My town is getting a trash lift.
The last few days, my neighbors have been grabbing trash bags and patrolling the streets in gaggles. The goal? To pick up the type of stuff that accumulates in the streets, and gives the place a less-than-German look.
Like most things in Mexico, when large groups are involved, the task is fun. The cleanup includes school kids in uniforms, men and women in service club shirts, and just plain neighbors.
And the laguna is not left out. Someone has hired a backhoe to come in and scoop out the tangle of vegetation and human trash that has accumulated over – who knows, how long?
The result is evident on the street. Pile after pile of vegetation and trash is piled on the frontage road. But it is a small down payment on what needs to be done. The backhoe has physical limitations. The bucket can only reach so far.
But just like the other volunteers, some people who live along the laguna have created their own clearance teams. The photograph at the top of this post shows the result of their work. They have used two kayaks to pull out even more vegetation than the backhoe.
The day I was there, I would have given the green award to the guy in the front of this kayak. He was grabbing water hyacinth as soon as it came within his grasp. I suspect it was almost as good as a piñata to him.
And for those of you who are wondering -- yes, this is the same body of water that harbors the crocodiles that hang out in my back yard.
14 comments:
Great that things are getting cleaned up. But the idea of being in a kayak in the lagoon is NOT an appealing one to me :)
Steve, have you thought about getting an old truck innertube and floating about the lagune in cut-offs? That would be a very Salem approach. ANM
Funny. I was just thinking how much fun the kayak would be. Before the water hyacinth got so bad, kayaks were a regular sight.
For some reason, that sounds like an out-take from Jaws.
Why would anyone get in a kayak in the laguna if you had to share it with a crocodile?
Ditto on the kayak business and crocs in the lagoon.
Looks like a great adventure to me.
If we could get rid of the vegetation, the laguna would be a great kayak site.
Because crocodiles are good paddlers?
Nice, Sparks.
It would be if you were dumb enough to do it.
anm
One becomes acculturated quickly. I rode in piroques (cajun kayaks) as a child in gator infested waters. If the 'gators bothered me, I whacked them with a paddle. And send those cleaning crews to Tegucigalpa. This place has more trash than the French Quarter in New Orleans. But no 'gators. Or crocs.
They did a great cleanup. One of the downsides of living in a place with lots of visitors is that trash tends to accumulate in the streets.
Are you implying something?
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