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Puerto Escondido is a small, majority-indigenous community on the coast of state of Oaxaca, México. The pueblo gained international popularity due to its ideal surfing conditions, and international surfing events are held there regularly. Tourism and property buying exploded in Puerto during the COVID pandemic, as México remained open to the tourism while the rest of the world shut down. The influx of foreign tourists and ex-pats has left Puerto Escondido with more pollution than its infrastructure is equipped to handle. The wellbeing of its teeming local wildlife, including sea turtles, whales, dolphins, rays, and alligators, is increasingly under threat as human waste encroaches on wildlife territory.

Mares Limpios Lab (Clean Seas Lab) is a non-profit organization serving the small, diverse community of Puerto Escondido. The organization is focused on education, community outreach, and providing a local recycling center.

In 2020 I was asked to paint a mural for the organization. Below is the digital sketch of the intended mural. The mural fell through for bureaucratic reasons, but I moved to Puerto Escondido for several months to work with the organization designing marketing collateral and creating content for their social media.