Popular Los Cabos Tourist Areas Gets Deep Cleaning After Foul Odors

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Last Updated 7 months ago

In recent days, the Los Cabos Marina has been affected by foul odors after unidentified people illegally poured smelly water right in front of the popular shopping plaza located on this site. 

Locals are now working to address the issue thanks to a cleaning campaign launched by Mario Meave, with the collaboration of the Los Cabos government. 

But what happened exactly?

The initiative

On February 28th, someone illegally poured malodorous water into the Los Cabos Marina, affecting thousands of tourists.

Those responsible have not yet been identified, and, unfortunately, the police are still uncertain about how to deal with this issue and prevent it from happening in the future. 

Business owners in the area quickly shared their concern for the event, stating how the bad odor would ruin Los Cabos’ reputation as one of Mexico’s top destinations for luxury tourism. 

However, locals quickly decided to address the problem by organizing a cleaning campaign. 

According to local news, citizens led by Mario Meave, with the support of the Federal Maritime and Terrestrial Zone (Zofemat) employees, carried out a deep cleaning of the El Farito area, where most of the bad odor was concentrated. 

Mario Meave shared his cleaning campaign through social media and managed to gather several people willing to help out with this initiative. 

The volunteers started by cleaning the area from trash, removing several large bags of garbage.

Later on, a tanker truck carrying drinking water as well as cleaning supplies, including brooms, vinegar, and chlorine, arrived in the El Farito area to support the cleaning initiative. 

According to locals, this area is popular not only among tourists but also among athletes and fishermen. Unfortunately, however, this place is also frequently visited by homeless people who, due to the lack of public toilets in the area, have no alternative but to relieve themselves here. 

In this regard, Mario Meave declared: “We must keep it clean, it is a matter of culture (..) You can’t come sit on the stones because it smells like urine.”

He later added how everyone should contribute to keeping the area clean: “If you come to walk with your family, you have to pick up the trash.”

Los Cabos’ cleanliness: A recurrent issue

Unfortunately, this is not the first time Los Cabos’ tourists are affected by poor cleanliness in the area. 

According to recent exit surveys, the number one complaint from visitors visiting this municipality is the amount of trash found here.  

Commenting on the issue, Ricardo Araoz, the President of the Colonos del Médano Association, commented: “As the garbage bins are very far away, people throw the garbage in the streams (…) but when it rains it comes to the sea and we, together with the ZOFEMAT workers, the city council and those who work on the beach, collect it.”

He later added: “But there is too much garbage. We have gone so far as to collect refrigerators and mattresses. We found all of that on the beach.” 

So, what is the Los Cabos government doing to address this issue? 

Local cleaning initiatives

Unfortunately, local authorities still don’t know how to deal with people illegally pouring smelly water into the Cabo San Lucas Marina. 

However, they recently carried out several cleaning initiatives to address tourists’ complaints. 

Right after the exit survey’s results were published, the Los Cabos’ Mayor, Oscar Leggs Castro, decided to hire new people to address the issue. 

In an interview, he declared: “We are already working [on this issue]. In fact, next week, another temporary employment will begin on behalf of the public service to be able to deal with these types of situations.”

Despite this, not all municipalities in Baja California Sur seem to be on the same page. Just a few days ago, authorities in the municipality of La Paz decided to remove all trash cans on their beaches as, according to them, these were having a negative effect on the cleanliness of the area.

Talking about this issue, La Paz’s Mayor, Milena Quiroga Romero, said: “We are going to remove the containers because it is actually part of the problem. The more garbage cans we put on the beaches, the more garbage will be generated.”

It is still unclear whether this unusual initiative will result in cleaner beaches in La Paz or worsen the problem.