When I first started hearing about the Coronavirus outbreak in January, I wasn’t too interested in reading about it, let alone write corona related posts. It sounded too much like all those previous epidemics that we’ve seen during the last two decades: SARS, Bird Flu, Swine Flu, Ebola, you name it. Each time you’d see the media blow up the story out of proportions (as they tend to do with any story), and as a result people got worried (as they tend to, for the stupidest reasons). Then eventually thanks to virologists working around the clock and around the world, a vaccine would be thrown onto the market, so the disease got contained, and the scare came to an end. Staying in this remote little beach town in Mexico, and being busy with an awesome Earthship construction, I felt my time was too valuable to be wasted on news about global pandemics.
Not Your Typical Pandemic
This time, however, things followed a different pattern, and finally they are catching up with me. As I can see, Mexico has been lagging behind quite a bit in responding to the virus, which was just perfect from my perspective. I could not have the media induced panic interfere with our build. So while my friends in Germany, Hungary, the UK, and the US are posting things about quarantines, we’d spend our evenings drinking beer on the beach with the rest of the hippie-surfer types who are so attracted to this place. Many of them had their flights canceled, but they didn’t seem to mind too much. “Can’t help it, more beach party!” As for me, it felt refreshing to see people not buying into the media scare, so I considered myself lucky that I happened to be in this part of the world. Last Sunday, however, reality struck when the Federal Police closed the beach.
Fighting the Virus by Closing the Beaches
It’s not very common to come across anything but the local cops in these parts, so seeing the Federales tie a yellow ribbon across the access road to the beach felt a bit like a splash of cold ocean wave in your face. So I asked the face-masked officer what was going on, and he explained the federal policy to close all the beaches in the country in order to contain the COVID-19. WOW! A bit hard to imagine how they’re going to enforce it, let alone actually limiting infections, but okay. The guy’s just doing his job. The two Federales hung around with their pick-up truck for a few hours, but as soon as they were gone, the ribbon somehow found its way to the ground, and the beach party was continuing as always. This was the case even after they hung up a huge sign informing us that the beach was closed for everyone. Conveniently people kept ignoring it.
Fighting the Virus with Prohibition
This Thursday another shoe dropped, which I haven’t even expected. I went to trade in my two empty bottles of Indio beer for full ones, and the lady at the store told me this was the last day she’d have beer… or any kind of alcohol for sale. How strange, I thought, but it took me a while to realize how unlikely it was that someone would voluntarily stop selling alcohol. I took my usual stroll through town, and came across a huge commotion. This time it was not the cops, but instead the bureaucrats from Tonameca, the town in charge of administrative things in Mazunte. Upon talking to them I found out that they wanted to make a stop to people drinking in front of the stores. But buying the beer and taking it home to drink would be okay. It was a lie! Since then the stores have all been re-opened, but there is not a drop of alcohol to be found in the whole town… or anywhere in the area!
Fighting the Virus with Registration
Yesterday, when Julia was coming home from her other property in La Boquilla, she encountered a road block just outside Mazunte. It was the same office people from Tonameca, trying to turn her around. Never mind that she has a property and an association with another property in two places, the message was clear: go home and stay there! Okay, but where…??? Finally, the same official who had given us such a hard time with our building permit came to her rescue. Sure, she’d be allowed to pass. But the next day she’d have to come and pick up her registration card. In fact, everyone would have to, whether Mexican or foreigner. So we did. The process was ridiculously simple. No forms to fill out, just a copy of your passport (together with the original, they’d take pictures of), onto the back of which you had to scribble your phone number, an emergency contact, and the place you’re staying at. Simple enough, only fifteen pesos, and overnight processing. Bureaucracy has never been this efficient! Supposedly this card will enable us to leave Mazunte and also be allowed back, but after the lie about the take-away beer I’m not so sure any more.
Violence and Mass Psychosis
From what I’ve read, the Coronavirus causes a type of respiratory disorder, including dry cough and difficulty in breathing. Though I can imagine that not all the documented cases are fake, these kinds of cases have not reached Mazunte. However, there is another set of symptoms associated with the Coronavirus, which is of a completely different kind: it’s psychological, and it’s not pretty. It wasn’t until the last couple days that I noticed this mental disorder here, but it seems to be spreading much quicker than any airborne virus ever could.
At first it started with Julia (she’s the one who usually leaves the property to go on errands) telling us about her encounter with a random guy, screaming into her face – from a safety distance of barely a few centimeters – about her killing all of them by driving out of town. It’s not like she was going to mingle with people, just do some work on her property, so no danger of contagion, unless she’s forced into some close range face-to-face interaction. Then at the registration line today a lady told me how she received a brick through her windshield, because the construction workers at her place were having some beers after work. Like WHAT??? Yeah, people are finally buying in to this madness, which I personally find much more worrying than the virus itself.
And only a week ago you’d hear hopeful remarks by the locals, expecting the Easter Holiday to turn the tide on the low traffic in Mazunte. (Yeah, sure!) But Easter Week is starting tomorrow, and instead restaurants are closed, alcohol not to be had, and tourist attractions suspended. Who in their right mind would come to Mazunte? So in a way, I can see locals venting their frustration on the few foreigners stuck here, blaming them for bringing an imaginary form of death upon us. Let’s just hope things won’t get out of hand too much further. The streets are empty enough as it is!