We all are familiar (or should be), with Charlton Heston in the 1956, academy award winning movie, The Ten Commandments. Playing the part of Moses, Heston hails down locusts and turns water into blood as he blackmails the Romans into releasing the Hebrews from slavery. The plagues do the trick and the Hebrews are released from generations of bondage to wander in the desert.
These days the southern Mexico village of Bacalar seems to be living through its own plague of biblical proportion. Situated on the Lake of Seven Colors, Bacalar has returned to the quiet little village we moved to seven years ago. The streets and park are empty. There has been one reported case of plague number one, Covid-19. The campaign #quédateencasa or Stay Home along with the lack of tourists seems to be doing the trick. People are hurting but they are not dying in large numbers.
Plague number two is drought. We can’t even remember the last time it rained in southern Mexico. The jungle is brown and crunchy. Crops are nonexistent and the once lush, green jungle is quickly disappearing.
Plague number three, mosquitoes seems unlikely given plague number two. Drought doesn’t usually increase the mosquito population. Each year we anxiously wait for the rain but know that rain brings mosquitoes, dengue, zica, chikungunya and maleria. None of these diseases is fatal, but the plague of mosquitoes is annoying as hell.
I believe that plague number four is causing the mosquito infestation, the fires, Dealing With The Burn. Mosquitoes are driven from lowlands by burning jungle and relocated to Bacalar. We are dealing with itchy eyes, scratchy throat and painful lungs. People are screaming on Facebook but the authorities seem to have bigger fish to fry. Generations of clearing land with fire are not abandoned readily, regardless of the environmental impact.
It’s hard not to take it personally, although locals suffer far more than immigrants. We are hanging in there, not kidding ourselves that “this will be over soon”. Hopefully God is not mad at us, although sometimes it feels that way.
DOS TORTAS
the adventures of dos tortas 
OMG, as if Covid 19 isn’t enough. You must remember that the burning affects Texas a lot as well, we don’t like it either. We are just trying to keep in mind that Texas has had virtually no covid 19 testing and the “numbers” are not acurate. We are still waiting for our peak in Texas and know that it will be epic especially since our govenor has just “opened” Texas for business. We are going to stay home for at least another month. Y’all hang in there, we are all in this together (at least those of us with some rational thinking abilities). Stay healthy and safe, and keep blogging!
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Thanks a lot. I remember the gray skies in Austin and hearing, “it’s fires from Mexico”. Somehow I didn’t get it. I do now.
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I didn’t know about the drought. I’m so sorry. We’ve been living with moderate drought for years here in southern Arizona but nothing as bad as what you’re going through. Amazingly, we got some spring rains this year and it was glorious but I’ve had to cut grass five times already. That is unheard of here. Well, it wasn’t grass, it was one particular kind of weed.
But now it is hot and dry so weeds are not growing. Hooray!
There’s one thing I have to disagree with though. Dengue can be deadly, for sure. It killed some people in the area of Mexico I spend time in. I got dengue and was miserable for quite some time. Plus it did something that seems to throw off my balance, and it destroyed my immune system so I got the flu for the first time in over 30 years. The balance issue continues and has for 4 1/2 years.
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Sending love and light. Think of you often.
On Sun, May 3, 2020 at 11:49 AM the adventures of dos tortas wrote:
> afish25 posted: “We all are familiar (or should be), with Charlton Heston > in the 1956, academy award winning movie, The Ten Commandments. Playing the > part of Moses, Heston hails down locusts and turns water into blood as he > blackmails the Romans into releasing the Hebrews” >
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Thanks Honey, I miss our connection.
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