Brightest Young Things

Lorena Sander, who is behind DC Gastronome is in Mexico RIGHT NOW. Her twitter has been a constant stream of updates on the state of the Swine Flu affairs so we asked her to do a special "from the front lines" post for us on our SWINE FLU day on BYT. Read up-Svetlana

This morning I woke up with a sore throat. Head and heart aches may be worth pausing or fretting, but for this I ought to take a lozenge, choose from the stockpile of generics I keep handy, and head for the door. My raw throat, however, makes me partake in a general psychosis – welcome to Monterrey, Mexico.

How did I wind up with a front-row seat to H1N1’s big show? A DC dweller for 4 years and counting, I was born and raised in Mexico, and come back every chance I get. I flew out of DCA on Sunday morning for a conference (ironically, on Biotech). American Airlines assured me that flights were landing in Mexico just fine – would I be interested in their great fares to resort destinations while I was down there? I countered the alarmists with the few anecdotes that I could remember from SARS, the Avian Flu, and Hoof and Mouth disease. Was my trip necessary? Depends on whom you ask. The conference was for work, and no one at the office believed I was being put in harm’s way. Being here during the last week of April also gave me the opportunity to be here for my dad’s birthday, my cousin’s wedding, and a major fundraiser organized by my mom. State Department warnings have nothing on my grandmother.

The scene at the Monterrey airport was hardly out of a B-movie: no deserted halls, no empty security checkpoints, no people running for the mountains. One could tell that everyone who was wearing surgical masks felt slightly embarrassed, and possibly lightheaded from all the disinfectant fumes. This was just a precaution, I told myself, to counter the chaos that was gripping Mexico City. Monterrey was going to be fine, and I would have a busy week. I then noticed how people weren’t hugging each other at the arrivals gate.

A few hours later, the conference was cancelled. A death had been reported and at least 20 cases had shown up in public hospitals. The state government did not want non-essential crowding (fundraiser organizers, campaign committees, and pious church goers were horrified, students were not), especially when no one can figure out how, exactly, the virus is spreading. Hearing persistent coughing at the grocery store made me re-think the inherent ridiculousness of surgical masks, which were sold out in stores but were being given away by army and police officers.

I spent most of Monday trying to get accurate information. It is harder than one would think, especially when the most-read are the most panicked. It was when my parents came back from Oaxaca wearing masks that I really began to worry, and pondered the moral implications of quarantining them in the pantry. We celebrated my father’s birthday in a mostly empty restaurant, where all the wait-staff was donning caps and facemasks. I tried not to think about that chapter in Heat where Bill Buford affirms that no place has more people showing up sick for work than a professional kitchen.

The fundraiser was postponed. With closed-door masses and public parks closing, my cousin’s wedding is in serious jeopardy, and no one can quite figure out who the patron saint of receptions is to start praying. Jury’s still out on the monogrammed surgical masks as keepsakes for this possible pandemic wedding.

Monterrey, as most of the country, is not gripped by disease but by fear. Those who can help, do. Those who can’t find ways of dealing with it – from hosting quarantine-themed parties to making home remedies (pineapple chicken soup, or mescal-laced raw honey, anyone?) to coming up with every possible bad joke. Was my trip necessary? I don’t think I would believe this chronicle of an announced fever unless I was here to see it.

In the meantime, I’ll obsess over my raw throat.

Previously in Tangents:

• 12/28: Terrible Boyfriend/ Girlfriend Generator.
• 11/2: PHOTOS: TAXLO Halloween (feat. Chain Gang of 1974)
• 10/10: #OccupyWallStreet
• 8/10: PHOTOS: Lawn Mover Racing, Eastern Seaboard Regionals @ Bowles Farm
• 7/26: Special List: Things the BYGays Want Now That We Can Marry In DC (and NY!)
• 7/20: PHOTOS: Artscape
• 7/19: Miho Hatori's Guide to New York City
• 4/11: Cirque Du Soleil: Totem (A Review)
• 12/29: War, Reenacted
• 12/29: What in Hell is Slaughterama?!?