Final Days in Mexico

These are my final days in Mexico. We spent a week with a car and travelled from Merida to Celestun, Progresso, Valladolid, Tulum and Isla Mujeres via Cancun.

Dzibilchaltun temple north of Merida

Isla Mujeres is a bit like coming home for me because this is my 3^rd trip here to the same hotel. The hotel has changed along with the island since 2004.
Perhaps it’s the recent reading of Collapse, but I see what humans do to a landscape we admire. We alter it beyond all recognition. We use it and use it up.
In Celestun and Progresso, the population is beginning to cash in on tourism. There is construction everywhere as hotels and restaurants race to open for tourist dollars. In Tulum, the rich already own most of the beach and are working on the town now. If the municipality isn’t careful, there will be no access to the beach for the common folk. That would be a huge loss because never before have I swam, floated and bounced in waves as lovely as at Tulum.
I sure wish we could inhabit places in a more sustainable and less intrusive manner. With every case of environmental impact I see here has a parallel in Canada. Just in case Canadians, or any other nationality that may read my words, might think they are above the Mexicans in some way, you’re not.
All over the world, humans create irreversible impacts on the most beautiful landscapes they find. We are crazy that way. We love places to death.

One more rant piece - OMG we need to outlaw plastic TODAY! Even if we hired millions of people all over the world to work 12-hour shifts, 7 days a week to clean our coastlines and we would still need more labourers working to clean up the plastic and human debris on the world’s beaches. Shame on us.

The beach at Progresso. Each item you see glittering in the rays of the sunset is a piece of plastic.

Back in Tulum, I lost my camera. So, photos are limited for the rest of the trip. However, the owners of the Tulum hotel Posada 06 found my camera after we left and are diligently working to reunite us through email and DHL. I expect my camera and I to be together again shortly after I get back to Calgary.

After our time in Mexico, I also wonder why our media and, I think our government, paint Mexico with such a harsh brush. We have met only wonderfully friendly, exceptionally helpful people in our travels.

Dzibilchaltun Cenote

And for safety, there are police and military people everywhere including at check stops on all the highways we travelled.
Here is a story to illustrate Mexican’s relationship to police. We were having dinner in Progresso. The restaurant had glass walls overlooking the beach. It wasn’t the nicest evening with a little rain, a lot of wind and cool temperatures (for Mexico).  A pickup truck stopped in front of the window in a no parking zone. Three young men got out, bought something from a street vendor and proceeded to hang out. They were not causing any kind of disturbance, but they were parked illegally.
After about 10 minutes, a police officer approached on a bicycle. As soon as he came in sight, the young men started heading for the truck. All signs of young guys out to be seen went out the window and it was pure business of getting into the truck and leaving.
The police officer stopped by the tailgate of the truck and watched as the 3 guys got into the truck, fastened seatbelts, signalled appropriately and pulled away slowly to drive off down the street.
The officer then put his helmet back on his head and returned to his rounds. He hadn’t even spoken to those boys. There was no backtalk, no wasting time, no squealing of tires.
I did not see huge fear in the faces of those young men. Not like you would expect if they feared brutality. I saw an admission of guilt, recognition of authority and a clear sense of what they needed to do to avoid any repercussions.

I will admit that I’m a foreigner. Everything here I see, I see through Canadian eyes, raised with Canadian values, expectations and experiences. I may be completely wrong. All I can say is that that exchange was entirely civil and every exchange we had or witnessed with the police was too.

They are everywhere in the Yucatan. They smile at you when you smile at them and say, “Buenos Dias.” I saw them direct traffic, answer tourist questions, invite us into government buildings, wave us through check stops and smile at us from posts in parks or on street corners.
I will admit it’s freaky to see men armed with machine guns standing guard when you get off the ferry, but maybe it’s all what you’re accustomed to seeing.  
We still have 3 full days to relax on this little island paradise doing our part to alter a beautiful place. I love it to death.