Yet Another Treatise on Trash

I have a three hour wait for my connecting water taxi back to Sarteneja. As a low budget traveler, I don't get too extravagant with my spending. Of course just being here in this country is extravagant.

Having said that, I found a cafe and thought I'd write some notes over some "real" cofee. I am a bourgeoise snob.

I came in and the gentleman behind the counter inquired if I would like something. "Why yes", I said with exuberance "As long as you promise not to wrap it, pour it or otherwise serve it in plastic or paper". He smiled but looked a little puzzled. He then made me a splendid Americano and served it in a porcelain cup. 

  I never did understand people who sit inside a cafe drinking coffee out of a paper cup. It shows a lack of appreciation for the beverage. Not to mention the amount of trash created. It boggles my mind that people are really that unconscious. I think well meaning people choose simply to ignore their impact. In my own community of Durango, Colorado folks love to proclaim their commitment  of a greener world.  Those same are often the ones drinking coffee from paper.  Locals had the audacity to raise hell about the King Mine spill. Those mines have been leaching crap into the river for a hundred years . Very few people seemed to care. But now there is the EPA to blame. Anyone with any kind of cell phone, computer, television etc has bought into the mining industry because most consumer goods contain raw materials from a mine somewhere on the planet. Even my bicycle has mined materials. It's all fine and good to be vocal about Climate Change, plastic and carbon emissions. That is until it threatens one's own sense of convenience.

 I'm traveling in Central America at the moment and there is little if any infrastructure to deal with rubbish. There are municipal collection points but much of it lines the road sides and public beaches. 

 Does Eco-tourism really exist? Can tourists really practice environmentally responsible tourism? If so, how?

 The island of Caye Caulker  off the coast of Belize is suffering under the weight of it's own refuse. I don't think there is any kind of system in place to remove the garbage from the island. In my explorations of the island, I found much of the trash dumped in less populated areas and mangroves.

I think locals and tourists alike share the responsibility in the production of all this garbage. That includes me. It is almost impossible to buy food or drinks on the street or from take out restaurants without it being wrapped in plastic or styrofoam. I simply cannot handle one more fucking plastic bag or styrofoam take away container being handed to me through the window of a restaurant or street food vendor. I don't eat much restaurant food while traveling, it gets too expensive. I prefer to cook when I have access to a kitchen or eat fruit, bread, cheese and what have you.  Fruit comes in it's own neat little package.  It takes energy to make conscious decisions like this and sometimes even I don't have it. But just like the adage says, "if you're not part of the solution, then you are part of the problem."

 Of course if I really look at MY footprint on Earth, I see that my carnivorous tastes are also responsible for the degradation of Earth's ecology overall. Not to mention flying to Cancun, MX. I read a blurb about a woman cycling around the world and hopping continents by ship. 

Some countries in the industrialized world are taking steps to reduce the use and waste of plastics and single use items. Bangladesh banned the use of single use bags back in 2002. It was discovered that plastic bags led to 2/3 of the country being submerged during heavy rains because plastic bags had clogged up drains.  It may only be major disasters that will force governments to act.

However environmentally conscious people may be at home in north America or Europe, it's easy to let it go by the wayside once off home soil. People go "on vacation" to get away from the stress of work and other demands.  They don't want to think about anything. This includes their impact on the host countries. Maybe I am giving these industrialized, "enlightened" cultures too much credit.  I was surprised to see North American and European tourists walking out of the markets with 3 or 4 plastic, single use bags filled with plastic water bottles.  In fact, now one can buy a four ounce bag of water. Bite off the corner of the bag and voila! Clean drinking water is not ubiquitous in this part of the world. It is not a given that one can turn a tap and fill a glass with safe drinking water.  Many municipalities have built water treatment facilities to remedy this. Thankfully for this, entire communities are free of serious health threats that come from dirty water.The majority of the purified drinking water is delivered through re-usable 5 gallon bottles. In Mexico, many accommodations provide access to drinking water dispensers and one could fill a glass or reusable water bottle for pennies. But not every country or township is the same. Subsequently, tourists in less developed areas are forced to buy water in single use plastic bottles. it's everywhere, but the bottles go in the trash when empty. I have a small water filter that I use if I can at least see through the water coming out of the tap. 

My experience in Tullum, Mexico on the south coast of Yucatan has become a center for eco tourism. One can find, yoga on the beach, massage, and an assortment of shaman selling peyote ceremonies in the jungle (no shit,I actually heard a guy trying to sell this to some "hippies"...). Tullum attracts a certain kind of tourist. Usually young, "hip" and enlightened. It's a stereotype and we all know what I mean. Tullum went from a small seaside village to a bustling tourist metropolis replete with yoga studios and advertisements for "Ecologically" friendly accomodations. On closer inspection, I discovered that some so called "Eco-lodges" near the beaches got their electricity from large diesel powered generators. These were usually out of sight of the main areas of the lodge. Out of sight but not out of hearing range of anyone else going to the beach and certainly the plumes of gray smoke and smell from the exhaust was pervasive.  

