the month was August when we set off to
explore the ruins of ancient olympia
built almost 2,500 years ago and home of
the first Olympic Games we got to walk
in the remnants of our ancestors see the
temples they built the stadium's most of
them collapsed but still there
a loud reminder of an ancient
civilization saying we were here and
this is what mattered most to us why
else would they carved marble and stone
by hand why else would they melt steel
into sculptures and make art out of gold
if they didn't want it to last what they
left behind taught us who these ancient
Greeks were they worshipped gods they
competed in sports to honor them naked
and the only woman allowed to observe
the games was the priestess of Demeter
Kamini all other women the broke that
law were punished by death truce was
called among all Greek states during the
commencement of the Olympics there was
good bad weird and ugly in the way that
they lived but what they left for us to
find has only been beautiful as I walked
through Ancient Olympia I couldn't help
but wonder what are we leaving behind
now if humans are still around in one or
two thousand years from now what will
they find what story are we telling what
truly matters and not for us to make it
last that long I had to find out our
next quest was only to be reached
through crossing the sea to visit the
neighbouring island Zakynthos we hopped
on a pirate ship yes you heard that
correctly with our destination being
navazio Beach first making stops on our
journey to dive in coves and swim in
sulphur caves the experience felt
surreal a pirate like
the tourist passengers even looked and
acted the part dressed like vagabonds
outlaws or ladies of the night smoking
cigarettes with tacky tattoos and too
many missing teeth and as we sailed
towards Nevada Beach
the pirate ship started blasting Celine
Dion's my heart will go on tourists at
the shores started taking photos of us
instead of the wreck we were officially
the most obnoxious boat at that Beach
the wreck barely noticeable in the sea
of tourists holding selfie sticks was
once a cargo vessel smuggling alcohol
and cigarettes into zakynthos it was
abandoned at the beach after being
chased by the Greek Navy in 1980 other
remains now is a pile of rust with the
names of tourists and couples graffitied
on its carcass perhaps not as charming
as the Pinterest photos lead on but once
you photoshop the crowd out of the
picture you're left with a beautiful
sight white sand towering cliffs and
sparkling blue water all made a little
more special by a ship beached right in
the middle of it all like a rusty
diamond people travel across the world
to visit this site to see the beautiful
accident we left behind we visited the
past and the present but I had yet to
uncover the future
what are we leaving behind for them it
turns out we didn't have to travel that
far to uncover this mystery a quick
drive to a nearby beach would reveal the
answers I was looking for between
footsteps in the sand beach lilies ferns
and seashells I started to see our
message to the future some say the
future is uncertain some say it's
already set in stone I'd say it's set in
plastic cigarette filters taking 18
months to 10 years to degrade children
not yet born we'll be playing in the
sand in 2025 to bear witness to the
story of our addictions in our bad
habits perhaps even the person that left
that bud
Hynde might be gone even before what
killed them got to disappear a plastic
wrapper possibly the former home of some
pastry taking ten to 1,000 years to
decompose it could be the year 2500 and
pieces of it could still be floating
around the Mediterranean a sugary soda
drink taking 450 to 1,000 years to
biodegrade perhaps someone from the next
millennium might find this perhaps it
will be hard to notice if the entire
beach is covered in plastic bottles
remnants of our sugary drink obsession
what we've left behind tells the story
of us a story of quick fixes our gods
are food and drinks our Sports is
smoking our accidents are floating in
the water forever