Back from Mexico City (part 3 and final)

Four and a half hours on a bus with a surgical mask is a little too much for a 5.5 month old baby. It was an incredibly long bus ride and, unfortunately, we did not manage to keep the facemask on Santi the whole way home. I took off my mask in hopes that if something was actually going to be caught... I would catch it first and produce antibodies for Santi to fight it off.
As we got into Xalapa, medical personnel entered the bus and asked everyone if they felt sick in anyway... I had a headache, but that was not the kind of symptoms they were looking for. They actually did not look twice at us since we were about the only ones in the bus (that was pretty empty to start with) that had kept their mask on the whole trip!
Xalapa was almost oblivious of the Mexico City epidemic it seemed. No face masks about the streets. Not much local coverage of any Flu. Sunday was just another normal day in Xalapa with funky news coming from Mexico City. It was until Monday when things started changing a little.
School was ongoing in Xalapa even though I would have gladly kept the boys home. It was until the middle of the day, when the Government of Mexico started pondering the way the sickness was spreading throughout the country that they decided to cancel classes Nationwide. And even if it meant having two very bored boys at home, I was happy to minimize any contagion possibility, more so because of the littlest one of us.
The Flu is called swine flu but really a mix between human, avian and swine, and is otherwise known to the World as N1H1 or North American Flu or Mexico Flu. It is still a new bug and everyday more news come out about its “mottus operandi” , but it is pretty much a flu.
I had never had the Flu before living in the US for a few years. In all my life in Mexico, I never had a Flu shot or contracted the Flu. I actually think much of the Mexican population has never had either even today (no Flu and no Flu shot). I find it almost logical that with the poverty levels, bad nourishment and awful hygiene in Mexico, the population is prone to catch this bug with a vengeance and, unfortunately, succumb to it. Our bodies (ok, I already have had both shots and flu itself) have never experienced any kind of Flu bug so there is no precedent in our immune system... Ugh, that reminds me of our bleak history, when the Conquistadores came to America bearing gifts... And chicken pox! We had no chance then, we are not doing too good now. And add to the mix the fact that most Mexican inhabitants do not go to the doctor (at all) unless they are about dead. No wonder most of the deaths in Mexico have been due to complications of patients who wait to go to the hospital until the illness is way on the way!
So, we are still at home, playing it safe and sharing time together. We go out to get groceries and don our blue facemasks. I have stopped taking Santi around (he hates being cooped up!), but it is too hard to keep the blue mask on! We have more antibacterial in the car than at home and live our lives washing our hands... And consuming big amounts of vitamin C.
In all, Xalapa is far from worried about the Flu it seems. Jevon went downtown yesterday and it was like a big Holiday. All the streets were packed, the Park was bustling, the stores full and no sign of face masks. The news report no real cases of the Flu in the area, but we know better. Its here, as it is in many other places, but that person who has it has not gone to the doctor yet...
I keep receiving mails filled with rumors and propaganda.... These people really need to get a life! Or start getting informed and keeping from adding to the misinformation that is already spreading (it spreads more than the actual facts do!!!!). I just think it is important to keep it in perspective: prevent getting the sickness and not get sick worrying over it.
A) The (so called) Swine Flu is treatable and curable. (deaths have occurred due to complications for not seeking timely medical attention)
B) There is no immunization for the Swine Flu available anywhere in the World- it is a new sickness (some people are flocking to places where they are “selling” the immunization- poor dopes)
C) The illness is transmissible through droplets (sneeze, cough, saliva) from human to human- use facemask in places where you will be at a proximity of 1.5 meters or less from someone. (it is not flying in the air in aerosolized state)
D) The dried particles of saliva on objects will keep the virus alive for a while so wash, wash and disinfect your hands before touching your face (and after touching anything outside your home- supermarket carts, money).
E) It is not transmissible through pork meat, so you can have ribs.
F) Avoid crowded spaces
G) Keep your immunity (defenses) up - sleep well, eat well and stop stressing
H) You don’t get the Flu if you stand out in the rain and get cold (people still think viruses appear if you get cold!)
I) It is everywhere... Not only in Mexico... Viruses migrate better than mosquitoes! Not all cases ever get to see a doctor or go to the hospital. So prevent and don’t think no one has it in your city.
And by all means: avoid gossip!

