loaves and fishes

It has been only a week or so since northern tourists decamped to their homes above the Rio Bravo -- leaving a growing economic stoppage in its wake.

In a normal spring, the weeks between the Feast of San Patricio and Semana Santa (Holy Week) represent half of the year's tourist bonanza here.

Some tourists always leave early, but a hearty handful hang on and keep feeding pesos to landlords, tour guides, waiters, pool and cleaning staff, and street vendors. And then comes Semana Santa, the week before Easter. Mexican Families from the highlands jump on buses and into SUVs and migrate en masse to the beach for a full week.

Think of those two events as being our local Black Friday. During those weeks, the workers hope to earn enough money until the bounty of the 6-weeks of summer school vacation, and then for another dry spell between late August and the arrival of the first northern tourists in October.

But that is not happening now. Because of the coronavirus, tourist-oriented businesses are in real trouble. Most of the restaurants in Barra de Navidad have closed. Some are offering take-out. A sizeable number of roasted chicken, taco, and tamale stands are still offering street food. Without customers, those businesses have a short-term dark economic future.

That is why one of our local Facebook pages is putting together a list of take-away eateries -- with all the information a customer might need. (I shamelessly stole the photograph here from that effort. Absolution is pending. After all Holy Week is almost upon us.)

If you are going to be using these services (or similar services where you live in Mexico), let me pass along a suggestion I heard.

Work has already disappeared for a lot of people. My neighbor is a fisherman and provides boat rides to tourists. His is the only income for his extended family. Every day he walks to the malecon and tries to convince people to go for a ride. But there is almost no one there.

I have two young friends who were hired as construction workers. They were proud of their income. Until Saturday when they were laid off without pay because the owner was not certain if he would continue building.

The needy list is already long. Single parents who have lost their income -- a few who once worked cleaning houses for northerners.

I have heard of a resident here who buys two or three extra dinners when he buys take-away. He then delivers the extra two meals to families he knows are facing financial difficulty.

That act of kindness will not reverse the long-range economic tsunami that is facing Mexico. But it will be a grace note in healing some rifts that have opened over the past two weeks.

One of those rifts comes from misunderstanding. People here regularly post that Mexicans have no regard for self-imposed isolation. But they are looking at the dilemma from their perspective and not from the perspective of the person who is desperately looking for some food to feed his family. We could help reduce that exposure (at least by one) if we used our resources to alleviate the worry that is setting in here.

There are probably a lot of other points of light that could be lit here. If so, please share them. Just as you share your food.