Gone Chocó
When I arrived in Colombia I was told by a fellow traveller to definitely make my way to the Pacific Coast in Chocó. It’s only accessible by boat (24 hours from Buenaventura to Bahia Solano), or plane, and I wasn’t sure what else there was there aside from whale watching, so I had written it off as a no go zone. BUT, I decided what’s the harm in acting on advice from a random stranger who I knew for all of 2 minutes, and I ventured there anyway.
Thankfully, it was after spending 2 weeks learning Spanish in Medellin, otherwise I would have been in STRUGGLE STREET. No one speaks English in El Valle unless they’re not from there, and there’s not many of those people around. There are two main “destinations” on the Pacific Coast from what I could see; Nuquí and El Valle. I decided on El Valle because there was a hostel there that was rated 9.6, called The Pelican House. I don’t often write about, or name, hostels because this is not one of those blogs, but this hostel deserves a mention. The whole place is built from wood and the dorms have a deliberate space between the top of the walls and the ceilings. What results is views and sounds of the beach from one side, and jungle from the other; it’s magical. The owners, Daniela and Emanuel, have established a beautiful little home with both the beach and jungle at your doorstep, the staff are amazing and it’s just the perfect spot to relax.
After 2 days of doing sweet FA, lazing in the hammock and swimming in the ocean I buddy up with a couple of Frenchies and hike to El Tigre which is a cascade a few hours hike away. The guy leading us through the jungle is not terrible to look at either, so as far as hikes in humid AF heat goes, this one is almost enjoyable. We’ve had to time the hike due to the tides; the tides in this region are insane.. like hundreds of metres… it’s mad. So we’re traipsing through beaches and up and down mountains through the jungle, passing waterfalls along the way, both in the jungle and crashing onto the beach. It’s simply stunning.
Because, as usual, I’ve done no research prior, and the tour book was in Spanish, I really had no idea what to expect on this little adventure into the jungle. So, when we arrived at El Tigre I was happily surprised with this amazing waterfall that has several swimming holes as it cascades down the mountain and onto the beach; straight into the sea when the tide’s up. The water, thankfully, was refreshingly cool and just what I needed after a few hours absolutely sweating balls. We’d chosen the option to get a boat back to save having to retrace our steps but after waiting for about an hour it became pretty obvious the captain had forgotten us. Thankfully, the guide waved down some other random boat and we were on our merry way with a little detour to an even more remote little village; well actually it was only one house, nestled on a beautiful beach with a river running behind. AMAZING!
From the moment I arrived, I could see life is different here in Chocó; it is Afro-Colombia; a much simpler existence, basic housing, some with mud floors; kids don’t have fancy computer games that limit them to indoor, isolated play; instead they play in the street and in the river with friends, backflipping off a bridge into mangroves, playing in the dirt street with toys made out of discarded plastic rubbish. My phone has no service here, those who have TVs have them facing into the street so that friends and family can pull up a chair and join in the action. There are no ‘tour agencies’, no people trying to sell you shit on the beach, the shop to buy food is no bigger than a 7-11, and fresh food produce arrives just once a week.
It’s hot here…. like really damn hot and I’m not even here in the hot season. There is little to no shade except for these incredible trees that grow in a way that create the most amazing shelter from the beating sun. So, when walking to and from town I am darting from one side of the road to the next to try and gain as much shade as possible under their branches. When it’s not swelteringly sunny and hot, it’s usually raining; this place gets so much rain that it’s been dubbed one of the wettest, and most humid, places in the world.
The landscape is wild, jungle all the way to the sea, black sand, waterfalls crashing onto beaches. It hasn’t been developed for tourism yet, the local life is authentic, so you feel like you are in a part of the world that hasn’t been damaged by human settlement or tourism. That is, except for the plastic! It is EVERYWHERE; on the streets, in the rivers, washing up on the shores of the beaches, it even get’s washed into the jungle. Given the size of this town, compared with the quantity of the rubbish, this is clearly being washed in from the ocean. Whether it’s travelling all the way from the other side of the Pacific Ocean, or is a product of rubbish being dumped here in the ocean, or, most likely, a combination of both, it’s truly very sad. At one point when walking through the jungle, we were walking on a massive pile of rubbish… no natural terrain to be seen beneath.
As an ignorant tourist you initially think, “why don’t they do beach clean ups and pick it up as it washes in?”. But then when you talk to the locals you’ll be enlightened to know that that’s just moving the problem. There is no recycling station here; the government for the department of Chocó has distributed funds to other priorities. You could move the rubbish to the rubbish tip, but now the problem is so bad that the plastics from the rubbish tip are in the soil and rivers, and are now causing health issues for the local indigenous communities that live in the area. So, moving the rubbish from the beach to the tip is just moving the problem out of the sight of tourists and isn’t actually fixing anything.
There are some things that stick with you when you learn about them because they are just so shocking to you. This is, for me, one of those things. It’s not an isolated issue either; when in Greece a few years ago I was driving around an island when I came across a massive mountain of rubbish. It was almost the same size as some of the natural mountains on the island. My friends, who have lived in Cayman Island for years, tell me that the highest point on the island is called Mount Trashmore. It’s a pile of trash so high that it is now the highest point they have. Sadly, I’m sure there are many other examples around the world, the same, or worse.
What needs to happen for humans to realise the negative impact we have on the world? Plastic was created by humans, doesn’t break down for up to 1000 years, less than 20% is actually recycled, a large portion is unable to be recycled (pretty much only numbers 1 & 2 can be recycled, and that’s not a toilet joke) and as a sweeping generalisation, I’m going to say that most plastic products we use today are actually unnecessary, and we already have better and more sustainable alternatives. So why do we continue to blindly purchase products cased in plastic? And drink through straws? Like seriously… who decided we were suddenly unable to use our mouths to drink directly from a glass?
In Australia we are sheltered, and aren’t really exposed to the impacts these products are having on the world. Every week the council comes and takes our rubbish out of sight; we have ‘recycling facilities’ that we probably blindly think recycle everything we put in our recycling bins. When we walk on our beaches they look pretty clean… we don’t necessarily see the organisations like Sea Shepherd Australia, who organise volunteers to do beach clean ups every week around Australia. Our streets are clean, not because we don’t have rubbish, but because we pay people to clean up after us when we throw our trash on the ground even though there are bins every 20 or so metres in the city.
It has certainly made me rethink some choices I’ve made over the years, for example, purchasing bottles of body wash cased in plastic, un-recyclable. Since when was a bar of soap unable to do the trick? Open any under-the-sink cupboard in Australia and you’ll find a bunch of different cleaning products all housed in similar materials, window cleaner, car cleaner, detergent, bleach, etc. Plastic toothbrushes….. The list goes on. I’ve made small changes over the years in obvious areas like plastic bags, plastic water bottles, and reducing the use of beauty products and make-up. But really, I’ve barely scratched the surface.
There are some great resources online that can help to educate about easy changes you can make to reduce your impact on waste. There are a million and one bloggers online with tips on zero waste lifestyles and how you can reduce, reuse and replace some of the plastic products that have become part of your daily lifestyle. The audience reading this is like all of 12 people, but maybe if all 12 of you stop and reflect for a moment about your own personal use of plastics, and make some changes then at least we won’t be continuing to add to the problem and can instead work out a way to fix the damage already done.
Now, I could turn this blog into a shit sandwich and finish with some other great stories about my time on the Pacific Coast so that you’re not left feeling like crap. But, where’s the fun in that? If we, humans, engineered plastic, then surely we are capable of engineering a solution… Until then, we can all do our part in reducing our contribution to this growing problem.
