Suppose They Gave a Flu ... And Nobody Came

Houston TX
Rayford RV Resort

We just spent seven days in Cabo San Lucas, which is at the very bottom of the Baja California Peninsula in Mexico. It was notable for two things: the absence of both people and swine flu.

Swine flu is one of those nasty bugs that originates among animals, mutates and jumps happily to humans, in this case from pig to person. It has occurred before, most notably in the mid 70’s, when a vaccine was developed to combat its spread. Some 40 million people including President Ford were vaccinated then, and a bunch of them died, not from the flu but from the vaccination.

(Ironically, the 1918 influenza epidemic, which had a devastating effect on the population, killing, among others, my own grandmother, appears to have jumped from humans to pigs and not the other way around. I’ll bet those pigs were annoyed.)

In 1998, there was another outbreak of swine flu among pigs, this time from a strain that combined both human and bird viruses. It begins to beg the question: who is more of a danger to whom, pigs or people?

So here we are in 2009, with our vast array of medical knowledge and tools to combat illness, and what are we doing? We’re once again freaking about a pig virus that appears to have originated in Mexico and is busy visiting countries around the world. A virus, by the way, that ends up to be milder than we ever expected. Have you seen the pictures of the guys in hazmat suits taking people’s temperatures in Japanese airports?

People! We’re talking about a virus! A teeny eeny weeny virus, so small it can walk through the weave in a 600-thread-count sheet! What is a big white suit going to do except make it hard to walk, talk and pick up the pen you dropped? Nevertheless, I’ve seen people with masks walking around the airports in both Cabo and Houston (more masks in Houston). Are they trying not to get it? Or trying not to spread it? Hard to say. But I myself definitely used the hand sanitizer more than once.

To all those dear and wonderful family members and friends who warned us not to take this vacation, I send my thanks and love for their concern. I was a little concerned myself until I went to the CDC page on the Internet and got the real story, devoid of media glitter and rant. The flu, it turns out, is not that big a deal.

But poor Mexico is taking the rap big time. There were all of 27 people on the plane coming down. This despite the fact that Cabo is across a big stretch of water, the Sea of Cortez, from mainland Mexico. There have been no cases of flu there, and everybody seems to be in the best of health. You would be too, if you slowed down, adapted the Mexican rate of respiration, worried less, slept more and spent whole days in the warm and nurturing sun.

Cabo was deserted. No tourists. No cruise ships. Nobody but the Fittermans and a couple of expats who seemed not to have heard the buzz about the bug. It was heaven for us, but hell for the Mexicans who derive 98% of their income from the tourist trade. The pool was quiet, the restaurants were empty, the shops were reducing their prices by the minute. In one place, the owner reduced his price twice after I said I’d buy his $8 shell necklace. I ended up paying $5, but only because I insisted that his $3 counteroffer was too little. I got out of there before the poor guy ended up paying me to take the darn thing off his hands.

On one particular night, a good-looking and jovial fisherman approached us with, “Tourists! Thank God! Thank you for coming! We appreciate it!” We all laughed and continued on our way, but it struck me that this flu fear has really hurt both the Mexican and the US tourist business at a time when we can least afford it.

And now, having thumped my chest in commiseration for all those financially hurt by what is turning out to be a big to-do about a little bug, let me honestly tell you this: that week alone, with nobody bugging us, with restaurants begging us to take a seat, any seat at all, with the quiet, the sun, the weather, and especially with the empty airport and easy pass through security, my friends, that was one of the best vacations of my life.

Call me a swine, but I had a ball.
Betty