It took over half of the day to ride down to the coast from Oaxaca city.
The distance wasn`t that great but the road was again very windy and the surface was not as good as most of the roads in the North. So I took it easy and after a very early start I got to Puerto Escondido at about 2pm.
I had a quick look around and decided that I didn`t particularly like the place - very disorganized and overpriced although the coast its self looks great. So I rode along the coast toward the SE for an hour or so until I decided I should stop somewhere for the night and enjoy the late afternoon on the beach.
I thus turned off the highway and headed for the town of Puerto Angel. I rode along the very windy little road through a strip of moderately developed coast to the village. The village was however not to my liking with an over supply of rapacious Mexicans, debris from the mornings fishing catch, and a bay that was an unhealthy shade of green (too many nutrients in that water!). So I rode back along the way I had come in and stopped at the first little bay that I had come to on this side road. I walked down onto the beach and liked it a lot better. There were a few tourists and a few businesses catering too them but nothing over the top. There were also several fishing boats and a bunch of locals lying about on the beach or in hammocks, but it was simple and relatively clean and peaceful. So I approached a local and asked about a cheap place to stay for the night. He offered me a hammock but I find these uncomfortable and hard to protect from mosquitoes and I asked about a room instead. This was possible and he showed me a room for $10 that was definitely on the rough side but the water worked and it was dry (not very clean though). I then went to try some other places in the area, but they were all twice the price or more and not that much better condition so I took the original offering.
I then got changed and went for a swim.
The water was not quite as warm as further North (ocean currents I assume) and neither was the air but at about 25 degC it was very pleasant. The beach was golden and there was only one local trying to sell bead necklaces on the beach. I then strolled along the beach for a while and it was good :) I climbed up the local hill and checked out the views from the little cabins and houses up there and it was good. I found a little taco place and ate with a couple of the locals and it was good too :)
Then things hit a bit of a decline...
I was sitting outside the room I had rented on the beach front having a beer and the local guy and his girl (about early thirties I would guess) started to make some conversation. I was happy enough to chat with them in my broken Spanish and they seemed to understand me though I only got about half of what they said/asked. I say "his girl" because they had been sharing a hammock and appeared somewhat intimate before he started the conversation. Anyway, after about 15 min or so, the conversation took a relatively sharp turn and he asked me if I wanted to sleep with the girl - and I said no thanks. The girl was fully attentive to the conversation although the guy had been doing much of the talking. He was quite persistent and so was I... and that ended the conversation!
Now I cant say for sure that I interpreted things completely correctly (due to the language barrier) but I`m pretty sure they wanted money from me and he was basically "pimping out" his girl ... And she was quite happy about it - Very strange!
So, after that, I went for another walk along the beach. Now, in the mean time, a quite large marine turtle (I would guess it weighed about 20Kg) had showed up on the beach. The whole coast is used by these turtles to nest and there are a few sanctuaries and of course they are officially protected. This turtle had decided to show up at a small beach with quite a few Mexicans and I watched what happened quite closely...
First, the turtle was manhandled in the shore break by a late teens/early twenties Mexican male. The upshot of this and the fact that there were several tourists who came down to have a look and comment was that the guy decided to "help the turtle" and it was carried inverted up the beach and dumped in the sand. Now that the turtle was on land, a group of people gathered around it and the guy who carried it up was maintaining his status and staying in the "thick of it" as the turtle was stood on by little children and sniffed at by all the local dogs (a dozen of them arrived from various resting places along the beach). The tourists are in there too and they appear gentle in their touching but they certainly don't leave the poor creature alone.
Eventually the group dissipates and I decide to watch things from a spot about 150 meters up the beach while I have a beer in the shade. The turtle gets regular visits by dogs and children and adults as the afternoon closes, and the guy who "found" it stays near by but otherwise stays out of things. For its part the turtle does not appear to move and I have to admit, it could be dead although I suspect not.
Night falls and the people on the beach disappear to their evening activities.
When it is quite dark and all the tourists and almost all the locals have left the beach, the turtles self appointed "owner" and three of his young mates move in on the turtle and manhandle it a bit more. I interpreted this as they are waiting for it to lay its eggs but the turtle isn`playing along. After about 15 minutes two of the guys run over to a fishing boat and then come back. The turtle is then dragged by its flippers further up the beach and the group of four are huddled around it for another 10 minutes. Then a car rolls up at my end of the beach with lights on and a couple of tourists get out (new arrivals). But the arrival of the car has caused the group of four to leave the turtle and run and hide in the tree line. When the car leaves, the group cautiously return and then drag the turtle right up to the tree line and huddle around it again. It is now very dark and I can barely see the huddle let alone what they are doing.
Another ten minutes later and the group of four young men come along the beach and disappear into the little village.
So, I go grab my little flashlight and go to see what they have done (which I know cant be good!). It takes me a few minutes to locate it ( by following the drag tracks). The turtle is buried about 20cm deep in a mound of sand - Clearly it is now dead if not before. I dig till I find and edge of the shell and lever it over and out of the sand. The back end of the turtle has been carved open so clearly the young men were after the eggs. There are no eggs and the turtle is otherwise intact as far as I can tell. From all this I assume there is some sort of black market in turtle eggs. The young men definitely knew they were doing something quite bad by waiting till night and their behaviour when the car arrived.
Why didn`t I intervene?- Because I wanted to see what would happen and because I am there for only one night and this could happen every night and because my motorbike is very obvious and easily damaged and I am alone and unable to stay up all night watching for vandals.
So then I sleep the night in the dirty little room (which turns out not to have a working light). In the morning I pack early and get ready to leave, and the guy who rented me the room shows up and sees I'm leaving and puts his hand out and asks for some more money!
I explain that I paid last night and he says yes and keeps his hand out... and I say "more" and he says yes. And I say no and he gets upset... And I say "tip" is for service and there was no service... And he says but the room was cheap and I say but there was no light and the floor was dirty and you clearly hadn´t bothered to clean or sweep or do anything to the place for a long time... He seems to feel that he doesn't need to and that he is entitled to the tip!
... I leave and ride on to my next destination with a very soured opinion of the place.
I dont think its the Mexicans fault though (I`m sure there are plenty of young men in Vancouver who would do just the same). The Mexicans are mostly very nice people. The place was also very nice. Its the peoples behaviours and its their materialistic desires (aka "greed") that do the damage.
And I can`t blame Capitalism either. Capitalism does not "care" and it is an efficient means of getting things done. The problem is that capitalism caters to, and encourages our materialistic greed, and that is bad! In my opinion, Capitalism should only be a subordinate tool to the higher authority of Social values.
The unchecked god of "self" is a vile being!
So I think that it matters not what "ism" you live under (capitalism, socialism, communism, etc), rather it matters if the system "cares" about more than "self", or more about greater good (try defining that though!). Self can be individual, family, tribe, nation, sex, race, religion etc. Caring about more than self involves people, animals, and environment etc.
But you cant just say selfishness is bad since it is in all of us and is an incredibly powerful motivator that will not be denied. So I guess I think that there needs to be a balancing force that also comes from within all of us.
It comes down to human frailty and you cant run and hide from that (I of course,have plenty of my own significant frailties). It seems that we are born with the innate capacity to care and think of more than self but that we actually need to learn to use it. I am not sure about materialistic greed (it also applies to greed for power and status etc but in this case I think materialism was the culprit), it may be the same, but we certainly seem to learn this more easily and at a much younger aged I think thats independent of "capitalism" though not of our social environment.
Clearly the world is a better place when the caring "skill" is more powerful than the greed "skill"!
Lots more thinking to be done on this one...
And now back to riding...
