a natural excursion

loké - the journal of making - understanding, 2019

tourists swimming through chum

as the boat entered the bay, slowing its engines, the tour guide announced that the sightseers were in for a surprise. their tanned bodies, glistening with sunblock under the hot mexican sun, looked out towards the water, trying to assess what surprise might possibly await them now that they had coasted so far from civilization at the terminus of a two hour boat ride.

from across the bay two small boats launched in unison from a small dock. the first slowly maneuvered towards the ship while a second plied towards a dark patch of ocean closer to the shoreline. as this dance occurred around the sightseeing vessel, its crew began to tear up the cushions from the prow. they assured their captive audience that they were in for a real treat. the type of experience they wouldn't have access to back home in canada, or in the american midwest.

after a few more minutes of waiting, a dark creature waddled clumsily from the first boat onto the deck. it was a very large and aged sea lion. leashed and with a bloody gash on its nose, the animal was paraded in front of the assembled day-trippers while its handler coaxed the animal to carry out a series of party favors in exchange for treats. the tourists were then asked if anyone was interested in giving albert a hug. one by one the assembled audience raised their hands to volunteer to hug and kiss the enslaved mammal while nearby guides snapped selfies for them to post on their social media accounts to elicit the envy of their friends and family back home. as a young woman approached to get their picture taken, the handler effused that with pretty ladies albert liked to ‘french’ kiss. on this prompt the sea lion extended its long dry tongue and licked the young woman's face, as the assembled crowd applauded and jeered.

while the attention of the day trippers was focused on albert, the crew of the second small boat took advantage of the distraction to draw fish to the nearby snorkeling cove. dumping large buckets of chum into the clear waters, fish of all shapes and sizes soon materialized from below the surface to feast on the slurry.

wrapping up their photo shoot, the crew transported albert back to shore while the vacationers donned their life jackets and snorkeling masks. pulling up to the chum filled portion of the bay, the sightseers were dropped one by one into the soupy waters. brushing chunks of meat aside as they paddled along the surface, their gazes focused down towards the sea floor and its tropical wildlife.

while nature abounds in the wilds of mexico, there is also a synthetic nature that has been fabricated to fulfill the tourism economy. while the fish and the sea lions are real, they have been inserted into a rigid economy and schedule. they have been sexualized to provide an element of family eroticism to visitors from abroad. they have been drawn from the depths of the ocean to perform, with the promise of simple rewards.