This brings up more questions: How can tourists be responsible to the planet;  is it even possible?

The questions I ask myself are, "Does it matter in the long run and is it just my own western sensibilities that are affected because of my personal aesthetics involving the landscape?"

Thanks for reading.

Border Crossings and other Comedies

Into Belize
                              


It's been amazing so far. Of course. What else am I going to say? This wandering by bicycle through tropical America is a drag? Hardly.
 

I arrived in Bacalar on a hot windy afternoon. It's a small Mexican town in the south east of the Yucatan Penninsula.The main road isn't much but the ride into town toward the lake is quick and the expanding view of the lake is breathtaking. Bacalar is a big freshwater lake just inland from the Caribean. 
Found a great campsite right on the lake in a small family run operation. The campround sported plush green grass and shade trees. A pleasant change from dusty lots covered in dead cars             and dog poo.
                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            


 I cycled the distance into Chetumal, Mexico but about thirty miles. I don't really know why I went there, it's got a nice waterfront but not much else to see. I did manage to find some sun shades that fit over my eyeglasses.  They have this incredible glare during daylight hours. They work great at night! I stayed in a crappy hostel that was quite dirty. Nothing wrong with old and beat up but filth just gives me the creeps. 
The trip into Belize was direct but not so straight forward.  I followed the Highway signs that said, "Belize".  Seemed simple enough. Nope.  There is another route for cyclists and pedestrians as I discovered. 


 Due to my fabulous sunglasses and the lack of signage  I was in the wrong place. In fact, I cycled right past two soldiers dressed in full combat gear carrying what looked like small cannons.

They were not obvious because they were standing in the shade of an enormous mango tree.  Anybody with any sense would be doing  the same thing at that time of day in the blazing sun at 90 degrees. 


I stopped when a tall man in a blue uniform and reflective Ray Bans stepped out in front of me. He wanted to know why I didn't stop.  I pretended to not understand Spanish. He was a little angry at first  but  I smiled and said "hello" in my best American twang.



Anyway, the guy realized I really didn't have any idea where the hell I was going and I was not  attempting to smuggle a hundred pounds of heroin into Belize on my bicycle. We then chatted a bit, my Spanish improving at an amazing rate.  He told me how much he admired cyclists who toured and how               he'd like to do it himself one day. He was very warm kind with a lovely smile. He sent me back the way I came with more explicit directions. Why don't they sign things like international border crossings better?


The Mexican side was easy. There is nowhere to go except up to a window to present a passport and $30.00 US. Getting INTO Belize seemed like guesswork. No signs ANYWHERE.


 I followed some other  tourists and figured I'd just keep going until somebody told me to stop or I heard shots fired.


Formerly, British Honduras, Belize gained independance from Britain in 1981. Once in Belize, it was a  quiet and nice ride into Corozal. The whole town was at one time a private estate. 
I passed a bar/restaurant run by a gentleman who happened to be polishing the bar with his elbows.  As it turns out he had an AirBNB property and was a Couch-surfing host. He let me camp on his property. I'm too cheap for Air BNB. I went for the couchsurfing option. 

"Marc" was was born in Jamaica, lived much of his life in in the states and settled in Belize. He is attempting to build an eco-resort. I ordered the  Stew Chicken (not stewED) with rice and beans. 


I rode the thirty odd miles to the village of Sarteneja the next day. A fascinating place rich with history and color. The road is a series of muddy potholes connected by islands of gravel and two free ferries. They are both operated manually by a crank that pulls the boat along a cable. The road was not completed until 1971. Until that time the only way in or out was by boat. It had been a Mayan village and subsequently abandoned. There are un-excavated ruins.  It was repopulated by  refugees of the caste war in Yucatan to the north in the late 19th century.



I went on a tour of the village guided by a young man who was born and raised there and told us a little about his own genetics. His ante-cedants haled from Africa, India, Yucatan and Spain. 
The children in the village attend school where all the curriculum is taught in English.  After school they go home to parents and grandparents who for the most part only speak Spanish.  
It's a quiet remote village. There might be 10 motor vehicles total.



Sarteneja also hosts Wildtracks animal rehabilitation center. They work  with primates rescued from the  illegal pet trade. They also hosted manatees in stages of recovery from injuries caused by motor boats. Sarteneja is also home to The Shipstern Conservation, Management Area And Butterfly Breeding Center. A large swath of forest and mangroves held in protection for the sake of education and biodiversity in the region.


 These are both owned privately by foreign organizations and receive almost no money from the government of Belize. From what I hear both function better without government aid. 

I found it difficult to leave Sarteneja after five days because it's so incredibly quiet. It's also really cheap. I figure the value of accommodation by multiplying the nightly price by thirty. Roughly, what I would pay for rent for a month. VERY cheap. It was also hard to leave because I was procrastinating. I was not looking forward to the bone jarring bike ride back toward civilization and on to Progresso. It's a one way road . I ended up leaving for Caye Caulker (not worth mentioning) by water taxi and leaving Tanque behind for a few days. I'm headed back to Sarteneja tomorrow to collect my bike and move on.
Thanks for reading.