Drifting with the atmosphere: an unusual Sunday

Greetings, dear readers of Weekend Experiences. I’m a volunteer with the Spanish Red Cross, and last Sunday we were called upon to participate in an environmental activity to help protect the environment. In addition to assisting the injured and supporting immigrants, the Red Cross also carries out various environmental initiatives. That’s why a group of volunteers gathered in the town where I live, La Herradura, on the tropical coast of Andalusia. The event had two objectives: to collect polluting waste in an area of the beach at the end of the bay, and then to go on a kayaking excursion to collect water samples and analyze them for microplastics.

When the day began, it wasn't cloudy, but there wasn't much sun. I felt excited because I had never gone kayaking before. New activities give you mixed feelings—they're a little scary, but they also get you excited. I put on my bikini, grabbed the shoes I wear to go into the water (the beach at La Herradura is full of rocks), grabbed a hat to protect myself from the sun, a long-sleeved shirt, a towel, dry clothes to change into when I got back from the water, and I put on some moisturizer. I didn’t bring my cell phone.

When Daniel and I arrived at the meeting point, we saw some tourists who were about to head out to sea in kayaks, but we didn’t see anyone from the Red Cross. That’s when I realized I’d left my cell phone at home. We figured they’d arrive a little later, so I asked Daniel to take some photos of me. I walked over to the kiosk where the people renting out the kayaks were, and a man greeted me and said he was also a Red Cross volunteer, and that no one else had arrived yet. Pedro. We saw a Red Cross van drive by, but it kept going. Shortly after, three more volunteers arrived.

Pedro decided to call the head of the environmental department; it turned out they had changed the meeting point, and they had been picking up trash on the beach for over an hour. That’s because there was nowhere to park where we were. They sent a message, but we hadn’t seen it. I explained the situation to Daniel, who had stayed behind for a while enjoying the beach; we said goodbye, and I went to where the Red Cross group was and started searching for and picking up polluting waste myself—plastics that people throw on the beach, cigarette butts, and I even found a piece of broken brick, construction debris. By then, at noon, the sun was much stronger.

Some say that common sense is the least common of the senses. That’s absolutely true. Daniel’s daughter (my current partner)—she runs a diving school—warned me that if I’d never kayaked before, I’d be better off going with someone who knew how to kayak. I didn’t listen to her. The logical thing would have been to listen to her, but I got into the kayak to head out to sea with two young women who didn’t know how to kayak either. Because they were the only people I knew in the group. It was a very foolish decision that had consequences.

The three of us decided to use the restroom before heading out to sea, and we ended up running late. They had already given instructions on how to handle the kayak. A man came back to explain to us, very quickly, how it was done. It’s not easy, especially if you’re with another person. The instructor didn’t explain clearly to us that the person in front is the one who propels the kayak forward, and the person in the back is the one who steers if the kayak needs to change direction, but the person in the back must follow the pace set by the person in front. We did everything wrong; the person in the back was setting the pace and giving instructions, because some people just like to be in charge. I was in the middle and had neither paddles nor a say. And really, I had nothing to say.

What happened? We weren’t making any progress—or were moving very slowly—and ended up all alone in the middle of the sea. We watched the rest of the group quickly swim away toward a cave that’s apparently very beautiful, but we couldn’t see it. We were out in the blazing sun, exhausted, and not getting very far, and when the group returned, a man came over to help us and started giving us directions, which is how we managed to get back to the beach. Very tired, sunburned, and in a bad mood. The moral of the story: we need to realize that we often make bad decisions that have negative consequences for ourselves. What was the right thing to do? Use common sense, of course—get in the kayak with someone who knew how to paddle. What could have been a pleasant activity because of the setting turned into something very unpleasant.

Since my native language is not English, I have had to rely on the Deepl.com platform to translate this article into English.