and celebrating the legacy of our great Garifuna Belizean music icon.

The Andy Palacio Foundation is a non-profit organization serving the public interest. The activities of the Andy Palacio Foundation are guided by the principle of culture as a coherent and continuous system of arts, sciences, education and any other form of artistic creation. The efficiency of a culture depends on economic conditions as on its degree of openness, i.e., free circulation of ideas, skills and experiences and a widespread and democratic effect of the cultural exchange.
Some of the objectives of the Foundation are:

*To preserve and promote the legacy of Andy Palacio, Belize’s great music icon, cultural Ambassador and UNESCO artist for Peace
*To establish the Andy Palacio Museum
*To establish an Andy Palacio Trust Fund
*To spread information and knowledge about the life and work of Andy Palacio
*To promote music and assist with its expansion and development through training, performances, production
*To publish and produce: catalogues, special editions, postcards, posters, prints, t-shirts, written works by creative persons, musical and other electronic materials
*To facilitate interaction amongst creative persons and institutions and other authorities within this area.

This November, a book on the life and work of Andy Palacio will be published by the Image Factory Art Foundation under the patronage of the Andy Palacio Foundation. The two trustees of the Andy Palacio Foundation are E. Roy Cayetano, President and Ms. Kami Palacio, Vice President and eldest daughter of Andy Palacio.

Founding members of the Andy Palacio Foundation are Rafael Martinez, Marion Cayetano, Ivan Duran, Loretta Garcia-Palacio, Vincent Palacio, Jeremy A. Enriquez, Uani Palacio, Sherlette Slusher, Nita Palacio, Raquel Battle, Rozelle Flores, Joseph Palacio, Yasser Musa, Darius Avila, Gilvano Swasey, and Harold Arzu.

Tropic Air Flight has Emergency Landing

- Press Release, Tropic Air - On Sunday, September 7, at approximately 9:40 a.m. a Tropic Air Caravan was on flight from Belize City Municipal Airstrip to Goldson International when the captain was forced to make an emergency landing in the Belizean Beach area. There were four passengers on board and one sustained cuts to the head and there were no other injuries. More details in this week's edition of Ambergris Today out Friday this week.

Dolphins Win!

It was a much needed win for the San Pedro Dolphins as they ended their losing streak, or at least a streak of not winning any games since their first win at the season's start. The Dolphins sent the Suga Boyz Juventus back to Orange Walk with a loss as they managed to score four goals; Orange Walk only managed to score two.

New soccer jerseys donated to the Dolphins by Hollywood Realty

Miss San Pedro Galley is Up

The Miss San Pedro Pageant Picture Gallery has been posted on our website. Click here to view.

Reef Radio Karaoke Winners Week 4

Rolando Albeño and Coconut Leo advance to the finals of Reef Radio Karaoke Competition as they pleased the judges and the crowd on week four. Only one more week of singing is left until the grand finale when the top Karaoke singer is crowned and handed the $2,000 first prize.

If you want to save one of the other three contestants who did not qualify for the final round of competition this week, visit www.thereefradio.com to vote for your favorite. One winner from all the five weeks of competition goes directly to the finals. Your vote counts.

Clean Up Campaign by Seaduced

Elito Arceo of Seaduced by Belize started a clean up campaign focusing on the beaches of San Pedro with a group of young men called “The Red Tap Crew”. Last week the crew cleaned from the Boca del Rio Area all the way to Portofino and this week the team cleaned from Portofino Resort to Blue Reef Resort.

The Red Tap Crew brought back 70 (55 gal) bags of trash from the north side of the island on Monday, September 1. Mr. Arceo explained that he is doing this to instill a sense of civic pride to everyone and to encourage island residents to do the same. The project is being done in phases and they plan on cleaning all the way to Rocky Point this week. Anyone who is interested in helping out in anyway possible kindly contact Mr. Arceo at 226-2254.

Everybody is Reading Ambergris Today

The Island’s traffic wardens take a break from cruising around town, looking for lawbreakers, and relax by the beach with their copies of Ambergris Today Newspaper.

Central American Nations Celebrate Their Independence

The Embassies of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Mexico and Nicaragua have joined Belize to celebrate their Independence Day with an artistic festival and concert that will be held on the 13th September at the Governor General’s Field in Belmopan City. The purpose of the festival is to commemorate the Independence Day of the Mesoamerican countries together, and to share, fraternally, with joy and solidarity through our popular dances and folk music.

On Saturday, 13th September, the Marimba Group "Ujuum Mayab" with a wide repertoire of Guatemalan popular music, as well as the children ballet "Pilmijtotianij" from Veracruz and the reggae group "Hierba Santa" from Chetumal, both from Mexico, will offer a concert. Also, the program features a group of Belizean traditional dance. The event will start at 4:00 pm. The admission is free and open to the public from all nationalities.

The festival continues on Sunday, 14th September, in Belize City where the children ballet “Pilmijtotianij” will have a presentation at The Bliss Center for the Performing Arts at 6:00 pm. The admission is free.The Pilmijtotianij Ballet is a high level Mexican group with a 24 year trajectory, they have been in several cultural festivals in different countries such as San Juan, Puerto Rico en 1999; Santa Clara, Cuba in 2000; Los Angeles, California in 2001; Ilan, Taiwán in 2002; Serbia & Montenegro in 2004; Budapest, Hungary in 2004; London, England in 2004; Venezuela in 2005; Goiás, Annapolis; Brazil in 2007, Agrigento, Sicilia, Italy in 2008 and the last in August 2008 in Hangzhou, China.

The Embassies invite the general public to these cultural events commemorating the independence of Belize, Central America and Mexico.For further information please contact the Institute of Mexico in Belize at institutodemexico@embamex.bz or at 223-1408.

Official September Celebrations Schedule

Click on image to enlarge

Miss Belize to Miss World Competition

Missology.org decided to pitch a few questions to the new Miss Belize Charmaine Chinapen as she prepares to compete in the Miss World pageant. She answers questions about her, her country Belize, as well as her dreams and aspirations.

Miss World 2008 will be hosted by Johannesburg - World Class African City on Saturday, December 13, 2008. The Miss World finals was postponed from Sept 4 and it is suspected that it had to with the war between Russia and Georgia. The Miss World Organization indicated that it was in the best interest of the delegates, their License holders and the Miss World Organization and all involved.

In the meantime Miss Belize ‘08 is being looked at internationally as a semifinalist in the Miss World pageant. She is being labeled as the Best Belizean delegate to represent Belize in years. Read her interview at Missology here.

Lyzette Vasquez is the New Miss San Pedro

Lyzette Vasquez won the title of Miss San Pedro 2008 this past Saturday, August 30, and Miss Anna Haylock took second place. The pageant was filled with entertainment and plenty of glamor as the six contestants lit up the stage in front of a crowd of hundreds.

Lyzette also won the Miss San Pedro Internet with fans voting her as their favorite. Her prize included a dress and fashion accessories at Moondancer.

Miss Congeniality was awarded to Rosely Castillo and Miss Photogenic was awarded to Anna Haylock. (More in this week's edition of Ambergris Today)