Mexico City slowly starts to reopen...

So we have received the new instructions from the Mexican Government, and Mexico City is slowly starting to reopen after the five day shutdown. As of tomorrow restaurants and cafes are allowed to open up...

Most other businesses will also be open tomorrow, but theatres, cinemas, bars and clubs will have to remain closed until further notice.....

Museums, galleries, and public buildings will next open up on Thursday, as do schools as well, although some IB exams have had to be cancelled here, and won't be allowed to be rescheduled. The city is back to about 50% of citizens wearing face masks, but health checks are still stringent at airports. Flying back from Puerta Vallarta today, we had to fill in health questionnaires, be checked by a doctor, and have our body temperature taken. You will be pleased to know that I received my "Libre de Influenza" ( flu-free) sticker, without any problem, and it is now stuck firmly on my passport for future use....

Let's hope that as Mexico City begins to return to normality, all these images will become a thing of the past, but unfortunately severe economic damage has already been done with the tourism industry hit particularly hard. Popular resort, Puerta Vallarta, was probably down 80% this past long weekend, and we all remember those images of tourists at Cancun clamouring to get out of the country. Now, with only 22 confirmed Swine Flu deaths in Mexico, after much higher figures were initially bandied about, questions will start to be asked about whether the severity of the measures taken were absolutely necessary....As Mexico begins to slip well down the world news agenda, the verdict may well be that it has been over-hyped and over-exaggerated, but I guess that is always the beauty of hindsight.....

On a lighter note, I was somewhat amused to learn that I had been accused of and dubbed "The Silent Carrier" by American tourists recently staying in the same hotel as me in Antigua, Guatemala at Easter, when they mistakenly thought they were developing flu symptoms on their arrival home!!

For news about what is happening elsewhere in the world this week, click here for MyWorldTuesday postings...

Shadow Shot Sunday 12 - The only place to be in Mexico right now...

We are in the middle of a five day shutdown here in Mexico, and escaping to the beach seems the best place to be right now, where there is only a partial closure. This shot was taken at quiet and tranquil Pie de la Cuesta, not far fom Acapulco, but with schools closing for ten days, and British Council workers being sent home to the UK, I am now up at Puerto Vallata, a larger, much more well known beach resort. Here it is much quieter than usual, but there are no face masks in sight, and most places are open until midnight, unlike my home Mexico City where there is currently a total shutdown. We are now awaiting instructions from the Mexican Government on Tuesday, to see if the schools will reopen and we can go back to work, and back to some kind of normality. In the meantime bars here are offering a free Swine flu shot with every drink or meal purchased... ( which is a tequila shot of course...)

For more details on how the country and city have been affected, please check out the last two posts, and for more shadow shots around the world, please click here for Hey Harriet

More from masked-up Mexico City - Update

The situation has escalated from a health crisis to a severe economic crisis in the past three days with Mexico facing a five day shutdown of all non-essential services and businesses. Over the past three days restaurants, bars, cafes, gyms, pool halls, swimming pools have all been shut down joining the closed schools, churches, Public Events, and Government offices. Rumours that supermarkets may also close spawned a panic buying hysteria with stockpiling reminiscent of the 2000 Millenium scare, leading to three hour queues in Walmart and the like...Businesses are losing millions of dollars a day and this is hitting hard on the heels of the dire impact of the global Recession...

These hotel workers may not look quite so concerned a few days ago, but now the crisis is really beginning to bite economically, and those running businesses are really beginning to question such restrictive measures. The government has so far stopped short of restricting travel or closing down the metro, but pesero and taxi drivers are now obliged to wear both surgical face masks and gloves if they wish to stay in business. Here are my local Delta Sitio taxi drivers all masked up and ready to drive....

When they start driving they have to don the surgical gloves as well...

Here is my masked taxi driver taking me to my apartment this afternoon, looking somewhat sinister, but with his rosary swinging beneath the driver's mirror...

WHO has reported tonight that the spread of the disease seems to have now stabilised... let us hope so... but even if this is the case the economic ramifications and consequences of this, as tourists are cutting short their holidays and fleeing the country, will be felt for a long time to come here in Mexico...

In the meantime, Mexico City feels and looks like it has morphed into some weird Science Fiction movie or even worse a perverted porno film. In light of this, do you think this guy, spotted at the Maco Art Fair last weekend, had any awareness of how he was presenting himself???

Is he offering us DF residents some brand new form of sexual service that promises to be out-of this-world to entertain us during this crisis?? Or is he merely worried about his own health and contracting the deadly disease?? Whichever - the irony of his statement seemed totally lost on him!!

Will keep you posted on whatever happens next here in Mexico City.....

Masked Mexico City morphs into Ghost Town...

Hard on the heels of water rationing, worst traffic jams ever, escalating violence in the border drug war, dire impact of the Recession, follows the outbreak of the swine flu epidemic that has so far seen 81 deaths here in Mexico City, many more infected, and cases now beginning to be reported in other countries around the world.

The Mexican Government took swift action on Friday to impose severe precautionary measures to hopefully contain the further spread of the virus. All Public events have been cancelled, Government buildings and Offices closed, plus all schools shut down for the next ten days. Football games have been played behind closed doors in empty stadiums, Theatres and cinemas have stayed dark, and even Mass has been suspended after heated debate concerning the safety of taking the wafer during Communion.

