Semana Santa—Holy Week—is the big Spring Break-type beach party weekend for Mexico. There was a slow buildup throughout the week, but Thursday is when the flood came, and the partying kicked into full gear.
I say it is like their Spring Break, but it’s really not like a bunch of American college kids showing up on a Mexican beach to party. About half the crowd are extended families, and the other half are groups of friends there to get sunburned, dance, and drink. A fun, carefree crowd, and not a wet t-shirt contest to be seen. We enjoyed the people watching anyway.
The beach, obviously, was packed. So much so that on Saturday we even decided not to bring the surfboard along. It was too dangerous. About a block into the walk Ouest looked over at me and yelled out, “You forgot the surfboard, Papa!” Sorry, kid. “Awwww.”
On Sunday morning the mass exodus was underway. Thousands of people walking the streets, roller bags in hand, headed for the bus station. We passed them on our way to the Urgent Care clinic. Lowe is sick, and spent the rest of the day in bed.
Some friends in the campground were sitting around this morning when their seven-year-old girl asked why the Easter Bunny didn’t come to see her. They hadn’t really thought she would notice, or care, but she did. So the dad snuck off in the afternoon, bought some candy, and sprinkled it around the campground. Our kids don’t know anything about the Easter Bunny, but when Ouest caught wind of what was going on—a candy hunt—she was off with the rest of them.
She returned with four pieces of gum. She held them up to me, and I told her what they were. She was disappointed. As far as she’s concerned gum is for adults. She’s never had a piece, and being the parents we are we just never brought it up. So anyway, I opened up a wrapper and told her she could give it a try. She took a small bite, held it in her mouth for a few seconds, and spit it out.
“No good?” I asked.
“No, I like it, Papa.”
She just doesn’t know what the purpose of gum is—she only knows that I told her not to swallow it. So now she takes a nibble off a piece of gum, chews it a couple of times, and spits it out in the dirt.
I could have corrected her I suppose, but I kind of like this way better.
This is the campground right next door to us. I took this picture from on top of our bus.
The crowd waking up Saturday morning.
Coming alive around noon.
Okay, so the big uproar by the gringo community over this holiday seems to revolve around two things. One of which was alluded to in the comments of my last post. “I can’t wait until the weekend is over so that we can have our beach back.” Ugh.
The second is, “Look at the mess they leave behind. They don’t care about the environment!” They, of course, being Mexicans.
The gringos speak as if the locals are heathens. My reply is to ask what they would do if there was no waste management program in their hometown? Take a look at what happened in Naples, Italy, just a few years ago. Their landfills filled up, their government didn’t solve the problem in time, and the Italians just started dumping their garbage in the streets. Hundreds of thousands of tons of garbage. In Italy.
So what happens in a city like Sayulita that doesn’t even have a city government? Obviously someone needs to step up and address the problem—and pay for it as well. As far as I can tell, that job fell to the business owners, who by eight o’clock in the morning had the biggest section of party-beach looking like this.
To expect a bunch of people in the midst of a party to pick up their garbage, bag it, and deliver it to their car (because there are no municipal garbage containers), is ridiculous. All the gringos acting high and mighty need to get off their pedestal.
Headline, July 7th, 2014: 2,300 Pounds of Trash Litter Tahoe Beaches After Fireworks Show
Headline, July 7th, 2014: Volunteers Clean Up 3,400 Pounds of Litter from Jacksonville Beach
These are American cities that certainly had a budget for this, and who I am sure had plenty of trash receptacles available.
Heathens.
[Note: Ali has been reading me comments on this subject from a Facebook group that she follows, and has gotten me a little riled up.]
Ouest constructed a house for Fairies. And she fully expects that they will need to eat. And I, of course, because I am a gullible father, will take the food off in the night. And Ali, because she is a sweet mother, will give me a sucker to leave behind for the wonderful girl who fed them. And Ouest, upon discovering this in the morning will squeal with her hands over her mouth in delight.
All right, so this is a stupid game, but the kids wanted to see me do it. Throw a rock, break a bottle, win a beer. Two in a row, win two beers. All three, win a six-pack. The game is stupid because the only way to come out ahead is to throw three rocks and break three bottles. At least I started out good.
24 Comments on “Semana Santa”
Your picture of the tents from the top of the bus brought back memories of last year’s semana santa when we were in Bahia Concepción. I always wonder how they all manage to find their own tents in the dark after a day on the beach.
I see your point about the garbage but I just can’t condone anyone leaving their trash behind, be they Mexicans in Sayulita or Americans at Lake Tahoe. If someone had the wherewithal to carry it in (full), they can certainly carry it back out (empty, an therefore, lighter). Sorry to say but it appears to me that the “Don’t Be A Litterbug” campaign is just very late getting to Mexico. And it’s not just during Semana Santa and it’s also not just in cities that have no trash-collection infrastructure.
My point wasn’t that littering is okay, it was simply that when it comes to a giant party on the beach, we Americans are no better than the Mexicans. Of course it would be great if there was a big government run litterbug campaign here, and throughout Africa, and in the Pacific Islands, and in Southeast Asia, etc.. But there isn’t. So what’s America’s excuse? Basically, I just can’t stand the gringos down here that act like they are so much better than the Mexicans. It gets under my skin.
Agree. Pack out your trash.
