Last week would have seemed normal in Mexicali, except the weather was unusual and the news of a potential global pandemic tinged everything with a sense of danger. It was strangely overcast in the mornings, with a sense of heaviness that you could almost touch and a slightly ochre cast to one's view from windows and cars. Often, even in winter, the sun lends such a harsh, bright reality to everything here, that every leaf, a garden stone or a window ledge has the power to fracture your view of the world. The muted tones of the past few days dreamily softened even the stark reality of the news from Mexico City, where streets were empty, restaurants closed and the citizens were staying in their homes to minimize the risk of infection. In Mexicali, where a few cases of the flu were identified, the response was much less obvious, though an undercurrent of tension was noticeable in casual conversations and fewer cars on the streets. Notice was given at the end of the week, on a major holiday in Mexico, that all 'non-essential' businesses should close the following week. Since almost everything was already closed on Friday and many establishments would also be taking a holiday on Monday, it was difficult to know how to contact employees over a long weekend to tell them not to return. It turned out to be unnecessary when the ban was lifted in the city by the next day and now even businesses in Mexico City will reopen by Wednesday. Do you think things will really be the same there? Or will it be weeks or months before the crowds and traffic resume their congested sameness.
Across the border in Calexico, however, everything was business-as-usual on Friday. The traffic was heavy at the border because of the holiday and it took more than one hour to make the crossing. The guards at the border didn't mention the flu and their was nothing different at the gas station. I had to go to the Bank of America, which I swear must be the busiest branch that exists in the whole United States. No one there was wearing a mask or keeping an unusual distance. Even though the flu was identified in Imperial county, the response was not the same as it was just across the street in another country. Though the news in the States was broadcasting flu updates every half hour on radio and TV, the public reaction was far from intense just minutes from the border. I'm sure there is nothing geographical in the spread of a virus, but there definitely is something different about how different cultures respond to similar threats.
It must have something to do with the level of tolerance people in the States have to the constant media pounding of one dire problem after another. Numbness begins to set in and the "ho hum" factor takes over. In Mexico, though the Internet has become a way of life and TV and radio news shows are running just as constantly, they are still not as predominant in everyone's daily life. Sometimes I ask people who work in the company for news of what is going on in the news, and for the most part, they can hardly give you a run down of local, state or national news. Newspapers are still sold on every major street corner in the mornings, along with Chiclets and the ubiquitous request for handouts. It's not that life is simpler here, but it definitely is different in many subtle and indefinable ways.
