It's funny how a few cases of the flu can turn us into a country of hypochondriacs. On the other hand, Mexico can be such a contradictory place sometimes.

These are some quotes from emails I've gotten from two friends in Mexico City:

#1 "siento que es un movimiento manejado por el gobierno" (I think it is something designed by the government)

#2 "I didn't think it would get like this...it's like a ghost town...everything is closed...supermarkets packed and empty of basic food... people are freaking out."

The most prominent feeling I get is from the first camp. "No pasa nada" is like the mantra of this camp. Everyone is either suspicious of the government or so disillusioned after years of corruption and poverty that it's just one of those things that happens that people on top talk about and people on the bottom deal with one way or another.

Tolo, an ex-patient of Piña told me that fear itself can become a disability or a sickness, if we let it consume us. At the time, that seemed pretty amazing, especially since they say that stress can actually weaken our immune system. My landlord´s advice was to just keep working (and sweating- to get rid of toxins) and not to worry about it. "God will kill us if he wants to". That was pretty important too, I think. If the Good Lord wants to do you in, he won't need a viris to do it. He'll just knock you out of a coconut tree or send a scorpion into your bedroom.

Personally I feel fine. We're in the country and near the ocean. Although if this were a movie, the viris would make a sweeping comeback and kill everyone that didn't believe in it. So once in a while I put the mask on just in case the swine flu is watching.