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Elena Hiatt Houlihan Issue 38, April 2020
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PUERTO VALLARTA BEACH IN THE TIME OF CORONA
Taken when we were discouraged from going to the beach.
Now we are forbidden.
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STILL SAFE AND WANDERING IN PLACE….
Dear Friends and Family, Old and New, Near and Far:
Despite Skype Spanish classes, Zoom writers meetings, and FaceTime calls with family, I can’t keep up with all of you. I’ve received several emails wondering if I were OK and where I am staying these days. And meanwhile, I’m deeply concerned about those of you I’ve met along the way whether we’ve corresponded directly or not.
In mid-March I danced delightedly at the tango festival in San Miguel de Allende, though the attendance was highly diminished. Some women wore gloves, and we used hand sanitizer between dances, perhaps the defiant equivalent of “fiddling while Rome burns.” I had a private lesson on technique with this handsome professional,
Ulises Romero, in the mirror-lined studio of my friend Nanette Taylor.
Then a 12-hour bus ride brought me back to Puerto Vallarta on March 17. At the time there were only 200 cases in Mexico, which have now risen to over 14,600, IF the statistics are correct.
So we are now Social Distancing in Mexico, forbidden to leave home without a mask, or go out except for necessities. The police patrol the beaches preventing swimming and walking there (though rebel that I am, I sometimes get in a short walk on the shore if the police are on the other end of the beach)
NOTICING THE SMALL THINGS…GARDEN HORROR STORY!
You might think Compulsive Ant Observation is a result of our quarantine, but this Garden Horror Story occurred in early March before the virus confined us all. I was so intrigued that I made 6 or 7 videos. I thought about putting them on YouTube in case any budding scientists out there were interested in activities of ants.
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Sometime after midnight I noticed movement in my favorite bougainvillea. It was the Invasion of the Leaf Cutter Ants! Fascinated, I ran to get my camera. The ants methodically cut up the leaves, scampered down the branches, and headed toward their nest, which I calculated had to be several miles away in “ant distance.” Over 4 nights, they denuded several bougainvilleas and started on my tomatoes. That’s when I lost it and put out Terro Ant Baits which prevented their return.
RAY OF HOPE!
Four weeks later the plants have grown all new leaves and are starting to have flowers. I’d like to think this is a metaphor for thriving again after the pandemic.
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PANDEMIC BEHAVIOR!
I don’t know about you, but I find concentration more difficult in this involuntary confinement. I may not be leaving the
country or even the
house, but I wander from the kitchen to the terrace, trim dead leaves off the plants, return to a partially cleaned bathroom, wash a few clothes, listen to a podcast, start and do not finish examining clothes to give away. I don’t eat as much as this schedule I found on Facebook, though my meals are far from regular. One night I even bought both Oreos and Cheetos from the convenience store above my apartment!
It’s a bizarre time in our lives today, and no matter how difficult we feel this is, you and I are so fortunate to have a place to sleep, food to eat and room to roam within our house and yard. Many families here in Mexico and the world over are confined to a small room or two. As the image says,
Not everyone has a full refrigerator.
Not everyone can watch Netflix.
Not everyone can have a gym beside a pool.
Not everyone has work with a salary.
Not everyone has a Home Office.
For those millions out of work, their expenses continue. My friend Mario says, “Hunger will kill more people than the virus.” So he and others are volunteering at food banks and gathering donations, while another friend, Edoardo, is buying food and preparing meals daily, then delivering them to 40-50 people.
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ENDING WITH A BIT OF COLOR!
Before leaving San Miguel de Allende I did a bit of street photography and captured a wedding procession as well as this fashionista posing with a giant puppet in the door of a restaurant.
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THE FRIDA KAHLO CHALLENGE…
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One of the most amusing sites I have recently discovered is the Getty Museum Challenge. Art lovers are creating imitations of paintings in the gallery and the results are equally inventive and hilarious. I urge you to check it out to enliven the doldrums of the “cuarantena.” |
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I hope this finds you joyful and healthy, no matter where you are in the world, exercising your creativity, and surrounded by loved ones. Once again, remember to take care of your special selves, follow your dreams, and express your love fully to those around you. We are more perishable than we think.
Abrazos y besos,
Elena
PS: I’d love to know how you are. I do my best to answer everyone who writes to me!
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