The bars are officially back open. (That’s a bandera with Cazadores, and a Fernet & Coke above.) To quote my 8-year-old nephew: “Yeessssss!”
swine flu
Nevermind on toasting to Mexico City’s resurrection…
Guess my “Back to Life/Back to Reality” party will have be postponed. El Universal is reporting that bars, dance halls and movie theaters will be closed indefinitely, until Mexico City reaches a sanitary-alert level of “yellow,” or medium-risk. We’re at orange, or elevated-risk, now.
Unfortunately none of the local newspapers have reported exactly what it’ll take to reach yellow. (Less deaths? An abundance of sanitary gel? The slow, mournful death of the cubrebocas?) The city did unveil this new Sanitary Alert System today, which could explain the lack of details. But someone, somewhere, could at least hook a girl up with an informational graphic. Oh well.
On the bright side, restaurants and cafeterias that serve alcoholic-free beverages can open again on Wednesday (I’m hitting El Caminero), and museums, libraries and religious centers can resume business on Thursday. Hopefully the Centro Budista is included in there, because I’ve been dying to practice yoga outside of my living room.
No one knows yet when the kids get to go back to school. Vendors in Tepito — who aren’t wearing face masks, and think this whole flu thing is a scam — have made a killing in recent days selling pirated copies of Monsters vs. Aliens.
From panic to cabin fever to… enjoying the quiet
With the shops and restaurants still closed, a friend organized a picnic today at Parque Mexico.
It was a beautiful day to be outdoors. Not too hot, breezy. We ate sandwiches and orange slices atop two sheets we’d unfolded in a shade patch. Dogs ran around leash-less. A toddler in a pink dress scrunched up her face and tried to blow bubbles. Vendors offered us empanadas, alfajores, straw tote bags, candy. (The candy guy won with his infomercial-style pitch: “I’ve got the Peanut Package, containing salted and japanese-style nuts. I’ve got the Gum Package, containing Sponge Bob gum and other known brands. I’ve got the…”) We sat around for hours and talked.
For the first time in awhile the city seemed… tranquilo. Not shut-down and panicked. Just relaxed. People enjoying their time with each other, enjoying being outdoors.
All of us never would have gotten together if it wasn’t for the flu.
And actually, I may not have gotten together with friends on Friday night either, when I was feeling so cooped up, a Condesa friend — also feeling cooped up — invited me over to her house for dinner. It was fabulous. Flor de jamaica quesadillas, wine, digestifs. A big spread on their rooftop terrace, with tiki torches burning. On Saturday we had a friend over our house and there was more beer, and more good conversation.
The restaurants and bars open on Tuesday, and I’m hoping to organize a “Back To Life/Back to Reality” party at a local bar. I’m dying for everything to open up again, but I gotta say, I’ve enjoyed the recent human-to-human contact. Maybe this is what things were like before the Internet.
(Dear God, that was not an invitation to take away the Internet. Love, Lesley.)
Fleeing the flu with a weekend in Condesa
About a month ago, Joy took pity on our water and Telmex situation (both of which seem so quaint now) asked if I wanted to house-sit for her this weekend. She lives in Condesa, which is pretty much the hippest neighborhood in the city.
“Wouldn’t it be fun?” she’d said. “You could go to all the Condesa bars and restaurants. And have water!”
Alas, after Influenza A(H1N1) hit — can I just call it “Ahini”? — almost all of the restaurants, and all the bars, are closed until next week. But it’s still nice to be out of my house. You can hear the birds chirp here. There’s lots of light. Half the furniture isn’t covered in plastic. (Ugh. Painting will be over soon.) And Joy’s place has some awesome Parque Mexico views:
She also has adorable dog named Charlie. And an unopened bottle of tequila and a fridge stocked with beer, all of which — she assured me — are at our disposal.
Already cracked open an Indio. It’s vacay time, y’all.
P.S. Flu panic seems to be dying down. El Universal is back to putting dead car-wreck victims on its home page, or at least they did this morning. They’re also reporting that Time magazine has named Mexican drug lord El Chapo as among the most influential people in the world. That seems to have as much importance/absurdity value as flu news, at this point.
P.P.S. If you didn’t make it to last night’s bacon party, you missed out.
I will not let the swine flu win, dammit
As my friend Joy mentions on her blog today, it’s getting harder and harder to ignore the flu and lead a normal life. Yesterday evening, on day five of the panic, I started to get a little depressed. I couldn’t go outside. (For what? I already bought groceries. The gyms and restaurants are closed until May 6.) I didn’t want to read any more news. I sat home by myself until almost midnight, surfing the Internet in a daze — and attempting to work on a completely non-swine-flu related essay — because hubby was off covering a late-night swine flu press conference.
Meanwhile, my mom called to say, “I’m worried about you! Don’t go outside!” and my dad says, “Mija, don’t burn the candle at both ends.” And my response is, I’m not. I’m home. Again.
Today is a new day, and I’m determined to make it a good one. I’m going to the grocery store to buy milk and cereal. I’m going to finish painting, because my lovely husband taped the ceiling at 12:30 a.m. I’m going to pop in my yoga DVD because I need some Zen relaxation, and I’d like to work on my headstand. (And it’d be nice to burn off the package of Oreos and three beers I had last night with Crayton.)
In the meantime: Does anyone want to take a load of bread pudding and some homemade whipped cream off my hands?
Just when I thought it was getting better…
Reforma says people are making crazy runs on the supermarket. The city has closed all gyms, sport clubs, pool halls. Restaurants have been ordered to sell food to-go only. El Universal reports that three more people have died. But WHO? Were they young? Old? Did they wait a long time to go to the hospital? Were they taking medication?
