Swine Flu in Papagayos, Mexico

First of all we want to let folks know that we are well and there are no known cases of swine flu in Papagayos at this time. Now I'd like to tell a little more about how folks here are reacting to the health warnings.

On Sunday April 26, 2009 we went for a picnic in the next valley with our good friends Simón and Rosa. The day was bright and breezy and we enjoyed a spread of good food under the shade of a Huastecan Fresno tree, then a walk along a stream bed to the site of a waterfall. We were unaware of a pandemic. All was well with the world. It was great to be alive and sharing time with friends.

After our picnic and walk we headed into Ciudad del Maíz to do a few errands and a little visiting before heading back to the village. In the stores and on the streets we saw a few people wearing masks over their noses and mouths. We asked one shop keeper about the masks after a masked customer left the store. He said there was some kind of disease going around.

We headed to the Ortegas' house to do our visiting. Jazmín was sitting in the shade outside the kitchen. She stood up to greet us with the traditional handshake and kiss on the right cheek. After the usual exchange of pleasantries she asked if Chuy was going to school the next day. As far as we knew there would be classes the next day. She reported that she didn't have to go to school until May 6th. That all the schools were closed because of the swine flu. She also explained that some people were wearing tapabocas to prevent the spread of the disease. We made a point of washing our hands well with soap and water before asking for a drink of water and going to check in with Jazmín's elderly grandparents.

The next day we checked online about the swine flu epidemic. We found the websites of the World Health Organization and the Centers for Disease Control to be especially useful to us. Now we are checking them twice daily for updates.

In the afternoon on Monday our teenaged friend René stopped by to visit. Instead of a handshake he had settled on linking crooked elbows as a suitable form of greeting that was more sanitary. It was a little funny, maybe a little too physically close, but a great conversation starter about the influenza and health precautions. But then he leaned over our lunch that was heating on the stove and asked what was cooking. Steve pointed out that he could be more thoughtful about health precautions around food.

That evening we walked over to Simón and Rosa's house. On the way we saw another friend. The automatic handshaking ritual froze in mid-air. He said what with the flu and all, maybe it would be better not to shake hands and we agreed. Clearly we need to find a friendly, healthy alternative to this national custom.

At Simón and Rosa's we were greeted by traditional firm handshakes with everyone there. We were offered chairs and then food, but no chance to wash our hands first. We ate anyway. We'd come to find out if they had heard if the meeting planned for next weekend had been canceled or not because of the flu epidemic. Simón is in charge of a group of folks in our state learning to make and use herbal microdoses for healing. A large meeting was planned for as many as forty people to gather here from all parts of Mexico. Simón said he was waiting for the call. If someone didn't call him by tomorrow he would initiate the idea of postponing the meeting until after the flu passes. That seemed like a good idea to us.

Last night, Wednesday, Hector and Chayo came to our house for a little visit. I think they smelled the chocolate chip cookies that were baking in the oven. We offered them coffee and cookies which they were glad to accept. While the water heated for the instant coffee we also offered them anti-bacterial alcohol gel to clean their hands. Hector held out his open palm to receive a squirt of hand sanitizer and explained that he had washed his hands many times during the day and had just showered so his hands were probably pretty clean. I know they had just passed through the barb wire fence near their pig pen to get to our place. I guessed that another cleaning wouldn't hurt.

Our conversation centered around the flu news reports and rumors, the numbers of sick people and deaths and questions about which states in Mexico were already affected. We shook hands when we said goodnight, then went to wash one more time before brushing our teeth and heading to bed.

I was awake in the middle of the night with my mind full of unanswerable questions. We have planned for months to travel to the U.S. at the end of May. Steve had questioned if maybe we shouldn't be prepared to leave sooner than that, possibly on short notice, if there was a warning of imminent border closings, for example. My mind was a tempest. Should we leave Papagayos as soon as possible? Or should we wait and leave on our planned departure date?

After tossing over and over for an hour I finally woke Steve to talk about it. We came to a compromise decision. We will prepare now so we could be ready to leave on short notice. These preparations are all work we would be doing in the next few weeks anyway. If we stay until our original departure date we can get all the gardening done and leave the house and yard in great shape. If we have to go early, Hector and Chayo will help harvest the garden and water the new plantings for us.

The other main decision we made is to keep in close touch with our grown children, our family and all of our friends both near and far.

Our true security still comes from our broad network of close relationships. At the deepest levels, all is well.