Repeat American visitor, David Sotolongo and his wife, Sheila, felt there was no other place in the world than Anguilla where he could celebrate his 50th birthday and they could lead a group of 34 friends to attend the ceremony and enjoy the serenity of the island. So overwhelmed were they that David called The Anguillian to report what he said was a human interest story.

Bevelyn Harper and David Sotolongo

“Ten years ago, I needed to take vacation and a physician friend suggested Anguilla as a place to spend sometime,” said David who is in the pharmaceutical sales business. We [he and his wife] got here and ended up in Shoal Bay where Ku is now and loved it. We had a three-night vacation plan and we liked it so much that we extended our stay to five nights and since then (I think we missed a year) we went on five days to ten and now fourteen days.”

Asked what the attraction in Anguilla was, he replied: “I think the main thing that attracts us to Anguilla is its peaceful nature and by that I mean the people, the climate and the beaches – particularly Shoal Bay Beach. Because there are no casinos and fast-food restaurants and a lot of night life in general, it forces you to calm down. The work that we all do is very high energy...”

Left to Right: Edith Roberts (Sheila’s mom), Sergio Sotolongo (David’s dad), Mr & Mrs. Sotolongo, Fermina Sotolongo (David’s mom), Donna Sotolongo (David’s sister-in-law), Sergio Sotolongo, Jr (David’s brother).

He said many of the members of the visiting group were in sales and that their jobs were so demanding that they tended to forget their health and their families. “What happens is that people get sick from stress. So we use our visit to Anguilla almost as therapy for physical health,” he said. “In our pharmaceutical business there is a high level of reward associated with it as we produce medicine that helps people; but in that there is a lot of need to make sure that the medicines are being delivered correctly to the hospitals and physicians to manage care and health insurance coverage.”

This time, David, his wife, their parents and friends stayed at Serenity Cottages, owned by Kenneth Rogers, at the eastern end of Shoal Bay. David told about another reason for coming to Anguilla. “Kenneth Rogers is an example of why I would come back to Anguilla,” the Afro-American visitor reported. “He is diligent, conscientious, very customer-focused. He takes his work very, very seriously. His new group of villas are a good example. He told us years ago this is what he wanted to do then one year comes and it is done. He is renting them out. We had our celebration party there and the service was excellent and very memorable.”

On a more personal note, David went on: “My wife asked me what I wanted for my 50th birthday and I said my dream would be to have all my friends and family together in Anguilla…She started calling everyone up. We changed the date twice. We had about 68 people but eventually after all the changes all of them couldn’t come but we were able to get 34 including my parents who are both 82 years old. They are both very active. One [the mother] is a survivor of a quadruple by-pass open heart surgery over 15 years ago; and my father was recently diagnosed with prostate cancer but if you see him, you wouldn’t know it but he is living with it…He takes his medication and keeps going.

“I have a cousin whose husband has been on kidney dialysis for a while. They were going to come anyway if he wasn’t able to get a kidney, and fly to St. Maarten for dialysis and come back. That was how important it was for him to come to Anguilla but as luck would have it, and the grace of God, he was able to receive a kidney from his wife in a procedure that was absolutely brand new. It was highlighted in the New York papers about a month ago and they came.

“At my birthday also were a number of friends from Anguilla whom we have met over the years. This was absolutely wonderful. They all got up and said some very kind things about myself and Bevelyn, one of the group, who also made 50 years and her family was there as well. Harry who owns the bus service took us to restaurants every night and we lay on the beach all day…we did everything – at the dolphins and horseback riding. So all really enjoyed themselves and are still talking about it.”

David and his family are originally from just outside Havana, Cuba, where he said his parents told him the beaches are almost like Shoal Bay. His parents being concerned that he and his siblings would get caught up in the unrest in the capital at the time, moved to the United States in September 1962. The family eventually gained US citizenship.

David said he was not particularly disturbed by the recent spate of robberies and other crimes in Anguilla. “It is unfortunate, but we know that in the US for many years you find an area that’s desirable but there is something that corrupts a small group of people and makes it really bad for everyone else…I spoke to a police officer in Anguilla and she was saying how there are 14 or 15 recruits going through training now who would soon be full-fledged police officers to add to the police presence in Anguilla and I think that’s excellent.”

He spoke about the importance of mentoring children as he and his wife were doing in order to help them to grow up as responsible and disciplined adults. “I think there are people on the island who have made a name for themselves. I think it should be promoted from the top down,” he said. “My opinion is that one of the worst things is to intentionally push something under the rug. Just like how we acknowledge our own faults and then go on to do better, acknowledge it and then fix it because in turn that is going to attract more people…I think there needs to be a sense of community again and to have the churches work on this. That’s what we are trying to do in the US.”

David said he and his friends were used to declining behaviour in the United States and were not deterred by the incidents in Anguilla. “When you compare some of the other islands you are still paradise here, he said, adding that he and his family had already made reservations to return to Anguilla in July next year.

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