Puerto Vallarta is a party town, a tourist town, and every night I fall asleep to the beating sounds of dance music blaring from the clubs.
Tonight there is silence.
I am a US citizen and small business owner who lives in Puerto Vallarta where our American company operates a boutique hotel.
Normally, I have to run the fan or air conditioner to create white noise to drown out the thump thump of the bass from the music. Tonight, no fan. No A/C. I can hear the dogs breathing. The dehumidifying fan in my closet. I can hear the sounds of cars passing by in the city below my home. I can hear crickets. It's amazing, and it's very strange.
All bars and clubs and cinemas are shut down through May 4, which is especially distressing to people here since this weekend is a big holiday, Labor Day (May 1), so everyone has Friday off. So there were lots of plans for fun activities all weekend long.
Not now.
In Costco today the employees were wearing blue masks. Not that they do any good, but you want to wear one to feel like you're doing something.
We have no cases of swine flu here in Vallarta or even in this state, so the closings are the precaution of the government, which feared with schools closed that kids would start the weekend early, come to Vallarta from Mexico City and party, and potentially spread the virus.
The party's over. At least for now.
I really think this will last for just for a week, and next week it'll all pass by and be like SARS a few weeks later - that is to say forgotten by most. The disease isn't killing anyone outside of the original cases in Mexico City, so it is probably too weak to matter for more than a few news cycles. SARS was so forgotten that the Republicans could cut funding for Pandemic preparedness from the stimulus bill and get away with it. This should be a wakeup call. All Republicans should immediately fly to Vallarta, or maybe Mexico City, and listen to the silence. Is this what you want? It is the sound of a society stopping in its tracks. What if this were truly a killer virus? Let's work with other governments and be better prepared for the real thing.
Please, those of you who are reacting to this news in the US, remember that Mexico is a large country. It takes the same time to fly from here in Vallarta to Mexico City as from Mexico City to Houston. Just like the last media-manufactured "crisis" (drug wars, which were unfairly said to have blood running in the streets of every Mexican city), this is not something affecting every city equally so you don't have to avoid a whole country. Please don't ruin our town's economy and the people's livelihood by letting fear unreasonably take hold. Fear gives Lou Dobbs another reason to bash Mexicans and scream about border security, when not one case of transmission has been traced to illegal aliens, but rather to returning vacationers and perfectly legal jet travel. And even they weren't even sick enough to go to a hospital.
Stop and be silent for now and let's be sure it's not a big deal. Be cautiously watchful and don't overreact. Don't panic. And when this scare passes, let's remember the warning and not underreact either. And please come back here for a nice vacation. We can't stand the silence for too long...