Day 107: Garbage Picking in Mexico

I am taking a quick break from my $10.00 give today as a GIVE came up I wanted to share.

I am vacationing in Playa Del Carmen, Mexico where my sister lives. It is a beautiful, hot vacation spot with long white beaches and lots of Mexican culture to enjoy. Music fills the air in the evenings and the hot sun warms my cold Canadian body to the core. There is nothing like going to bed in the evening with that feeling of the sun still warm on your skin.

There is always some kind of culture shock whenever you go to a country that is different than your own. The language, the smells, sights and how the locals live. I have been to Mexico many times now in my life. As I mentioned my sister lives here and my parents live just outside of Guadalajara. It always amazes me how differently we live from the local Mexicans. Both Mexican coasts are full of tourist and beautiful resorts but there is a disregard for something as simple as garbage here that always reminds me how diverse many cultures are around the world.

I find it impossible to walk down such a beautiful beach without doing my part to clean up just a little of the garbage that is left by both locals and the tourists.

Day 107: Give 107

When I visit a new place whether is be somewhere in Vancouver, California, Toronto or Mexico I can do something to leave it a little better than when I arrived. I am blessed I get to travel so much with my family and to visit my family. There are many people in the world that would dream to go to unknown places they have never seen before. My “thing” is garbage picking. This is not my first post about garbage picking. I do it without thinking.

When I was a child we used to drive to Florida every year and I have vivid memories of my father taking long walks on the beach and always picking garbage along the way. When I lived in Toronto in the “Beaches” area, every morning I would walk the beach with my dogs with an extra bag just to pick up all the garbage that would wash up from Lake Ontario or that was left behind from we called the “tourists” visiting our “hood.”

Today I walked the beach and couldn’t believe the amount of garbage that would end up in the ocean with just one strong wind. Plastic bottles, beer caps, water bottle caps, cigarette butts – the list was never ending. I regretted not bringing a bag with me to do what I could as we walked along. Every time I saw a resort hotel within our reach I would pick up what I could knowing I would find a garbage somewhere near the beach. I was in luck today as my wish came true and I rescued the ocean from one more plastic bag. I picked up a wet sandy plastic bag and filled it with the help of my Dad, step Mom and son as we walked back. As my wise father said – “we can only do what we can do.”

I didn’t save the planet today but maybe I saved one fish from getting stuck in a plastic ring or someone from stepping on a sharp beer bottle cap.  Maybe a few people even noticed we were taking the time to stop and pick the garbage and just maybe they will so it as well. Or just maybe you are reading this and the next time you go out your door or you are on holidays in a beautiful place, you will take the time to keep to leave it a little better than when you arrived.

My holiday will not only be fantastic with my family but it will feel really great I left the Mayan Riviera a little cleaner than when I came.

Time Commitment: part of a walk I was doing anyways and got some extra exercise bending down to pick up the garbage

Cost: 0