river

The River of Bottles

No one knows for sure how the first bottle arrived. Perhaps a neighbor found it in the way of the house and decided to throw it out the window. Or a passerby thought that this sort of half-dry stream was an “opportune” place to leave it and continue their journey.

There are no witnesses who saw who threw the first one into what was once a stretch of river. Perhaps the person who did it saw no harm in it and was simply a reflex action of someone with few standards of coexistence and social responsibility.

While there is no way to know this exact number, what is certain is that after the first one came the second, the third, the fourth, the fifth… the fiftieth, the hundredth… An infinite number of plastic containers that gradually took over a good part of that area.

There you can see variety, because these containers are as diverse as their former contents or the habits of their former owners. Without a doubt, although some consider it insignificant or too basic. A bottle cap says a lot about its owner.

They come in small and large, light and dark colors, of different shapes, and some cleaner than others. Together, they create an unusual and somewhat depressing sight for those who walk by or come to make their “contribution.”

Yes, their “contribution.” And although bottle caps abound, they are not the only thing to be seen there. They are accompanied by soda, malt, or beer cans. Nylon bags, mostly dilapidated; and even shoes still waiting to be reunited with their respective partners.

There is everything in the river except water. The waste piles up in a heap of recklessness. That is a living example of how much this society has to learn about responsibility for the environment and the planet on which it lives.

However, not all is lost. Even in the midst of chaos, the hope of life prevails. Which, regardless of the situation, does not stop its course and prevails in the face of adversity. No amount of trash can stop nature, that’s a fact.

That’s why, in the River of Bottle Caps, there are plants emerging determined to position themselves in the place that is rightfully theirs and that they once occupied exclusively.

Will it ever be like this again? Before I could answer this question, someone had already thrown another bottle cap.

By: Jorge Alejandro Fernández Pérez

Radio Angulo
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