Sand Yetis Keep South Atlantic Beaches Wild

(Montevideo) An increase in beach yeti sightings has anthropologists on edge near Punta del Diablo, a wind-swept South Atlantic town on the coast of Uruguay. Already this summer (January to March) several of the giant, hairy beasts have been spotted roaming the sands of Angostura, dangerously close to the tourist mecca of Santa Teresa National Park.

Many people find this alarming. Others don’t believe in any of it. Still others say they have seen these intimidating creatures with their own eyes and it’s no big deal. Experts are shocked yet amused while the usually progressive government is in denial.

The white-haired Yeti Betty. While sun and seasonal seafood diet account for the white coat, a winter fare of berries, bark and lizards results in chronic emotional swings and general indignation.

“Why have sightings increased?” answered a local ranger. “Climate Change, food sources closer to man, development…too many variables to consider. Is it a hoax? Yeah, like men walking on the moon? I don’t think so. This surf is their turf. We are trespassing,” he smiled.

Contact between humans and primitives in a remote area is rare but not uncommon with the expansion of the population toward the Brasilian Frontier. In recent years Yeti have become more aggressive toward anglers and sun bathers on vast, remote stretches of beach from Esmerelda all the way to La Pedrera. Back in January a mob of yetis allegedly attacked and ate several drunks coming home from a local disco at dawn. Although the violence was never substantiated, the yeti were reclassified as extremely dangerous and, along with plastic bags, the most serious predator in South America.

Until recently anthropologists here chose to deny the existence of sand yetis on these shores. It was simple. Both tourism and yeti colonies were sure to suffer if the word got out that 10-foot tall Sasquatch (males) weighing up to 500 pounds were going to the beach today.

Much smaller, although no less fierce, the Yeti Betties have enormous eyes and constantly prune their males and breast-feeding hungry off-spring while they look for something to eat. Even the females can consume up to 30 sea gulls in one sitting which sheds light on the diminishing population of the beaked ocean birds on the Uruguayan coast.

Members of the crown group hominoid, sand yetis often exhibit aggression around loud adult humans yet tolerate noisy children. Called Sasquatch, but never to their face, these nefarious creatures  have yet to embrace any primitive sense of personal hygiene. An attentive beach wanderer can sometimes detect one from a kilometer away by their odor alone.

Many residents claim to have watched yetis wrestling with sharks in the deep surf or pulling a white corvina into a shallow bay. Due to the lungs of a giant otter, a hungry yeti can drown a talapia in just minutes.

“I saw two of them with a discarded fishing pole trying to make sense of casting techniques and, hey, they weren’t half bad,” chipped in one local bartender. “Landed three flounder and ate them raw right on the spot.”

The colonies live in the woods in the winter and the beach in the summer. They get along well with dogs since they learned to feed the canines decades ago. Rangers are quick to point out that some of the creatures observed on the beach are completely human and are not related to the yeti in any way even though they resemble the beasts.

Residents claim the yeti often surf near Barra de Chuy and that 24-inch footprints were documented outside a casino in town that same day. Later in the week police confronted a large group of what they believed to be “ape-like wild men” who turned out to be Paraguayan zoologists on a fact finding trip.

Telltale footprints in the white sand. Some Sand Yetis are 10 feet tall and weigh 500 pounds. All the more reason to pack heat to the beach with your towel and suntan oil.

Experts from “up north” echo the concerns and fascination of their counterparts here.

“The yeti may be the only primate indigenous to North America,” said a visiting scientist from Canada. “Ours are omnivorous and nocturnal while the behavior of the ones down here is impossible to predict. They may eat an entire palm tree for breakfast and then stay up all night deep in digestion. One thing that they have in common is that neither species likes to be alone – ever. These South American Sand Yetis look a lot like the Skoocooms common to the Oregon Coast and are more communal than the Bud Yeti of Humboldt County in Northern California”

She added that the rare six-toed version tends to throw feces at enemies and beat its chest when it feels threatened. They are frightfully strong and can hurl large rocks and tree stumps..

Not to be confused with the significantly smaller Rock Yeti, which are far more populous and who, even at maturity, never reach two feet in stature the sand yeti and rock yeti do not get along. The latter hide in the rocks all day and only come out at night like tourists from Sao Paulo and Buenos Aires. If one comes across these rock critters he is advised to back away and avoid eye contact. Also called Cave Yetis (or small bastards in the Guarani language) and flacos terribilius in the ancient Angostaran dialect, the bigfoots are exceptional football/soccer players but often wear too much cologne. Juveniles often have zits while older cave yetis tend to get lazy.

Cryptozoologists say the DNA matches that of the capybara, a South American rodent that grows to the size of a pig. Attempts to lure them out into the sun with bananas and mangos have failed since the yeti are used to eating oysters and prawns rather than fruit.

“I’ve seen the beggars roaming the deserted beaches looking for eats,” said one local fisherman. “They are nothing but raspy vagabonds and they don’t scare me with all the growling and jumping about.”

Others note similar contact.

“My brother and I had two sharks in our nets when several yetis pushed us back into the water and took our catch,” said an angler from La Corinilla. “They were big galoots, real big. They didn’t say much. The females are smaller. They beast-feed their young right there in front of God and everyone.”

In keeping with the concept of full employment, Uruguay is currently considering hiring many of the yeti as summer beach patrol in nearby Santa Teresa National Park during peak months.

– Estelle Marmotbreath