How the Rotary Club, Cold Beer, Beauty and Opportunity in Belize Combined to Lure Mark Leonard to a Tropical Paradise
Excerpts of an interview with Mark Leonard, June 29, 2016
Chuck: Thank you for joining us, Mark. Your posts have always been so genuine and colorful. Please tell our readers how you happened to come to Belize.
Mark: It’s all because of the Rotary Club.
I was living in Northern California when a friend in my Rotary Club went to Belize on a contract and came back saying that Belize is looking for economic development assistance, so I went down...
Chuck: Thank you for joining us, Mark. Your posts have always been so genuine and colorful. Please tell our readers how you happened to come to Belize.
Mark: It’s all because of the Rotary Club.
I was living in Northern California when a friend in my Rotary Club went to Belize on a contract and came back saying that Belize is looking for economic development assistance, so I went down...

The home where I live is a big house in Guadalajara, and the property tax that we pay annually is more or less 9,000 pesos ($441). This home is valued at around 4 million pesos (around US $200,000). Real estate or property taxes in Mexico depend on where your home is and how many buildings you have. .png)
Generally, it is heavily legislated that if you are going to build something, you have to build to a certain standard and that standard tends to be good. There are no modern methods of building here. In other words, there is no steel frame, no wooden frame, or that kind of thing. We build using bricks and mortar. The structure is still reinforced with concrete on the structural load bearing parts of the building, villa, or apartment. You would also have a slab on each layer. If it is...
Personally, my favorite activity in Placencia is fly-fishing, which is world class here. You can just take a short boat ride to one of the coral reefs or the atolls and you can catch awesome permit, bonefish, tarpon, etc. There are a lot of coral reefs and atolls around Placencia full of marine life and great fishing.
Relative to tourists in Granada, Nicaragua, you will find young people who want to come and have a little fun and have a learning encounter. These people can include graduates from universities up to 30 year olds. Then there are some who I would say are retired people, who spend lots of time in Granada. During high season or vacation time, you will see a combination of every type of people.
"Come sit next to me", said Sheyla. I followed her, wondering if it would calm my anxiety. Immediately I knew that we were going to be good friends. Our families were in countries far away, and this tropical land, its language and people was all we had. I was 12, did not speak any Spanish, but I knew this experience would change me forever.