Parasites in Paradise

Vacation time is upon us, once again. Individuals and families will pile into vehicles, board planes, trains, even buses and head off for parts unknown. Unfortunately, the unknown is not just a coined phrase referring to a remote spot or places unfamiliar to the traveler. The unknown can be a very real danger for those on vacation. Getting away from it all can also mean getting too close for comfort to areas of crime camouflaged by sandy beaches, exciting surf and breath-taking views.

Sunny skies and warm, humid temperatures describe the typical tropical paradise. These conditions are also ideal breeding grounds for parasites, both organisms and humans. The drinking water may be the least of your worries when on vacation. Cockroaches in your beach side cottage are only a nuisance compared to the variety of human pests which swarm the resort areas looking for victims each summer.

Drugs, theft, and other serious crimes are part of the undercurrent in many of the locations to which vacationers are lured by scenic beauty and idyllic surroundings. Predators love vacation-land! On the surface, many travel destinations may seem like an oasis from the realities of everyday life, but taking a closer look often reveals a harsh truth. Even Disney World has it’s well-kept secrets.

Living in a tourist area is much different than being a visitor. While ‘outsiders’ are paying big bucks to stay in newly built, comfort conscious spaces with all the amenities and ocean views, there may be drug pushers and users parked just down the street taking the local’s meager paycheck before he or she can pay their excessive rent. Rent, often inflated and based upon the traffic flow of sight-seeing travelers, instead of the actual condition of the room or trailer or cramped cabin in which they live

People who have owned property for generations in areas which have become ‘hot’ tourist attractions over the past few years, are now finding property taxes elevated beyond their financial means. While they may own a very humble one story home – beside them, may now be one valued at over a million dollars. Thus, what has been handed down to them by parents or grandparents, where they have grown up and always lived, may no longer be affordable for them; their only option to sell and leave what they have always known and loved.

Desperation can lead men to do wicked things. Greed is a poison which slowly kills. Addiction fathers slavery and ruins lives. Eventually, any and all of these can be the downfall of an entire community.

Money flows in vacation lands around the world. Money, the aroma of which can easily be sniffed out by human parasites. Once detected, it causes them to swarm. Once they begin to swarm they bring with them all sorts of pollution. Once polluted it is difficult, if not impossible, to clean up a community, an island, a summer paradise or vacation playground.

When the tourists leave at the end of the season, the taxpayers, the everyday citizens of the area, the working population, remain. So do many of the ‘diseases’. As a result, the daily living and year-round survival of these people is often put at even greater risk. While many may sigh in relief at the end of the season…others will find themselves suddenly without income and no where to turn, except deeper into the dark underworld of drugs, alcohol and depression. And the predators will turn their attentions to these. Still lurking and waiting to take what they can. All too often, they will even take life.

Sunny skies, balmy temperatures, warm water and fun. All reasons to take a vacation…and all reasons to know where you are going. Familiarize yourself with your surroundings and practice commonsense. Watch your children, closely – including your teenagers. Protect your loved ones and your valuables. You may be on vacation – but the criminals are not.