 |
| A Beach House to “Di” For |
|
|
| Written by Mini Review by Andrew Steinhauer | ||||
| Monday, 24 September 2007 | ||||
|
The
Auxillou clan has deep, strong roots in Caye Caulker. Dona Illna, the matriarch
of the clan was born to one of the three founding families that settled the
caye- the Alamillas. In the early 60s she was wooed by and married a nomadic
Brit, the now prolific writer Ray Auxillou. That union spawned seven. The four
daughters, Wendy, Sharon, Diane and Tina have grown into successful
entrepreneurs who own tourist lodges on Caye Caulker- side by side lodges.
Wendy heads “Auxillou Suites”; Sharon owns “Sailwinds Beach Suites”; Diane
operates “Diane’s Beach House” and Tina oversees “Tina’s Backpacker’s Hostel”.
Each has its own unique design and vibes. All the lodges are located on prime
beach front location, the center of the village near the water-taxi terminal.
Wendy is a
regular correspondent for this paper and her “Suites” has garnered a couple of
rave reviews from yours truly over the years. Never stayed at the other
sisters’ digs until this last weekend when I sampled the tropically-posh beach
house run by the youngest sister, Diane.
“Di” (Diane’s ubiquitous nickname on the caye) has a classic island lodge with two units. Her beach house is a quaint, lavender tinted, two-storey affair with one palatial bedroom in the upstairs unit called the “penthouse” and two large bedrooms in the lower flat. The lower flat is spacious and homey- nearly 800 square feet, furnished with ceramic tile floors and counter tops, living room, dining room, kitchen, refrig, microwave, oven, cable TV, ceiling fans, air conditioning, one king sized bed and two queen sized beds, armoires, two couches, paintings and bas-relief sculptures by local artists and a verandah overlooking the sea and reef. The unit can comfortably sleep up to eight people if the couches are used as beds. The North American cable TV news shows blizzards and snow blanketing the upper states. For those folks snowed in, in Oswego, Syracuse, Utica and Buffalo the beach house is to die for. I grew up in Oswego, class of ’65, (ironically the high school sports teams were referred to as “buccaneers” and now I live in a region settled by pirates). I remember the cold- oppressive cold- the storm of ’58 with six feet of snow falling overnight and I remember daydreams of tropical paradise as envisioned in Paul Gauguin’s paintings. Now I live them. The Caribbean Sea tranquilly lapping on the pristine sandy beach at your doorstep; coconut palm trees swaying in the sea breeze; snorkeling; scuba driving, sailing; eating freshly caught snapper or Shrimp-man Jack’s delectable morsels cooked on an open grill; and Garifuna drums beating out an exotic rhythms in the background are a quick 50 minute, 21-mile skiff ride away. I savor on a regular basis the reality of my old “island paradise daydreams”. A reality that could possibly drive a weak person in the land of snow crazy with envy. Eat your heart out far, frozen northerners, freezing in the icy, blustering winds coming off the Great Lakes. The sunny alternative is Belize. Then there are Caye Caulker dreams- an island as close to paradise as it gets. And Di’s beach house is a snazzy and cozy place to stay and savor the amiable isle’s ambiance.  Add as favourites (11) | Views: 405 | Print | E-mail
Only registered users can write comments. |
||||
| Last Updated ( Monday, 24 September 2007 ) | ||||
Be first to comment this article
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|
