Mexico : from Mexico City to Acapulco | |

Alexis waits, 150 feet up on the cliff top at Acapulco in Mexico. The wind would topple any novice, but he looks at the horizon and concentrates. He can barely hear the screaming from the tourists excitedly waiting for him to dive. He launches himself and after flying through the air for several seconds he breaks through the waves. At just 17 years old, Alexis is one of the mythical divers of the city of Acapulco in Mexico. It’s a dangerous job, but one that has its rules, its myths and its school.

Far from the fine sandy beaches, beneath the sidewalks of Mexico City, Julio Cesar swims in the city’s waste water, amidst the rats. It’s a dirty job. “But somebody has to do it,” explains this diver, who, for the last thirty years, has been diving in these murky waters to unclog drains and sewers with his hands.

It’s a crucial task in this megalopolis of more than 20 million people, who produce some 12,700 tonnes of waste every day. “You come across the most unimaginable things: you can be working and along comes a corpse floating in the water.” He dives in a dry suit because a wet suit isn’t waterproof and “A single drop of water getting through to us is a near certain source of infection,” emphasizes the diver who risks his life for 350 Euros per month.