School's Out

The side of a traveling party truck....Lights and Sound Fokuz...the atmosphere of your fiesta.
Sounds like a fight ready to break out to me. It's all in the name.






In yesterday's paper I could have sworn it said today is the last day of school. But I have to mention that I often misunderstand what I read in Spanish. Today is June 24th. Ordinarily the kids are in school until the end of June. When the Mexican government shut down the entire country in April due to the influenza, the schools were closed for two weeks. It was decided at that time that the kids would attend school into mid-July to make up for lost time. That was not a popular decision, since July is vacation time for most Mexicans.

The father of two of our swim students confirmed that today is the last day of school...for most schools. Some private schools and smaller schools who passed the hygiene test will remain open. What happened?

The flu came back around. The Yucatán now boasts the second highest number of cases in the country, around 500. There is even another suspected death but no one is willing to go near enough the guy's house to investigate.

México Gets The Short Straw

As I was catching up on the other bloggers' news, I came across this tidbit. It is a very well written article and is worth a read. I linked this from Debi in Mérida's blog post from two days ago. It is called, "Let's Blame Mexico"...give it a go.

A Time To Rant

A time to live, a time to die, a time to rant, a time to sigh.

Things are pretty difficult right now in México. The entire country has been closed off from the world for an undetermined amount of time, at an undetermined level of security. The Yucatán insists there have been NO CONFIRMED cases of the AH1N1, or Human Flu. Yet we remain sequestered. The Mexican people are being punished.

The only event I can compare how this flu is affecting us in México is 9/11, in so far as it feels like we are under a terrorist attack. Life is practically at a standstill…very little traffic – pedestrian or vehicular, few flights, no ships, no tourists, no sports, and mandated closures. Schools have been closed for a week and won’t reopen until next Monday, the 11th of May. All sporting events will go another week with no spectators allowed. Officials are worried about gearing up to normal life again because it may be too soon to tell how widespread this influenza is. Mexico is reporting no new deaths in the past five days, but many other countries are reporting increases in flu cases.

I was shocked to see the US has nearly 380 confirmed cases in 36 states, yet México has only 840 cases confirmed in 4 states (out of 32). How could that possibly be? The influenza was first discovered in México. If it has been here longer, how could it possibly spread faster in the US than here? As the days quietly pass, the less sense it all makes.

The streets of Progreso were quiet.

Friday we got cabin fever and drove to Progreso for fresh fish. We were the only patrons in the restaurant. Pablo swallowed an habanero chile seed which made him cough. The waiters all flinched and started watching us closely to make sure we weren’t sick. Paranoia is rampant.

The Chinese sent México an airplane full of cotton balls, alcohol and hygiene supplies, as if to say…….Cleanse yourself, people! Although it was a nice gesture, it went over like a lead balloon. Now China is simply sending all the Mexicans home!

Excerpt from Yahoo News 2pm, 5 May 2009: China, Argentina and Cuba are among the nations banning regular flights to and from Mexico, marooning passengers at both ends. Mexico and China both sent chartered flights to each other's countries to collect their citizens, with the chartered Mexican plane hopscotching China Tuesday to retrieve stranded residents. Argentina also chartered a flight to bring Argentines home.

My friend in Isla Mujeres said there are approximately 50 tourists on the entire island. I’m not surprised after last week’s closures of large hotels, restaurants and bars in Cancún and along the Mayan Riviera that sent tourists scurrying home. Those who stayed behind were advised they would be quarantined IN MEXICO if they got sick here. That was enough to send some people running. (What some people don’t know is that we actually have GOOD medical care available.)

Another friend was planning to cruise to the Yucatán on Carnival Cruise Lines. She called to get information before booking and was advised that all cruises to Mexico were cancelled UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. Tourism is down 70%. It was low before we got the flu because of the world’s economic crises.

I have no confidence in the tests or the statistics. If it takes two weeks to get a blood test back, then too many patients have been dismissed prematurely. I don’t want to see this become a level 6 pandemic. I want it to go away. I want time to stop and back up and AH1N1 just disappear. I want a lot of things…..like beachfront property for free and a pot of gold!

Is there a worldwide movement to send all ‘nationals’ back to their ‘nations’? A pharmaceutical company takeover? A political act to shift focus from the world’s financial crisis? Biological warfare? A media event? Or just a pesky pandemic?

A Week of Sundays

The Van Gogh Jigsaw Puzzle



On Sundays, most of Mérida seems like a ghost town. The families that go to church in the morning are likely hidden in their patios in the afternoons. Lots of people head to the beaches. There is almost no traffic. No one is out walking around.

That almost describes Mérida this week. The difference is that the people are all hiding in their patios, and no one is at the beach.There is practically no one outside. The schools closed down on Tuesday. Immediately following were NATIONWIDE closings of museums, movies, parks, archeological sites, gathering places of all kinds, swimming pools, etc. Sporting events will be held but without spectators. Cruise ships to México were rerouted to other ports. This list keeps growing.

I read today that restaurants and hotels that accommodate more than 80 people in Cancún closed. That would explain the mass exodus of 40,000 tourists from Cancún yesterday and today.

The Mexican TV stations and news people call it "el psicosis de la influenza". The media loves to sensationalize. When they first reported this there were 69 deaths in México and 3,000 suspected cases. Now the stats are down to 12 confirmed and 68 suspected deaths in México. The officials are playing it down now. There are NO confirmed cases anywhere in the Yucatán. And personally, I doubt there will be any confirmed cases reported here. The public would panic if we confirm its existence here. I have a good friend who came down with the flu last week and this week is in the hospital with pneumonia. The tests for swine flu came back negative, I was told. Some coincidence, though, isn't it?

The Yucatán is shut down until at least May 6th. Recent news flashes on the radio and TV hint they are considering extending that date to May 11th. The death toll rises as I write this. This is my third attempt at a post on this flu pandemic. Yesterday there were changes before I could finish one post and I just gave up.

The good news is that almost everyone we know here is healthy. We really don't mind having to stay at home in this city. It is built for us to live in our own little worlds. I personally have tons of projects started, other ideas occurring to me at random, the pool...where I pass a good amount of time on these hot days. Pablo and I like to play board games and we have a jigsaw puzzle spread out on the table. We are eating well, taking vitamins, and going with an anti-psychotic flow, hoping life returns to normal one day soon. Not that we would know normal if it hit us in the head....