This is Holy Week in Mexico. The Passion Play, church services, parades, and gatherings have all been canceled. It is inordinately quiet here today. No workmen building. No handymen or gardeners working. Hardly any traffic. The Mexican people are resilient. I’m sure they’re finding ways to celebrate. (Photos from 2019)
Like many of you, I find myself waiting. Waiting to see how this life-changing pandemic hits Mexico. We are in lockdown, with more businesses closing every day. We go out weekly for food and/or medicine. We have vegetables, fruits, and staples delivered. We are the lucky ones. I worry about the Mexican people who survive on so little, knowing that that will most likely be taken away now as well. There are few reported cases of COVID-19 here in the Chapala area, probably very little testing going on. And reports of local, well-revered doctors not using PPE. The Mexican culture takes a “que será será” – what will be, will be – attitude we’re told. Take life as it comes. What will be left after the “tsunami” hits? Will we lose some of our Mexican friends? Who will go without food? What businesses will be gone? Restaurants? How will indigenous artisans survive? How will this country recover? We wait and wonder.
There are efforts, known and unknown, going on around the Lake to help those in need. Friends recently started a FoodBank for Ajijic and neighboring villages. Restaurants have switched to take out and delivery and patrons are urging others to support them. We are blessed, in our house stocked with food, and a pool to lounge in. We have so much. We look out for our Mexican neighbors nearby. And our handyman with four children and no steady job. It is time to step up to the plate. It is time to be COMMUNITY.
So I leave you with photographs of people and places I’ve encountered in the past two years of living in and visiting a small portion of Mexico. I experienced the people and places you see primarily in Ajijic, Tapalpa, Pátzcuaro, and the state of Oaxaca. Reviewing the images makes me realize (again) just how rich Mexico is in color, culture, and history. I know a lot of these folks and count them as friends. The businesses are ones that I frequent or acknowledge as part of our community. I am concerned for them all. Please hold them in your hearts as we endure these next few months together.
Your writing reflects the sentiment for so many of us….why we chose this country, its people and culture. More importantly, that we are in this together and there are many ways in which we can support our new family and friends. Thank you for the slide show! Beautiful!
Thanks so much for your comments. There were so many other pictures-too many to include.
Your photos make me smile. I recognize so many of the artisans, many of whom we visited together. Mexico will be hard hit. The US will be hard hit. The world will be hard hit. We are so in this together. The best any of us can do is stay home and wait. I hard to do when so many depend on Rubbingg together a few pesos, a few shekels, for food. In mexico, family closeness is a value. So is hard work. There will be much to do to support and rebuild society there, here, everywhere. Thanks for this, Chris.
De nada. Thanks so much for your comments. There were so many pictures I didn’t include, many of them in Oaxaca, a place I dearly love. Be safe!
What a moving slideshow. Thank you for reminding us all that we are the fortunate ones with a responsibility to those less so.
It has never been so clear. Gracias!