Chapter 2
Friday
I’ve had 8 whole days in the office, but it’s time to go traveling again. I’m on standby for an already full flight to Miami – I have to get there this evening for the launch party of Punta Perla Resort in the Dominican Republic. Fortunately I get the flight. Unfortunately I’m in seat 43J – the last row with a loo right behind my head. Oh joy. Bash back a couple of beers and sleep most of the way.
In Miami we check into the super swish Ritz Carlton on South Beach. I pop downstairs for a swim and find the pool has disco music to accompany your drinks – lots of sad bronzed old
blokes drinking Veuve Cliquot at $95 a go trying to impress the (staggering number of) nubile young girls. Settle for a diet coke at $5!
Italian designer Gianni Versace was shot outside his Villa on South Beach in Miami. ‘Casa Casuarina’ is now an astronomically expensive private members club, and it has been rented for this evening’s launch party for a cool £250,000. Security is very tight with armed police keeping
an eye on the entrance. Amazing party for 500 property movers and shakers, including the President of the Dominican Republic Leonel Fernández. Anna Kournikova looks stunning, but
no-one’s quite sure if it’s her!! The evening’s give-away is a charity raffle which is won by an unbelievably lucky chap who gets a $400,000 property on Punta Perla.
Saturday
Arrive in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. The only privately owned international airport in the world is a rather jolly thatched affair. We get a bumpy bus ride to the resort for a thorough and interesting Q and A session with the architects who have flown in from Madrid especially to see us. It’s on a deserted beach, fringed by bending palm trees overlooking a ridiculously pale azure sea, and the meeting is held under a large open sided tent. I have to say, the setting is amazing – the hacks from various National UK papers ask their questions and then we are whizzed back to our cricketer Phil Tufnell is with us. Not quite sure why, but he is very nice.
Sunday
I’m strolling through the azure waters of the Caribbean and I’m approached by a well known property reporter with smart beachside hotel. her notepad in hand – in the sea! “Can we have a chat”, so we talk. She tells me later she thinks all conversations should be held in the Caribbean, and I couldn’t help but agree! Anyway, off we go to the heliport, and they’ve got all the helicopters that exist on the Island, and we take off together like a load of buzzy bees. A few minutes later, we’re putting the skids on to the same virgin white sand beach we had the meeting at last night. Coconuts have their ‘heads’ chopped off by machete and we all enjoy the refreshing drink standing in the incredibly clear waters which disappear for several hundred metres towards the protective reef.
Time to move on, and we fly over the area surrounding the new Punta Perla resort. It is a brilliant way to get a quick overview of the surrounding area. Moments later all the helicopters are flying down a dramatic ravine – and someone mentions that the scene in rather like the film ‘Apocalypse Now’. Coolly, the pilot tells us that this is the location used for the ‘helicopters down the ravine’ scene in the film.
Everyone transfers to a huge catamaran boat which takes us down the coast until we reach a quiet spot where we all swim and have lunch.
Back on land and we get back to the hotel on a private plane, the helicopters have taken an hour, but the return just 8 minutes.
Monday
I’ve got to get to Spain. So up to New York and overnight back to London. I think about the massively fun three days I’ve had with 20 people I’d never met before – we all had a great time.
Wonder if I should buy something on Punta Perla for a bit of fun….
Tuesday
A few hours at home sleeping off the jetlag - and then an afternoon flight down to Malaga. It’s painful. The previous night has been non-existent and to add insult to injury, Laura (from my office) and I find ourselves hopelessly lost at midnight, rapidly running out of fuel. Still, we eventually make it to the swanky 5* Guadalpin Hotel near Puerto Banus where our clients have
put us up for a couple of nights.
Wednesday
Excellent breakfast overlooking the beach (why is breakfast SO important in hotels and forgotten at home?!). We spend the morning with “Rod” from Aifos Developers looking at new properties they are building on the existing resorts of Costa Golf Alcaldesa and Altos de la Alqueria and some apartments they are constructing on the massive Dona Julia resort. Lunch is back at the hotel - “Rod” suggests a light lunch. A massive sea-food platter appears – lobster, crab, langoustine, everything! Along with a bit of Moet & Chandon. A sandwich would have done. The afternoon is spent with Taylor Woodrow who take us over their Arqueros golf resort, and then to Lar Estepona at Dona Julia (again) being developed by Lar Sol. We round the day off seeing what progress is being made at Benehavis Hills. A friend of mine has bought a large villa here and we have a number of interested buyers. It has a dramatic hillside location with great views down towards Marbella, and is just a few minutes stroll down the hill to the areas undisputed gastronomic capital of Benehavis.
Thursday
We headed back towards Malaga, stopping off to see our friends at La Condesa de Mijas resort– and then on to SIMed. This is the Costa del Sol’s biggest property exhibition held at the weird wavy-formed El Palacio de Ferias y Congresos. These shows are a great place to meet old friends and to introduce yourself to developers to gain new business. We wander from meeting to meeting and a few glasses of bubbly lead to a doze in front of the mega screen showing England playing World Cup footie. Before long, it’s late and it’s time to fly home.
What a week……..