The city's population, of some twenty million, has been advised to stay at home, avoid congregating in large crowds, refrain from greeting or touching people.... Mexico City is notoriously a place where people find it very difficult to follow rules, and are not usually law-abiding citizens! So how have we been faring faced with such draconian restrictions and shutdowns??

Well I have been out and about today, and the city truly has morphed eerily into a Ghost Town. I have never seen the streets so quiet, the traffic so absent, the hustle and bustle so strangely subdued...

The roads are indeed empty - Reforma is normally buzzing on a Sunday morning with joggers, cyclists, rollerbladers, and dogwalkers but today there was no-one in sight....The shopping malls,too, are usually a hive of activity with crowds teeming to and fro... Today they too are almost empty...

Only a few lone shoppers braved the malls contributing to the feeling that Mexico City had indeed morphed into one of those weird Science Fiction movies...

It has quickly become Company policy for all service industry workers to be masked up in shops, supermarkets, restaurants, hotels. Here are the waiters at my favourite restaurant for Sunday breakfast - the Condesa DF hotel. I am pleased to see that their masks are the perfect match for the cool hotel decor, co-ordinating with the exact same shade of aquamarine blue...

About 50% of other people around and about today were wearing surgical protective masks, whether they were visting Mexico City's largest Art Fair, MACO...

Or trying their best to refrain from the "No kissing" rule on the benches along Reforma, a notorious location for cuddling and canoodling...

So...yes...Chilangos are being responsible citizens, and are definitely heeding the seriousness of the situation, responding to the Government's message and rules. People are extremely anxious and worried here, but for the time being the city is calm, quiet and quite literally holding its breath, waiting with trepidation to see what will come next....

To find out what is happening today in other parts of the world, click here... for My World Tuesday posts... I hope they contain much better news...

Shadow Shot Sunday 11 : Antigua

Rather an accidental shadow shot this week to coincide with all my recent posts about the amazing Easter celebrations in Antigua, Guatemala.....Here is a purple-robed float bearer looking for his Procession and float with the statue of Christ to carry...A serendipitous spear-tip shadow shot found whilst trawling through all my Antigua photographs!!

To see more deliberate shadow shot hunting don't forget to check out Shadow Shot Sunday over at Hey Harriet by clicking here.... Enjoy!!

Purple Robes at Play - The Lighter Side of Easter in Antigua...

After all the intense solemnities and religious fervour of the Passion and Easter Processions, it comes as a welcome relief that there is also a lighter side to the celebrations in Antigua, a more human side to the festivities, perhaps initially signalled by the souvenirs for sale....

You can still display your own extrovert personality and look cool and trendy in sunglasses and a purple robe...

And indeed, after the processions it is perfectly acceptable to get on with the ordinary things in life, which may involve making those all important phone calls on your mobile...

Reconnecting with your girlfriend.....

Even indulge in some canoodling in the public plaza....

In the plaza after the Processions, a more festive atmosphere reigns with everyone eating, drinking and chatting with family and friends...

Families are on the move, walking back along the cobbled streets after their duties have been performed in the Processions...

Many are on the move by motorbike, an increasingly popular form of transport in Antigua.....

Or by scooter...

But I think my favourite shot of all that best exemplifies this theme of the wonderfully human side to celebrating Easter in Antigua, Guatemala, is this shot of the clear devotion and love a parent has for his child - shown in this image of father and son....

Which really brings us back full circle to the religious meaning of Easter celebrations. If you get a chance to go to Antigua, Guatemala to witness it all for yourself...Don't miss it!!

A life in the day of an Antiguan alfombra...

One of the most unforgettable aspects of the way in which Easter is celebrated in Antigua, Guatemala, is the visual spectacle of all the amazing alfombras (carpets ) created for the occasion by the local community.

Made of pine needles and fresh flowers, or coloured sawdust in intricate stencilled designs, they start to appear at 2 or 3am along the major route of an Easter Procession. Whole families are up and out beginning the process under spotlights, laying the foundations, crawling precariously on crawl boards so that the complex design is not compromised...

Complete concentration is focused on creating the most beautiful of flower carpets..

And the most stunning of sawdust carpets along the narrow cobbled streets....

Everyone gets involved - young and old, family and friends, tourists and locals....

Then, before the Processions arrive, the main task is to keep the flowers as fresh as possible with a constant spray of water from the family hosepipes.....

The odd dog or too has to be shooed away from spoiling the holy effort and pristine finished product...

As the monumental Processions draw near, the carpets are first blessed by numerous incense bearers who create an atmospheric haze of smoke swirling along the streets...

And then in the very next instant they are trampled to dust and crushed to nothing by the feet of the float-bearers carrying the gigantic statues of Christ and the Virgin Mary...

Local people following the Procession rush to gather what remains of the trampled flowers as they are now holy and blessed, and then it is time for the final stage...

And with astonishing and somewhat ruthless,clinical efficiency, rushes in a team of sweepers, who without further ado, brush up the remnants of pine needles and sawdust unceremoniously dumping them into the convenient dumpster - the final float in the Procession....

All that remains is a faint smudge on the cobblestones and a stray wisp of incense... as if all this had never really been......

Until of course the next Procession is due, and the whole cycle is repeated all over again...and again...and again!! I was fortunate to be staying on a main Processional route at Posada LaMerced, Antigua, and so was involved in making the hotel carpet out on the street under the strict design orders of hotelier and good friend Gail Rogers... An unforgettable experience!!! ( Posada LaMerced at Avenida Norte 7 , 43a is a highly recommended, friendly and great value place to stay.)