The
swine flu crisis is hitting new heights, the news reports that
hundreds of people have died in Mexico City. We've even seen a few
people in the streets wearing masks. Now we're starting to take it
more seriously.
We're now in Playa del
Carmen, which is a beach resort town down the coast from Cancun. It's
a great place to finish our diving course and our instructor Andreas
has recommended a dive shop to us. Unfortunately, Alicia's ear is
still causing her problems and after a visit to a local doctor, we
have to cancel all diving plans. She has an inflammation in her
throat and cannot dive for at least five days. Bummer.
Since she can't dive we
decide to leave the coast and head to a city called Merida. This is
an old Spanish colonial town with a whole bunch of museums, street
parades and relatively easy access to the Mayan site: Chichen Itza.
We get on the bus to
Merida wearing scarves on our faces, scarves because there are no
masks to be found. On arriving in town we are disappointed to find
that the swine flu has now essentially shut down Merida, and for that
matter, all of Mexico. No museums or bars are open, all street
entertainment is cancelled, most restaurants will only serve
takeaway, Chichen Itza and all the major tourist sites are closed.
That doesn't leave a lot to do.
We wait around for an
extra day just to confirm that Chichen Itza doesn't immediately
re-open. It doesn't - in fact it's now been announced that it'll
remain closed until May 6. The day's confirmed as a complete
write-off when we watch Arsenal lose to Manchester United in the
European Cup semi-final. Can anything else go wrong?!
