Mexico 2012 RV Trip - Day 81 - March 16, 2012 Las Glorias

Today was overcast and cool. We took a walk on the beach this morning and wore our sweatshirts – and bug spray!  The mosquitos here are fierce. We noticed about fifteen of these structures along the beach. Any guesses as to what they are? (Answer at the bottom of post.)

Several different groups of men were in the water and we went to check it out. They were bundled up in windbreakers, yet soaked to their waists in the chilly water. From a distance we thought they were fishing with nets, but it turned out they were harvesting mussels. 

They used the shovel-like tool to dig in the sand which was scooped into the net. They drag that along the bottom as they go, filling the net and draining out the sand. When the net is full, they come back to shore and dump the shells into the huge orange crates. It looked like hard, back-breaking work.

When the orange crates were full, they dumped part of the shells into the green basket. Two men then shook the basket and the empty shells and ones that were too small fell through the cracks.  There are piles of the broken shells all along the shoreline.

We asked these men the Spanish word for mussels and the guy in green wrote it in the sand so we would be sure to get it right! In Spanish they are called “choro.”

This afternoon a couple of tractors were digging ditches on the beach from the water all the way to the buildings near the street. An American woman who lives here told us they are preparing for  Semana Santa (Easter Holy Week). This beach is a very popular Mexican tourist destination – especially during holidays. The ditches are to discourage people from driving on the beach. With hundreds of people here at that time, they hope to cut down on the number of people who are hit by cars! Many of the Mexicans still “drink and drive” here during the holidays. She also told us that the “dunes” we are parked by are man-made, also to make it more difficult for cars to get onto the beach. After Easter Week they will clear them out.

Okay, did you figure out what the structure in the first picture was yet? We weren’t sure either and asked an older Mexican man about them. Are you ready? Did you guess hunting blinds? Wrong. How about turtle egg preserves? Wrong, again. They are actually banos (bathrooms)! There is nothing inside them, just a blind set up to give you a little privacy to do your thing! No prize if you guessed correctly, just tuck that tidbit of information away just in case you find yourself in need when you are here on the beach!

GPS 25.29303°N, 108.51808°W