PLAYA BLANCA LODGE

PUNTA ALLEN MEXICO

     I have spent my fare share of time roaming the flats and beaches of Mexico.  I guess in search of my own destiny and I always leave with bursts of energy that keep me going until my next trip down. I have always found Mexico and the people to be very warm-hearted and comforting.  Most people see Mexico as a tourist destination or a place that harbors drugs and now the swine flu. Go figure.  There is so much to see and the wonder of this country still amazes me each time I visit.      

     Because I am a fisherman my job takes me to some pretty amazing places around the world. I am always drawn back to this place.  My spirit seems to be at home here and I feel that I was probably a Mayan fisherman in my former life,  but who knows?  I just like it here. I like to spend my days on the flats return to camp enjoy a nice cool drink and then head down to the beach for a nice long, peaceful walk and sounds of the ocean. The thing about the ocean and the beaches here is, we look at them as a place of beauty because of the photos we see in travel magazines. In a way it is, but not really what it is.  Why do I say this?  Because our consumption of drinking bottles and other assorted plastic containers ends up here in Mexico on the beaches and it makes the wonderful place a trash dump. I have found medical waste and or strange things down here, but I think the biggest mystery is single shoes.  Just plain, single shoes that have drifted  ashore and are lost from the owner.  Many thoughts go through my mind,  “who do they belong to and where did they come from?”. If these shoes could talk what stories would they tell?  Where have they traveled to and where is the mate and why did they end up in the ocean?

      I have heard stories that they belong to Cubans that have tried to swim from the holds of Castro or that people have thrown them off cruise ships for good luck. It still amazes me on how and why they are here. They range from different styles and sizes and never have I found a match. I think that if Tom Hanks had done the movie “Castaway” here, he would not of had to take them off a dead guy. He could of easily found them on the beaches of eastern Mexico. Do you think that the owner ever thinks of “where the hell did I put that shoe?” or I wonder where that shoe I left on the beach went. I once found a nice looking boot laying on the beach. I went to pick it up but to my surprise I found a large crab making it a home. I guess there are other uses for them after all. My good friend and traveling buddy blew out his flip flop in some mud exploring a back country lagoon and I told him to look on the beach and try to find something that would match.  We walked the beach in search for something for him to wear home but I think that all the shoes that washed ashore are from Cubans or Mexicans because a size 12 could not be found anywhere.

So the mystery continues on whom these shoes belonged to. I personally believe that the shoes belonged to people walking on the beach. You know how you leave your shoes sitting on the beach while you walk along the beach gazing at the wonders of the sea? The waves wash up onto the shore carrying your shoes away and their journey begins. One shoe ends up in Mexico the other in Brazil.  I guess it will always be a thought that goes through my mind whenever I am walking the beaches. The thought of who the hell lost this shoe will forever puzzle me while I am fishing in Mexico.