We’ve had our first batch of luxury hotels in Belize up for quite a while, but with one nagging omission. We were missing the exclusive private island hotel Cayo Espanto.

Well, thanks to Kirsten Hubbard, who runs the Central America travel section of About.com, we now have a nice comprehensive review of Cayo Espanto.

This is, by most accounts, the best and most exclusive hotel in Belize. It’s a magnet for celebrities who want to escape those nagging photographers and for wealthy tycoons who rent out the whole place and have their own island resort completely staffed. Although Cayo Espanto is removed from all else, you don’t have to go very far out of the way to get to it. It’s located between Ambergris Caye and the mainland of Belize. (But the beach is nicer than you’ll find on most parts of Ambergris.) We’ve got some photos on our site, but the one above is from the resort itself. A view from one bungalow’s dock.

We also added a review of Ka’ana Boutique Resort and Spa, which is in the interior instead of on the sea. For those who want their jungle experience in small doses—and would like to come back to a fancy room with lots of gadgets—this is an upscale alternative to Chaa Creek Lodge, which has far more land but is more rustic.

The latest results of Travel & Leisure’s annual reader’s poll are out and incredibly, there are only three hotels on there not already reviewed in detail in Luxury Latin America. One is a mystery that must be a ballot-stuffing anomoly (Le Meridien Cancun), another is a business hotel that gets so-so ratings from our correspondents (Hyatt Santiago). The other is the Four Seasons in Mexico City, which we were slated to have a review of up six months ago until our correspondent there fell ill. She’s back in action and it’s coming soon–I mean it this time–along with a batch of other fine hotels in that city.

There have been some shifts in the rankings this year though and it looks like a lot more readers have had Mexico on their itinerary (12 of the 25 entries) and Belize got nudged out entirely this time. The Bristol Hotel in Panama snuck in at number 24 though, just ahead of the Fairmont Acapulco Princess.

The interesting move this year was the Tides Zihuatanejo (pictured here) popping into the top-5 soon after its makeover from the already nice Villa del Sol. Peru also made a nice showing this time. Inkaterra Machu Picchu Hotel, formerly known as Machu Picchu Pueblo Hotel, came out of nowhere into the top-10 and Miraflores Park Hotel popped in at 15. See our detailed reviews by following any of the links above, or see the full rundown here on the survey.

If you’ve traveled a lot in this region, give us your take on the results!

We’ve been posting a lot of new hotel reviews lately so I’ve been highlighting those, but time to catch up on some notable travel-related news from Latin America.

It looks like the Yellowstone Club World ownership club is crashing down and splitting up. We’re not sure yet what’s happening to the Tamarindo resort we’ve reviewed on the west coast of Mexico, but if anything it will be more open to outsiders and not less. Personally, it seems safer to own a smaller house outright than own a share in a vacation club with palatial resorts, but it doesn’t seem like the buyers are down to their last dollar anyway…

Are we ready for an environmentally conscious wine? Are we ready to give up the traditional bottle? The company putting out this green Malbec from Argentina hopes so. (Green as in eco-friendly, not Vinho Verde!) I’m skeptical that people will drink wine from a glorified milk carton, but you do have to admit it cuts down a lot of wasteful shipping weight.

When Super Bowl winning quarterback Eli Manning was ready for a wedding and honeymoon, he didn’t go to Disneyland. He got married at One & Only Palmilla in Los Cabos.

Speaking of celebrities and green travel, Leonardo DiCaprio looks to be moving forward with development of the private island he bought in Belize.

International Living reports that 16 new marinas are in the works for Costa Rica. The skeptic in us says half will never get built, but three are already slated to open in 2009. Some will not open without a fight, however, as not everyone is thrilled about the pace of new development, especially for Puerto Viejo in the Limón province of the Caribbean. Plus it’ll be interesting to see what happens to the yacht business if the recession and fuel cost rises continue…