Puerto Escondido in the Time of the Covid
E-mail dispatches from American Citizens Services, U.S. Embassy, Mexico City
ACSMexicoCity@state.gov
April 8, 2020
The Mexican government declared a national health emergency on March 30 and imposed restrictions on non-essential activities in the public, private, and social sectors until April 30. Essential activities include medical services and supplies, grocery delivery services and stores, restaurants (for delivery and carry out only), public safety, fundamental economic functions, government social programs, and critical infrastructure. Schools in Mexico are also closed until April 30. Health authorities in Mexico are discouraging visitors from traveling to Mexico over Holy Week (Semana Santa).
On April 3, Mexican Tourism and Health officials instructed hotels to cancel new and existing reservations and close for nonessential business. All accommodation services, including hotels, hostels, online platforms, and travel agencies will cease receiving reservations and will reschedule all reservations. Guests that require accommodation due to essential business activities are permitted to stay in hotels with a maximum occupancy of 15 percent. Nonresident foreign citizens currently in hotel accommodation must begin the process of returning home immediately. If a person starts showing respiratory symptoms, health authorities must be notified immediately.
On April 3, like a good American, I went to Chedrauí and bought a six-month supply of toilet paper. (In March, in the U.S. people were hoarding toilet paper. For the record, there were never shortages in Mexico.) Then I stayed home for most of the month, letting my hair and toe nails grow. Fortunately, Almoraduz and other restaurants were making home deliveries. The state of Oaxaca had issued a ban on alcohol sales between 6 pm and 6 am, so I also stocked up on mezcal just in case there was a total ban in Puerto as there were in other parts of the state.
All the beaches in San Pedro Mixtepec and Colotepec were closed. On April 12, 30 people were caught surfing at Punta Colorada and had their vehicles impounded. Nevertheless, a few restaurants on Zicatela and the Adoquín remained open throughout, although I didn’t see any customers. The craft shops on the Adoquín were also open in April, even though the street itself was empty. Essential services were in the eyes of the beholder.
ACSMexicoCity@state.gov
April 21, 2020
On April 21, the Mexican government announced the start of Phase 3 of the pandemic, meaning rapid transmission in the number of infections and increased numbers of patients requiring hospitalization. On April 16, the Mexican government extended nationwide restrictions on non-essential economic activities in most municipalities until May 30.
On April 21, a curfew was declared in San Pedro Mixtepe from 10 pm to 5 am. On May 10, the hours were changed to 10:30 pm to 5 am. Twenty-five people were arrested and held overnight on May 20 for curfew violations. There never was a curfew in Colotepec.
ACSMexicoCity@state.gov
June 18, 2020
Sixteen of Mexico’s states are designated “red” under the federal system from June 15 to June 21 (Baja California, Chiapas, Mexico City, Colima, Mexico State, Guerrero, Hidalgo, Morelos, Nayarit, Oaxaca, Puebla, Queretaro, Sinaloa, Sonora, Tlaxcala, and Veracruz). Under red, only essential activities are allowed. Essential activities include: the provision of medical services and supplies, grocery delivery services, operation of grocery stores, restaurant delivery and carryout services, assurance of public safety, maintenance of fundamental economic functions and government social programs, work in critical infrastructure, construction, and manufacturing of transportation equipment. Hotels are limited to 25 percent occupancy for guests working on critical activities. Parks are also limited to 25 percent occupancy. Schools in Mexico are closed.
On Sunday, May 3, Luna Rossa became the first restaurant on the Rinconada to offer table service. On May 11, El Coste became the first to do so in the center of Zicatela. Other restaurants on Zicatela reopened soon after. Cafecito started offering table service at the end of the month. El Nene and Café Dan reopened in the beginning of June. Most hotels and restaurants were open in July.
Let’s make this perfectly clear. There were no official pronouncements on a national, state or local level allowing business to go back to the old days; it just happened that way. This was certainly not the case in Mazunte or Zipolite which did not reopen until August. The city of Oaxaca was definitely closed to tourism when I visited in July.
The beaches were something else. On June 2, San Pedro Mixtepec opened the beaches of Bacocho, Punta Colorada, Delfines and Agua Dulce from 6 a.m. to 7:30 p.m., but only to residents. You had to sign in and were only allowed to be there for two hours. You were permitted to walk, jog or run, but not to enter the water, and you had to wear a mask. Colotepec opened its beaches on July 7, from 6 am to 2 pm. Swimming and surfing were permitted but not sitting in groups on the beach. In August all the beaches and beach palapas were allowed to open without restrictions.
September was amazing. More tourists than ever there were in Puerto in what traditionally is a very slow month. Most came from Mexico City. Restaurant prices went up. There were serious internet problems. The whole Oaxaca Coast was down twice for a number of hours – no cell phone service either. There were a number of complaints about slow TelMex and TelCel connections. Some blamed it on the presence of so many digital nomads, others noted heavy NetFlix use by locals. What is for certain is that I have been watching a lot more NetFlix since April.
Another weird phenomenon: people on motorcycles with masks but without helmets. Lots of reported accidents involving motorcycles and cars or trucks.
All patron saint’s day fiestas and other large gatherings had been prohibited by the state and the municipios. Not so surprisingly, there was actually a large increase in the number of cockfights and horse races in Puerto and neighboring communities from May to August, compared to other years, judging by the sales of veterinary supplements and injectable vitamins associated with these events.
At the beginning of October, the traffic on the highway between Brisas de Zicatela and Bacocho was normal – for December. So many buses, colectivos, cars, pickup trucks, big trucks. What will winter look like?
Meanwhile the virus continues to spread. Long-time residents knew of cases in their neighborhoods that probably never entered into the official statistics. There weren’t enough health care workers on the Coast to administer tests to suspected victims in their homes, and some victims wanted their condition to remain secret even if it put others at risk.
