Swimming here may
be one of the last things you do in life. Even breathing the
gentle salt air could mean a casual visit to your physician
of record.
There are other ways
to cross the border and being launched over it by circus cannon
does work. Since no one in their right mind will visit this
place, blasting people over the border into a nice big net seems
perfectly normal.
You may also encounter
diverse colonies of immigrant peoples digging at the low tide
mark. They are harvesting clams. Whatever the arbitrary state
and federal rules and regulations governing such collecting,
the California Fish and Game authorities are many miles away
and so most days, huge potato sacks of clams are eagerly collected
for later sale in distant ethnic communities.
That these clams
absorb the vast streams of nutrients flowing from the estuary
and park means that beaches farther on will receive less. Medical
care is provided to all in America and a weekend ethnic clam
bake followed by a quick visit to a local hospital ER is fully
covered by the taxpayer.
If you are wondering
how bad these clams really are, the data is on file. Shellfish
samples from the area tested for E. coli and other bacterial
contamination offer 23,000 mpn (most probable number) per 100
grams of tissue which exceeds the maximum allowed by law by
a factor of 153 times. Yes, that is not a misprint. That is
not 1.53 or 15.3 it is 153 times the maximum allowable bacterial
contamination.
"White
sandy beach" combined with "fluids that spontaneously
combust" do not make for a happy vacation holiday.
The violence along
this part of the border is almost comical. In the photo above
we have a bright, sunny July day at the U.S. / Mexico border
at California's Border Field State Park. Please note that the
entire California State Park is devoid of visitors except a
covy of very well armed U.S. Border Patrol Agents in five vehicles
including three paddy wagons with special air filtration systems
and stainless steel interiors for their passengers-to-be.