It doesn’t say.
I don’t even know what to think. It’s been a roller-coaster up in here. Went to bed feeling calm, watched The Wire and forgot about the flu. Now I’m thinking, “Do we have enough canned goods?” and wondering how to not go stir-crazy after another day indoors. We don’t even own any board games.
*Photo from Reforma
Remaining calm amid swine flu, earthquakes, and however else God decides to smite Mexico
Both the pharmacy and the paint store were out of face masks. I thought it’d be best to stay home, even though my dad told me how to make a face mask out of a T-shirt. (That’s okay, dad.)
However, since I’ve been home for four days in a row, I’m dangerously close to going stir crazy. Here’s how I avoided the madness today:
1. CLOSE LAPTOP AND DO NOT READ THE NEWS.
2. Paint the living room wall with one coat of Comex Wasabi Green.
3. Make an eggy orange bread pudding. (Which looks more like a cheesy breakfast strata in the photo below, but whatever.) Oranges have Vitamin C. Eggs have protein. That’s good. Die flu, die!
4. Compose this blog item in my head while I’m painting.
5. Try not to pass out from the paint fumes.
So. That gets us to now, 7:49 p.m. Guess I’ll fire up the laptop and watch another episode from the first season of The Wire.
First swine flu and now earthquakes?
I was IM’ing with a friend a few minutes ago when suddenly the house started swaying. I thought I was getting dizzy. I.e., OH CRAP, I THINK THE SWINE FLU FINALLY HIT ME.
Nope. It was an earthquake. Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m getting the hell out of this house.
As a side note, the quake did wake up my street. It’s been deathly quiet all morning, and now people are outside talking.
Update: El Universal says the quake was centered northeast of Guerrero. Still no word on injuries/deaths/material damage. However, I am loving the comments on El Universal’s story. Two faves:
“Ay no manchen. Que sigue?? Mañana van a llover ranas.”
You’ve got to be kidding me. What’s next? Tomorrow it’s going to rain toads.
“Qué sigue?? El Popocatepetlzaso??”
What’s next? Popocatepetl’s gigantic eruption-disaster?
Off to paint now. Much more calm than earlier.
Ignoring the Big Pig in the room
I’ve been trying to stay optimistic about all this swine flu stuff, but it hasn’t been easy. The media is screaming about how everyone in Mexico City is terrified. People who live here admit to being terrified. Deep down, I’m a little scared too.
It’s weird how all this has evolved. Friday I didn’t care. Saturday I went out, bought paint, took pictures of people in face masks, went to lunch… and then I got a scratchy throat. I curled up under a blanket and gulped an E-Boost, and searched the Internet on whether everyone with swine flu actually dies. Couldn’t find the answer so I asked Crayton, “Am I going to die from the swine flu? I mean, I know we’re all going to die eventually, but am I….?” He sighed. “You’re not going to die from the swine flu.”
Yesterday I felt much better, so I went to the gym. Part of me wondered whether I was signing my death sentence by using a possibly-infected elliptical machine. (Whatever, I’m going back today, pigs be damned.) Now I’m starting to think: Is it really bad that I don’t have a face mask? Soldiers haven’t handed them out in my neighborhood. I figured every pharmacy would be out, too, so I haven’t asked. But without a face mask am I… exposing myself?
The yogic side of me says it’s completely useless to be scared, because that wastes energy and doesn’t accomplish anything. It’s crazy to worry about something you can’t see or smell or hear. More than that, it creates stress, and that lowers the immune system, making way for a big ol’ swine to barge in and lounge on the veiny sofas of your bloodstream.
Today, I am ignoring my fear. I’m going to finish painting my living room, go to the grocery store, write, and make orange bread pudding from an old cookbook of my grandmother’s. I’m not going to get scared that the city seems much quieter today than on a usual Monday, and that I didn’t hear the guy yelling “GAAAS!” this morning (I think that’s what he yells), and that no one is honking their horns.
Maybe I will ask the grocery-store pharmacy for a tapabocas. Just to cover all my bases. But I am NOT going to obsessively read the news. That just makes everything worse.
Are we all going to die from swine flu?
I was home yesterday surfing the Internet when the swine flu craziness broke. Mexico City was shutting down schools. People needed to avoid large crowds. I got an email from a DF-dwelling friend saying, “There are no more face masks left in the city!” and another from a friend asking me whether I was okay. Actually, I was tired. Stayed out too late the night before. Just wanted to eat a salad with my homemade walnut-miso noodles and go to bed. So I did.
Maybe I’m totally naive here, but I’m not that concerned about this swine flu stuff. We left this morning for the paint store — an errand I’d planned all week, and hell if I was going to let swine flu stop me — and people were out walking their dogs, eating at cafes, taking out their trash. Even my favorite juice guy was on the corner doing his thing:
It doesn’t seem different from any other weekend, except for the fact that maybe one in 10 people walking around wears a face mask. And the taxi drivers are wearing them on too. But not every taxi driver. No one is running around screaming, “Don’t inhale! Wash your hankies!”
My friend Joy told me she saw a CNN headline that said Mexico City was shut down, but that’s really not true, at least not where I am. However, the hip youngsters of Condesa and Roma were too scared to go out last night, according to a poetic report in El Universal. As the story related: “The streets of these neighborhoods shone emptily, uninspiring, sad, without their traditional charm.”
I figure as long as I wash my hands and get sleep, I’ll be okay. Maybe I’ll pick up an anti-viral juice, too.