who’s afraid of swine flu?

Walking around México, D.F. is a little like being an extra in a zombie movie right now; the city of 20+ million feels deserted with almost everything closed up and not even too much traffic. Museums are closed, church services canceled, and the army is at the airport checking people for symptoms. We went out this weekend and mixed in with the surgical mask wearing masses to get a feel for the epidemic ambience.

Everyone is taking it seriously, wearing their tapabocas whether they’re walking or whole families driving in their cars. The usually crowded metros are half empty, schools are closed and the news is full of public service announcements.

If this is the Spanish flu part 2, I guess we should all be scared, but so far with 20 confirmed deaths out of 20 million people it doesn’t seem like anything to get too worked up about. We decided to go downtown, and hang out in La Alameda park in the Centro which is always packed with people, food vendors, music and payasos on Sundays.

Shops and restaurants were all closed, but the park was almost normal with people dancing, music playing, and huge crowds packed into the small plazas. It was noticeably more empty than normal, but fun to see a lively atmosphere and people who weren’t afraid to have fun on the weekend. Most everybody had their mouth covered up unless they were dancing, eating street food, or making out on park benches.

I got the biggest kick out of seeing  couples and families all in matching masks. it’s amazing how normal it seems after just a couple days.

I think that the medical mask is going to become a fashion statement in the next few years- with fear of infectious disease and air pollution, it’ll be an essential accessory. You can be sure people won’t be content with just plain blue or white; they’ll want to express their individuality. Already on Saturday I saw some people with smiley faces, big teeth, or kissy lips drawn on their masks. If this epidemic thing catches on I predict we’ll start seeing some cool designer tapabocas.

Centro always has the fucking best people watching- clowns, transsexuals, wild little kids, crazy looking old people or people with inexplicable costumes. I have to say I felt a little safer knowing that batman and ironman and… a guy in a gladiator outfit… were on the job.

Cute propaganda posters were taped to walls, reminding everyone not to kiss, shake hands, or go outside. Avoid crowds, Eat lots of fruit and veg and don’t smoke for god’s sake.

In the Zócalo we found the medical services tent and got our free masks so we didn’t stick out so bad from the crowd. This one was nice and civilian looking, elsewhere in the city they have the Army handing out masks, but it’s probably just an excuse to get everyone used to seeing troops in the streets.

We saw a lot of lost looking german tourists, it must be a real disappointment to go through all that shit at the airport then arrive at a completely shut down city. A couple was buying frozen fucking burritos at 7-11. Nobody should ever have to eat a 7-11 burrito in México.

We bought an alternative newspaper from a darqueto, and chatted with him for a few minutes. If there was a real zombie attack this guy would get shotgunned just to be on the safe side. Too bad, he was really nice.

Around the corner was a little mini-protest, more of a lecture- held by the Restencia Zocalo Chilanga. They’re more or less aligned with the PRD, the revolutionary democratic party whose leader actually put up a proper fight when they had presidential election recount issues. This group was talking about how the epidemic is just a hoax played by the government to increase their power, allocate funding wherever they please, and to give more power to the big pharmaceutical companies that lobby and bribe officials.

All around were anti-capitalist posters, with slogans against foreign banks, big companies, and the current government. A Coca Cola poster had been totally defaced saying things like “coca cola, a true danger for the whole world”

Gotta say they make a good point; I always get a little suspicious when governments grant themselves extroadinary powers and try to herd everyone around with “threat levels rising” talk. Hopefully this will blow over in the next few weeks, I can’t see it lasting too long unless they come up with a cool acronym like SARS that’s more marketable than  “swine flu”

Think it over while listening to Bird Flu by M.I.A.

¡¡¡salud!!!