Cubre Bocas

---

It very much disheartens and saddens me to inform all of you that I will be returning to the United States this coming Monday, June 4th, almost four weeks before my expected time of arrival. We will be missing out on Veracruz and our weeklong service project in Cuetzalan, but it was decided that it was better to be safe than sorry. The truth is you never know what it is going to be like in four weeks. Although sometimes my mom thinks she is God, unfortunately even she cannot tell me what is going to happen tomorrow. So at this point in time I am ready for my departure; we have had a difficult past four days. For those of you who are not bombarded with fifty emails daily on this matter, it started on Friday in Tepoztlán. We were climbing down what I consider a mountain and others called a cliff, when Paola received a call from a friend in D.F. (Distrito Federal, a.k.a. Mexico City) and learned that her dear friend and the director of the National Museum of Anthropology had passed away from the “swine flu.” She was advised to immediately take action and protect her students. So from that moment on we have been sporting what can only be the most fashionable accessories this season: cubre bocas (face masks). I really do suggest you go out can get one, because they are hot and they are going fast. If you all would like, just send me an order and I can bring back some extras, I might even be able to get some with the influenza if you really want them. Anyways, for the next two days we were the only crazy people with blue facemasks walking the streets. People would snicker at us, they would try to tell us that the influenza was not where we were, but we were to do as we were told and that was to wear the cubre bocas.

At this point in time I was not really to concerned, but there also was not too much news that I knew of so I obeyed and wore my mask, but I was also pretty sure I wasn’t going to catch the virus. There was a moment when we took cabs from the zócalo to where our private charter bus (no influenza there) was waiting and as each cab pulled up, four kids would get our with the blue masks, and walk directing on to the big bus. Now I don’t know what was so special about this particular instant, but for some reason it made me feel important. Ok, just think about this for a minute, you have a group of gringos (16 of us to be exact) wandering around these towns all together most of the time and you know we already stick out like sore thumbs just being normal, but now paste some blue masks on their faces, and you have the center of attention. You can’t walk by without every single person checking you out. Don’t worry though, we knew we looked good. I can wait to post some pictures for you, but I don’t have the good ones, so as soon as I get them I will post them. Anyways that is pretty much how our weekend went. We were in Tepoztlán and Taxco this weekend and had a great time. We hiked, shopped, slept, and ate; what else can you possibly ask for.

We came come late on Saturday night and were told not to go to movie theaters, malls, clubs, bars, any closed areas; we could only go to each others houses and open air areas. We were also required to wear our cubre bocas everywhere and if we were caught with out them we would be turned into Delaware for disciplinary action. Courie and I went to the zócalo here in Cholula on Sunday, don’t worry we ate outside, and then to our friends house, who had started to freak out. Every five minutes they were taking each other’s temperatures and describing each little pain/ache and discussing each cough; they even wanted to wear their cubre bocas around us. Eventually they calmed down and we watched a few episodes of Friends.

Monday is when it really all began. Before Monday we all assumed that it would pass and would continue to be no big deal at all for us in Puebla-Cholula. However, on Monday we had a meeting with our director, where she informed us that we would not be going to Veracruz and she spent the rest of the meeting just answering everyone’s questions and concerns. Halfway through the meeting, an email came through that the school was shutting down, that there would be no classes after 12 p.m., and that in fact every school in Mexico was shutting down until May 6th. Honestly before this point in time and this little piece of information I had not idea in my head that anyone was going to be going home, especially because we really did not feel affected at this point. Here we are 2 hours or less from the epicenter or this pandemic (wow, those are some scary words) and we did not feel anything up to this point. But I think what had just happened was what this made the problem a lot bigger in our minds. Every single school in the entire country was shutting down for 9 days; that’s big. A few of us were like okay what are we going to do for nine days, but we figured we might figure something out, we could go running or go to the pool, or do things like this. It was until Julia went for a run that this house arrest/quarantine hit us. Julia (my roommate) went to go for a run later on Monday afternoon and the school was closing its gates. The guards at the gate told her that no one was able to enter or exit the school for the next 9 days and that she couldn’t run down the street either because she would probably be stopped by the police. It was then quite clear that we were left to sit in our houses for the next 9 days with nowhere to go and nothing to do.

At this point in time my mentality changed and I was ready to head home. I figured that there was nothing left ahead of me here in Mexico and I figured we should just go out with great memories, good times, friendship, and our heads held high together. For the next two days conversations were swirling, “Are you going home? What are you going to do?” but really no one had an answer at this point, we were just waiting to see and hear from our coordinators. I think we all started to get extremely anxious out of sheer boredom and we were following the news by the half second, discussing each and every word every person said, emails were being sent to administrators, and the beginnings of decisions were being made. As of last night around 6 p.m. we got a letter from the administrator in Delaware that our trip was cancelled. At this point I was relieved; it meant we were going home to a somewhat safer environment and we were going out together just as I had hoped. I even suggested that we wear our new Mexican soccer uniforms (we got them for a bar crawl we are now unable to go on) on the plane home in unity with our cubre bocas. However, emotions were flying and the alcohol was flowing and the announcement of cancellation and return was met with much resistance. As many of you have seen there were a few more emails sent out, this time in favor of us staying. After more bored deliberation amongst ourselves and conversations with parents, the cancellation of our trip remains in effect. I will be flying home on May 4th, probably taken in to quarantine (hopefully in Florida, I hope I make my connection in Houston if they give me a hard time), then I have been asked to pass 72 hours in the safety my home and possibly some more time in doctor’s offices. Look out; the swine flu is headed to Florida.

Anyways I hope that gives all of you an idea of what life has been like here in Mexico. I promise I am not in any real imminent danger here right now, but I do love reading the news and seeing the epidemic climb the ladder; we are at a 5 out of a possible 6.
Can’t wait to see all of you in Florida and infect you of course, but probably won’t be able to see you unless you come visit me while I am under further house arrest and quarantine. Also I wasn’t exactly clear how to spell quarantine before all of this, but now I am pretty sure I count as a trained professional. See you all very soon!

---

Comments

[anonymous]

glad you're safe cousin! cant wait to talk to you on the phone whenever i want :)