I agree. As my dear Mother always cautioned me, two “wrongs” do not make a “right”.
In Pat’s behalf, perhaps his sample size is a little too small. Here in Cuyutlán we had trash pick up one half block from the beach three times a day. Sunday morning I could hear the garbage truck before dawn, picking up the trash that had been carried the half block to the street. The beach is still very littered, although some people did sort of pile it up into easier piles to deal with than just scattered randomly all over the beach.
I love the energy and fun of Semana Santa, spent last year in Ricon Guayabitos, and a day in Sayulita during the easter weekend. Have also spent the same weekend on the beach in Zihuatenjo and have always been invited by some lovely family to join in on their fun and my husband and I don’t even speak spanish. Trash is the same at any large festival – you should see Vancouver after the Fireworks Festival each year and don’t even get me started about what can happen here when a specific hockey game goes wrong….
I’ve spent a couple of Semana Santas at Bahia Concepcion and always found it awesome. At the time we were the only gringos among a throng of Mexicans and were warmly welcomed into extended family BBQ’s, singalongs, etc. That some gringos, after spending a good chunk of their year there, get indignant about the locals celebrating in their country is almost inconceivable. Was the place trashed? Yes. Was it picked up a couple of days later? Yes. Clean or relatively clean beaches are their bread and butter.
I have never seen tents put up so close together EVER! holy cow. It is sad that so many people spend time in a country and culture they don’t try to appreciate. I have always been really blown away by how friendly Mexicans are and how family oriented they are . . . partly because I’m not trying to take a vacation with my parents (AND my kids) anytime soon.
Hey! Congrats on winning a beer.
BTW – Have you ever seen the movie Barefoot. It is not that good but has a Dodge very similar to the Bumfuzzle bus. It is even the same color. It’s on NetFlix instant streaming. Thought you might enjoy seeing the bus.
Mark
Mark and Cindy
Netflix streaming? I haven’t had Netflix anything since 2003 when it still took like ten days to turn around a dvd in the mail to Chicago because their only distribution point was somewhere in California. 🙂
He Pat… you da man!!! You know how to win a beer for your bride 🙂 Loved this post.
4th of July mess is the worst!! Yea! You won some “beah” as Ouest says. I love it!
I love that Ali read you comments that got you riled, it affirms my suspicion that she has a wicked sense of humor. Also love Ouest’s toothless grin.
Wait, if the fairies have suckers why wouldn’t they just eat those?
See, kids know better than to ask questions like that. 🙂
Love the dancing pictures-I’ve never seen a tuba being played on the beach 🙂 it looks like you captured some happy people in that photo.
Deborah (SVwrightaway)
Does it seem that there’s any recycling of plastics, metals, glass from the rubbish / trash collected, Pat?
Barriles de alegria ! Me imagino donde estan los banos para tanta gente ? Cercanos , seguramente.
MF
cultures are different. My sister lived in Gautemala for many years at Lake Atitlan and being a “good” American was upset my all the trash left everyplace. Si she and some other out of towners with some locals started putting big trash cans around the pueblo at soccer fields etc. Locals still just threw their trash where ever..including right next to the trash barrels that were put out. One local explained it as everything use to be wrapped in biodegradable things ..like leaves so the locals(Mayans) don’t see the need to collect trash. Most of the pueblos trash is jut thrown over the side of the hill. Interesting take on the issue, at least for me.
Ay se extraño mucho a Mexico! I spent Semana Santa on the beaches of Oaxaca with a group of friends from Veracruz in 2011. Memories! Fresh oysters on the beach, caguamas, seeing my first whale…
The amount of trash left on the national mall in Washington DC after the 4th of July each year is huge. There are many trash receptacles set out; but they are overflowing by lunchtime, and people are still arriving 8 hours after that. The next morning the Parks Department crews of ‘extras’ are out on a cleaning effort that takes three days.
The fact that Mexican’s come to the beach to party in large groups with family’s all around and don’t do stupid wet tee contest or even dumber stuff makes them, in my estimation pretty cool. I have always admired their family values.
You’ve got your little girl surfing with you, that is pretty fucking cool man. You should come to Australia again bro we surf like the waves here :-), I must admit though Mexico looks absolutely beautiful!
We live in Panama, where raw sewage is pumped into the ocean directly in front of a resort hotel. Partially treated toxic waste is pumped into Panama Bay from the city as well. When I checked for similar disgusting degradation of the environment in the US, I found an article about raw sewage being pumped into the ocean off the coast of Hollywood Beach, FL. Does this make it OK for Panama too? Here, with the enormous profits raked in by the canal, there is no excuse for contaminating the environment & putting public health at risk. Neither in the states-2 wrongs don’t make a right. Maybe the same gringos that get upset about trashing the environment in Mexico or Panama feel it’s horrible wherever it occurs? More like a save the planet attitude…
Actually, there is local government in place. There are taxes collected and distributed for the operation of the town.
The bigger question is how are they distributed.
It is not just the gringos fired up about it….. I love your blog but your anti-gringo thing is almost amusing…. not quite, but close.
You are just visiting….. take it for what it is worth and think about your attitude towards the trash while your kids surf in sewage.
There are many cleaner beaches and, while you wonder why your boy is sick, consider them.
More than one person has needed serious medical intervention after chronic time in the water there.
Peace,
Frank