Surviving a Pandemic in La Yacata

A pandemic is defined as an epidemic of infectious disease that has spread through large regions of human populations.

But, is a pandemic a real possibility? Well, yes. Everyone knows that the smallpox pandemic killed millions of indigenous people in Mexico after its introduction in Veracruz with the arrival of Panfilo de Narvaez in 1520. The population of the Aztec capital Tenochtitlan was decimated and Cortes and his men (having that European immunity) took possession in 1521.

Ahh, but smallpox has been eradicated right? So no worries. Well, that doesn’t mean Mexico hasn’t been affected by other pandemics.

In 1918-1920, the population of Mexico was again dramatically reduced by an influenza pandemic. That particular pandemic was responsible for 20-50 million deaths worldwide.

More recently, Mexico was again hit with a pandemic this time with the “swine flu” in March and April of 2009 with somewhere between 113,000 to 375,000 people having been infected.

Another pandemic waiting to happen was reported in 2016. Cases of the Zika virus have been reported as far north as Mexico. Although it seems the large-scale pesticide preventative measures are causing far more damage than the actual virus.

So what’s the best way to survive a pandemic?

Isolation.

La Yacata is sparsely populated and we are, for the most part, self-sufficient. We already have quite a few of the things that are recommended by survivalists–food, washboard, clothesline, water collection storage containers and so on. We also are fully capable of growing our own food when needed. Thus making La Yacata a great place to ride out the next pandemic in Mexico.

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