With only weeks to go before the Snowbirds head down for the winter, the weather continues to be problematic along the east coast of Mexico. In Tabasco, six rivers are still out of their banks, with rain falling and more on the way. In addition, there is a low pressure area located in the Gulf of Mexico, right off of the coast of Veracruz. All five of its projected paths make landfall in Tamaulipas, one of the two worst hit states by Hurricane Alex just two months ago. It must also be noted that Quintana Roo is on Blue Alert, which is the lightest of all possible hurricane warnings, because Hurricane Gaston may be strengthening and headed in their direction. Needless to say, the weather will certainly not be dull this coming week!
A man from Washington State, U.S., has driven a car all the way from the Canadian border to the Mexican border (1,384 miles) on only 12.4 gallons of gasoline! Craig Henderson and Bill Green developed the car in the 1980s, but the auto industry wasn’t interested, so Henderson just kept on making it better on his own. The car is a cute little roadster that Mr. Henderson is planning to sell in a kit car. At 119.1 mpg, we would be willing to bet that this will be front page news the minute the Avion kits hit the market.
Last year, we had the H1N1 flu scare that was fueled by an already rabid foreign media run of Mexico-bashing, in concert with worldwide health organizations that either wanted their name in the paper or wanted to try out their rapid response scenarios. The result was worldwide panic. This year, the flu is back but is barely a blip on anyone’s radar. What we know is that it is Influenza (type A) H3N2. It began in Australia, hopped over to Europe and South America – then came up through Central America to southeastern Mexico. Symptoms include a garden variety of complaints, from coughing to sore muscles, but it does not seem to be life-threatening unless someone is already ill. Individuals who are in advanced age, very young, or have respiratory problems should see a doctor immediately if they show symptoms of the flu. Otherwise, eat well, sleep well, get plenty of exercise, and have a great winter.
The worldwide abuse of antibiotics has led to a situation in which, without intervention, it won’t be long before bacteria have developed an immunity to anything we have that might kill them. We hear reports from a number of places around the world where antibiotics are not only overused, but are dumped into local water systems and are even being found in local seawater. The overuse and abuse of antibiotics is now judged to be a worldwide crisis and Mexico, this past week, took steps to do its part to help resolve the issue. No longer will anyone be able to obtain over-the-counter antibiotics in Mexico. From now on, customers must have a prescription for medications listed on a 51-page list of antibiotics. COFEPRIS is the Federal Commission for the Protection of Public Sanitation and they have some pretty stiff penalties waiting for pharmacists caught disobeying this law, so keep that in mind as we all adjust to these new rules.
This past weekend saw the 4th Anniversary of the Bici-Ruta in Merida. Since its inception, one town after another has begun to view bike riding as an at least weekly event in the fight against obesity and coronary disease. We have seen bike paths open in Tizimin, Valladolid and Motul. Now, there is a bike path in Peto, 135 km southeast of Merida.
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