Any who... We are still being watchful to see if any of us develop any symptoms from our Mexico City trip since they are not sure what the gestation period is in this bug- 24hrs, 48 hrs, 5 days, 7 days-. We’ll hope to stay healthy.

Back from Mexico City Part2

Photo: Outside a pastry shop in Polanco

Back from Mexico (Part 2)

So the day at the Embassy was a looooong one... Hail to the very slow bureaucratic process made worse by people not knowing how to deal with a case as simple as ours... It was here we started noticing the blue surgical masks being passed around.
For the very short part of day left after the Embassy visit, we decided to take a taxi ride to the neighborhood of La Condesa: the most up and coming neighborhood in the City. It is here where beautiful Deco and French Colonial buildings coexist with the newest, most hip architecture and design. The best restaurants have chosen to open their doors on the streets of this neighborhood. Minimalist apartment buildings rise around small mansions and urban parks making the mix wonderful and pleasant. The boys had a blast at La Condesa. First, because we got a Taxi drivers who had never driven there (first day on the job) and we had to give him directions- good thing Jevon knows his way everywhere! Second, we found an awesome rock store. The boys got nice fossils to brag about and I got some nice turquoise and labradorite to make nursing necklaces for Santi (I wear them, he plays with them). After our little shopping spree, we found an amazing playground at Parque España were the boys climbed a bit. Unfortunately, I thnik my boys are getting too big for playgrounds! We eventually made our way back to the Hotel after a great Gelato break.
Saturday was creepy quiet. We had already heard about the outbreak of Influenza but were not really sure about its reaches. We knew most public places (museums, libraries, theatres, night clubs) were closed starting Friday evening. As we waited for our breakfast at a lovely little street cafe, a convoy of military trucks drove by. Each truck had six soldiers covered with surgical masks and five big bundles (three feet by three feet) of new surgical masks. I started getting a little bit nervous.
When we arrived to the center of the Coyoacán neighborhood that afternoon, I had already asked around stores for the little facemask with no luck. Then we got another random act of kindness from the locals: I saw a family with a baby around Santi’s age wearing a facemask. I stopped the mom and asked how she had placed the mask so that the baby was not complaining about it. She said that she could help me and right away grabbed a new mask from her purse, her Mom tied an expert knot and instructed me on how to put it on Santi. She said soldiers would go by eventually with more masks for all of us and said goodbye... Santi wore his mask till lunch and then afterwards...
Coyoacán has a wonderful Plaza and it fills up on Saturdays for a street market. Most of the vendors have bad imported tiedye and Indian style clothes, some bad beaded jewelry (locals call them the Hippies), but you can find good arts and crafts and incredible hand woven blouses. We just devoted ourselves to walk around, have some juices, ice creams and pies from the stores I used to go to when I was little and living there.
When we took our cab back to the hotel, the soldiers and a good amount of volunteers from the Department of Health were giving out facemasks to all people... Actually, they were shoving a good bunch of masks at everyone and telling them to wear them.
Sunday, we had a nice breakfast at the little outdoor café and pondered the news that streamed on the old TV set inside the dining room (we sat outside). Schools were closed until May 6th, clubs, movies, libraries, museums... You name it! If it was a place of social gathering, it was closed. And us Mexicans that are such a Social breed! We use packed beyond packed urban transport (buses and subway), we live in tight knit communities and neighborhoods, we love to congregate for strikes, meetings and parties... The Government was asking for the Parks to be vacated too... No human contact unless it is part of your family.
Well, the ride to the bus station was surreal... I had never (in all the 17+ years I lived there and later visits) ever seen the streets of Mexico City with no traffic. No traffic jams is one thing.. No cars, that is kind of creepy. But it was an amazing way to actually see the city. Reforma looked amazing, green, magnificent. The air quality was better than on the days prior. Mexico City was almost too quiet to be true.
TAPO, the bus station, was pretty quiet too. The buses were running as usual, but not too many people were traveling. There were soldiers everywhere giving out facemasks and everyone at the station was wearing one. We all were wearing ours. We had a long bus ride ahead with facemasks.

