I am a "gringa" living in Celestun since 1995. While I agree with Andrew re: garbage, I disagree completely with where to place the blame.

When I first visited the Yucatan Peninsula in 1975, the streets in Merida were primarily dirt. The road to Celestun was none existent. The only way to arrive in Merida was to fly into Cancun and drive to Merida. Since then, I have seen the "first world" arrive without any sense of responsiblity. We have imported our "throw-away" culture in the form of plastic bags, plastic bottles, plastic EVERYTHING, styrofoam containers, glasses, plates, and non-repairable items ad infinitum. As a consequence, this area experienced a sudden BARRAGE of discardable items that this third world town (and ALL third world towns by the way) was unable to handle. Prior TO this importation of disposible items, the Mexican people used and RE-used EVERYTHING they produced.

You want to place blame??? Where are the companies that produce this garbage without consideration of where they will end up?? Why isn't COKE, PEPSI, all the PLASTIC, STYROFOAM companies that PROFIT from these items here to HELP CLEAN UP the items they import???

Yes, this country has problems. But, as a citizen of the USA, I can affirm then we too have the same problems although probably not visible where most people live and travel. Question is: how can we be part of the SOLUTION rather than part of the PROBLEM???

Sincerely,
Marilyn Britton