Today’s update is a bit different – from a bit more personal and less medical terminology point of view. It is Sunday morning, May 3, 2009.
I have just returned from my morning walk. The sun has risen and is burning off the small amount of morning mist and fog with a little grey mist still hanging over the mountains behind us. The sky is a deep blue with a few puffy cotton-candy looking clouds scattered around. A few of the small beach restaurants have fired up the BBQ’s, preparing to cook the catch of the day. Delivery trucks are making the standard drop off’s as they do each morning, from the Coca-Cola trucks to the “Sabritas” (potato chips and snacks) to the small stores. A few fisherman stand knee deep in the water throwing out their nets. The dedicated exercise people are doing some speed walking or jogging. City maintenance guys with their green uniforms are sweeping the streets as they always do and give me a cheerful “Buenos Dias!”. Various forms of seabirds track lightly along the beach looking for some type of breakfast morsel. What would normally be a bustling and busy morning due to a long, holiday weekend here is quiet. There are many parking spots everywhere. Returning home I check my patio garden and see that two of my orchids are beginning to bloom. My plants seem to welcome a fresh watering and respond quickly, standing up straight and tall. My office is a disaster with piles of papers sliding off the desk, newspapers and printed articles all over the place. My computer has begun to rebel, moving quite slowly most likely rebelling from handling nearly 2,600 emails in a one week time period. It’s time to clean and organize this mess and attempt to return to a sense of “normalcy” in my work schedule this week which actually seems pretty darned inviting. Selfishly, my heart aches for Puerto Vallarta, my home, my base, my family’s home. What will become of us? How will we repair the economic damage? The flu seems to be under a good control. We are “clean”. How do we make the world and future tourists understand that?