Back from Mexico City (Part 1)

Photo: Diego at Chapultepec Castle (gardens)

So, after having a very quiet first 5 months since the birth of our little son, Santi, we had to go on a trip to Mexico City required by the US Embassy. We were lucky enough to start our trip the 23rd of April... just before the outbreak of Flu was announced!
Our trip began a tad bit stressful being it was the first long trip for Santi and our first bus trip in quite a while. We decided to take the bus since it is really tricky do drive in Mexico City, it is even trickier to actually enter! For some years now, Mexico City has a program called “hoy no circula” in which cars with certain license plate endings cannot be on the streets certain days of the week. This program is supposed to help curve the terrible pollution problems the city has. Since the dates were not really our choice either, we had to go when the Embassy told us to, we had no way of going around the “no circula” restrictions.
Buses are a very good way to travel in Mexico as long as you take the right one. The first class service is prompt, comfortable and inexpensive. Then there is the Executive service which offers more space than First Class and drinks, maybe snacks, on your trip. Finally there is the Deluxe which pretty much has seats that turn into beds. Unfortunately for us, the time that was best for our trip only had first class leaving... It was not bad at all, just filled to the gills. It arrived at a great time in Mexico City, but we had to carry the extra weight of drinks and snacks for the boys.
We had a pretty uneventful ride to Mx City and Santi was a trooper: no long bouts of crying! The TAPO terminal (bus station) was very quiet when we arrived. I had never been in this terminal (there are three in MxCity) and I was very surprised at the size and the cleanliness! As in all of Mexico, there were the normal twenty well armed police officers here and there, but nothing out of the ordinary.
Taxis are a great way to go when going around a city like Mexico. Driving is never a good choice if you are not a Chilango (Mexico City inhabitant) driver! Like a tourism brochure says: Drivers are crazy, but they know how to subsist with each other... Besides, there are no such things as good signaling and maps... Well, we are talking about the biggest city on Earth! Unfortunately, it is also one of the most dangerous cities on Earth, so you should never take just any Taxi, there are “safe” taxis which are easy to find, safe and very inexpensive. These taxis are available through a SITIO or Taxi central throughout the city.
Our hotel was a couple of blocks from the Embassy in the neighborhood of Polanco. Beats me why it is called like so, but that is were most of the Embassies are and it is very close to the main monuments and Parks of MxCity without being Downtown.
The first afternoon was rather tense since we had not much of an idea what we could do with the kids without exhausting them totally. No matter how out of shape I might be, Mexico City just beckoned a good long hike! We did not go very far on Reforma (the Champs Elysee of MxCIty) before the boys started complaining about being starving- Santi was sacked out on his carrier. They had been very entertained by the “Bench Sculptures” of the Urban display of usable art down Reforma (sitting on bronze couches, checking out the metal grass bench and the three story chair), but their stomach was starting to make them really uncivilized!
We ended up entering a small “fonda” (small restaurant) that was packed with locals and got the daily menu... Eat up like a king -soup, rice or pasta, meat and salad- for a mere 4dlls. And the service is super fast, too! From there we continued the hike down Reforma to Chapultepec.
Chapultepec is a 4 square km forest within the city. It is an enormous park that houses zoo, aquarium, lakes, a castle, etc. We decided we would, at least, take the boys to the Castle -residence once upon a time to Maximilian of Austria, when Mexico was under French rule-, check out the gardens and take some panoramic photos of the City. The hike up to the Castle was hard. I tend to forget Mexico City is at a really high altitude which makes it harder to breathe (then add the smog). Besides, we had not taken our umbrellas with us on our long walk and it rained on us twice! The first rain was soft and we took refuge under the canopy of the Century trees of Chapultepec, the second hit us hard at the Castle.
You tend to hear about how unfriendly people in Mexico City have become because of the violence and insecurity... Let me prove this wrong! As I was walking for cover (can’t run with Santi on his carrier) shielding him as well as I could with my arms, a local family walked by and promptly offered us a rain poncho! I accepted it and covered Santi. They smiled, waved and went on their way. This was just the first random act of kindness we received in MxCity!