Swine Flu

The Swine Flu is making a real impact on my life the past few days. Believe what you want, I think that most of this is panic, but how the world reacts has implications. My wife and I had a cruise planned out of Long Beach to the Mexican Rivera for next week....now that is off as the cruise lines have canceled trips to all Mexican ports. We have been really looking forward to the trip to get away but now that is off.....but that got me thinking about Rocky Point, and other places in Mexico and the impact of all of this hype. I guess I was not the only one who had this on their mind as on the front page of the business section in the Arizona Republic today has an article about the economic impact this issue and the overall fear of violence is having on our small city; Business is off by more the 40% since the Swine Flu announcements. The piece goes on to quote one vendor who only had one sale all day as there are no "gringos" as the vendors out number the tourists 10 to 1. Very tough times.......



To get a better view of how real people in Mexico feel about the flu "pandemic" we talked a couple days ago to Yolanda. For those who know, she and her husband Victor help to take care of our house and we talk to them about twice a month. They have lived in Puerto Penasco for many years now originally from Durango, Mexico. Yolanda and Victor are scared of this flu. According to her, the locals are staying home and only going out as needed....real fear appears to be hitting this small town. If that is the case in RP, just imagine what the poor are feeling in places much closer to Mexico City. According to the news today, the small town north of Mexico City that was the start of the virus had 60% of the population sick. That kind of news appears to have spread to the entire country and is making everyone in Mexico nervous. I am not sure if other bloggers read my little blog, but I would love to know how other Mexican families are dealing with these issues.