The Flu's Influence on Me

On Sunday night I was out to dinner with friends and meandering home via a stop at a bar to look for @lejandro. The waiter who I know there told me they were closing the bar by order of the city and that all bars were being forced to close. I found it hard to believe but sure enough I went by Paco's which is an older gay disco I sometimes go to and they too had already been shut down. Manana was still open but when I walked by later with some friends, they too had been shut down. My friend Steve walked me home and we passed my favorite taco stand and they were also shutting down. The owner Memo said they'd been ordered closed until further notice. At that point (and even to this minute as far as I know) there were no confirmed cases on the flu in this town, this state, or even in neighboring states. Total overreaction.

Yesterday I spent nearly the whole day inside. I have a ton of editing work to do so I'm sort of housebound for awhile. I scanned the local expat online forums, as well as Mexxican and US Yahoo and some local newspaper websites. Conflicting info about closings but it appears schools are closed, movie theaters too, bars and restaurants need to shut by midnight, only 2 drinks can be served to a customer, etc. Rumor had it that certain big clubs outside the center were being allowed to operate. And of course there were rumors of the flu here.

I had decided last week that I'd go see my gyn to follow-up on the results of the pap smear from my exam a few weeks ago as well as my first mammogram from a local lab. Her office is across the street from Co$tco so I decided to do my 4-6 week trip there. I'd heard the workers at Costco were wearing masks; I was curious to see for myself. While waiting for the bus, 2 of my former students from the restaurant that I taught at when I first moved here came up to me and said hi. Both shook my hand and I was slightly annoyed with myself for thinking "No handshaking" which along with not greeting people with a kiss on the cheek is being advised here. I boarded the bus, wondering if there would be less people out and if people would be wearing masks. It all seemed like business as usual. I saw a guy go into a nail salon wearing a mask, another at a paint store and another riding a motocycle. When the bus driver gave a cough, I thought "flu" and was disappointed that the news had gotten to me. I guess it's to be expected and it's ok to be a little concerned. I just don't want to be ruled by fear.

But in Co$tco, it was strange to see not just the workers wearing masks, but also a lot of the shoppers. It's the only big store I've been in, so I don't know if it's the norm in other places. Co$tco was as busy as ever (as opposed to $am's which $eth reported was dead which was nice because he was able to check out really quickly which is never the norm there). They were handing out disinfectant wipes at the entrance and when I asked if they had masks too, the guy said maybe tomorrow. (Which in Mexxico can mean "I don't know".)

Anyway, it's been about 5 weeks since I decided to give up drinking and going out for awhile. I've pretty much stuck to it and have only had a glass of wine with dinner out one night, and then another night I had a glass of wine and a beer and hung out for awhile. So this evening curfew isn't really having any impact on me right now because I'm sort of chained to the computer trying to catch up and keep up with work.

But I feel really bad for the people who are losing money from this. A guy I know who assisted for me at a couple of weddings and who normally works in a club texted me this morning asking if I had any work right now. I felt bad that I don't. I can imagine it's going to affect a lot of people. It comes at a bad time with the end of high season (which wasn't very strong) and the existing fears about the drug war (which was evident for about 6 months last year but has shown much activity since then unlike other parts of the country). And it has potential to affect travel here in the future which could really hurt my business. These are the months that people really start thinking of booking me for next year. I will be anxious to see what happens.