Musings on Temple Lagoon

Mayan Temple Lagoon from Agent M on Vimeo.

While i was on a filming mission the other day, i had a picnic lunch in a very remarkable location. It's on the Riviera Maya in Puerto Aventuras, just south of Playa del Carmen.As geography would have it, this location is not easy to find,and is definately not advertised on any Ruta Maya map that i know of. In fact during the 2 years i was living quite close to it i never paid a visit, definately an over sight on my on part. Which is why i am delighted to make this film. 

What makes this place so special is the beauty of the natural lagoon, its meditative tranquility, the color of its waters, and to cap it off, a tiny Mayan Temple that is standing there peacefully watching over the lagoon.

I have already ranted on in polymics i have written about The CondoQuest of Paradise , about how many developers along the Riviera Maya have gone rampant in their zeal to build at all costs, and no matter the cost to the delicate ecological environment along the coast, or without any aesthetic integration of the venacular, or without a fundamental sense of planning for the increased population. 

The transition for many locals here has been from a little fishing village to Wallmart over night.

I know this area is perhaps still the fastest growing region in Latin America,and the pressure for progress over rides just about everything.

Till you find yourself in a place like Temple Lagoon.

Then you begin to slow down a bit, and remind yourself where you are living. This is not a suburb of the USA, it's the Yucatan. And there are uniquely wonderful treasures here, like Temple Lagoon that remind us what this part of the world is all about, why it is unique, why it is worth preserving. 

Preservation & conservation are words that many developers choke on, because they mean there is some thing sitting on a choice piece of Real Estate that is blocking their expansion; The CondoQuest.They don't like it because their fundamental point of reference for developing anywhere is money; not antiquity. Unfortunately and all to frequenty their reference is not ecologically based either.

Now with the inevitable fact of progress bearing down upon us, (the ever expanding suburban sprawl of PA is in fact very close, perhaps less than 1km away...) here at Temple Lagoon we have both points to consider. 

To be preserved and protected 1: a beautiful pristine lagoon ecosystem and 2: an ancient Mayan ruin, no doubt of considerable archeological significance.

The 3rd factor is Progress, and we can't deny it,  we are part of it. So what's going to happen when 1 & 2 collide with 3?

As far as protecting relics of antiquity, does the Mexican government have regulations for unique situations like this when there is one tiny Mayan ruin standing alone in the path of a building tsunami? I don't know. I hope so. Ecologically this is still a pristine natural lagoon, full of marine life that depend on a delicate balance of factors that even the best marine biologists are still trying to unravel. This is not a man made marina for humans on boats to pollute the water.

It's a little piece of how it was here on the Yucatan. 

Ask that Temple.

That Temple knows how it was. How is it gonna be?

Well if the CondoQuest of Paradise ( i used Vangelis's music from Ridley Scott's film 1492 for my video) is going to continue the way it has i don't foresee a harmonic convergence.

Heres a sujestion.

I would sujest that perhaps one future meeting between Real Estate Developers & Construction Engineers & Architects & Ecologists & Archeologists & Politicians & Property Investors & the local Mayan brothers would convene IN the lagoon, floating in the waters, preferably naked, to take in the peace and serenity of this location, and allow the experience of this to inform their better judgement. 

I just would't want this little film of mine to be an archive of this place for posterity.