Mauricio Islas was mobbed by fans as he arrives in San Pedro San Pedro welcomes Mauricio Hundreds of fans were on hand last Sunday to greet novela superstar Mauricio Islas as he arrived from Corozal. The Mexican superstar visited San Pedro in his capacity as emcee for the Reina de la Costa Maya Pageant. As he was escorted by Deputy Mayor, Eiden Salazar Jr. via golf cart, many had a chance to steal a kiss from the famous soap opera star. Mauricio was then transported to the Villas at Banyan Bay where he had time to freshen up from his flight and get ready to proceed to the Holiday Hotel for dinner with the contestants of the Costa Maya Pageant.

The pageant theme was brought to light with representation of the five Mundo Maya countries by a parade of flags carried by members of the San Pedro Dance Company, followed by a "Parade of Nations" by pageant contestants.

The eighth annual Costa Maya Festival proved to be very successful, thanks to the hard work of the committee members and the great response of the community. Special thanks to the San Pedro Youth Corp for the wonderful job of keeping the festival grounds clean.

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We are happy to also report that, even with the thousands of people that attended the festival daily, KBH Security, the Tourism Police and the San Pedro Police Department kept the festival crime free. This year, the festival also invested in state of the art booths and a very impressive stage and lighting system.

Special thanks to Juan Carlos Rodriguez of Chetumal, Mexico who designed the backdrop for the stage and to Mr. Efrain Guerrero Jr. for the colorful paint job. We are pleased to say that Costa Maya 1999 appears to have been a HUGE success.

Vanya Vasquez of Belize	We knew we would like these guys