scaling the weights

My idea of an exotic shopping trip these days is to drive fifteen miles down the coast to our county seat of  Cihuatlán.

The mere mention of "county seat" conjures up loading granny and the three young 'uns in the 1963 Ford pickup to stock up on vittles for the comin' blizzards. Plenty of hay and chicken feed for the stock.

When I first moved to Mexico, I would drive to Manzanillo each weekend primarily to pick up my mail at Mailboxes, etc., but also to visit the big box stores to shop for exotica. When I closed my mailbox, the trips dwindled in frequency. I am now lucky to avoid driving there except for twice each year to drop off dry cleaning and to see what wild options La Comer is offering in meat.

The reason is simple. I can buy almost everything I need in the villages on the bay. If I can't, Amazon is just a few clicks away.

Now and then, though, I need to drive to Cihuatlán. And I did just that yesterday. 

I told you that I have returned to my exercise and eating regime that served me so well three years ago (killing me softly). I had recently become concerned that my blood pressure, glucose levels, and weight had slipped out of control due to my own neglect.

Because I had not tested either my blood pressure or glucose levels for almost three years, I was pleasantly surprised to discover they were in acceptable ranges. I knew that was not going to be true of my weight.

So, I pulled out the test for it -- a digital scale I bought in San Miguel de Allende almost five years ago. I stepped on it and was prepared to receive the bad news. The dial merely stared at my blankly. No matter how many times I stepped on and off the scale, it was no more communicative than the sphinx.

Changing the battery did nothing. It was simply another electronic device that had surrendered its desire to live to our temperature and humidity.

None of the local village shops had anything on offer, but I was certain I could find what I wanted at Cihuatlán's main department store -- Coppel. And I did. I was in and out of the store in less than five minutes.

Mexico is currently suffering from another wave of The Virus. Our area missed most of the worst of the earlier waves. We are not being spared in this one.

As a result, the state government has imposed a mask requirement for everyone almost everywhere in the state. Yesterday, I would guess about 40% of the people on our main street in Barra de Navidad were compliant. In Cihuatlán, almost everyone was masked. When I entered Coppel, a mask was required, my temperature was gauged, and my hands were sanitized. I felt as if I was prepared to perform surgery.

One of the current restraints in place is that all open public-gathering places are closed. With police tape. Our local jardins look like the scene of a long-past crime -- or perhaps a crime yet-to-happen in the future, as in Minority Report.

The jardin restrictions are not very effective. In the three jardins I have visited in the past two days, citizens have no compunction in lifting the tape to use the park that belongs to them. Sometimes, they are chased off by people purporting to have authority. Most often, they do what they want to do -- and then leave.

Today I noted a marked increase in the use of masks both in Barra de Navidad and Melaque. I suspect most of that is due to the number of family members who are currently ill (and fighting for breath) in our neighborhoods. Few things focus one's attention as much as the wolf at your door huffing and puffing from The Virus.

While I was in one store, the owner was talking with me when two members of Civil Protection came into the shop in their orange Space Troopers outfits. They asked the owner if she had a mask. She did. They then told her to put it on. She did.

But the moment they left her store, off came her mask. I watched that same pantomime repeat itself as the Presence of Apparent Authority made their way down the street. I saw a couple of people who had previously been wearing masks doff them in some sort of populist solidarity.

Where it truly matters, people seem to be doing the right thing to help bring this wave under control. Mexico has had terrible problems with its vaccination program. As of today, only 38% of the population has received one jab, and 20% are fully-vaccinated (that latter number includes those who have had the one-jab vaccines).

The attitude toward vaccination has changed, though. Almost all of my young Mexican acquaintances told me they would never be vaccinated. I kept working on them, sweetening the possibility of choosing the shot. When the age limit was lowered to 18, each of them lined up. I am certain my arguments were far less effective than watching an uncle suffocate. Some arguments are more real than others.

I am not always good at timing. But it appears I picked a good time to increase my personal defenses against the current wave. The new scale will give me an idea how quickly my weight drops -- along with the steady improvement of my blood pressure and glucose measures.

As for the numbers that showed up on that scale fresh out of the box? That will be my secret for now. I will save full disclosure for better circumstances.