Quarantine

I'm not very good at keeping up with the news -- current world events and such.  I had seen headlines about some virus in China and heard people talking about a Coronavirus, but that was the extent of my knowledge.  

Then it was reported that a tourist from Holland had tested positive for the virus at the hospital in Lago Agrio, the very hospital that I was going to daily to get therapy on my shoulder.  I still didn't think too much about it.  The guard at the hospital entrance took our temperature as we entered one day, and they started squirting our hands with sanitizer when we came in and left the building.  I had heard that one symptom was a dry cough, such as I had had for a couple of weeks at that point.  I was sure that if I had the virus I would have displayed other symptoms by now, but I worked VERY hard at not coughing in public, lest they should come and take me away!  I sucked on one cough drop after another during my therapy sessions so that not one throat tickle would evolve into a cough.  I felt like I was the subject of suspicious glances even when I didn't cough because of my status as Foreigner.  Then, on Monday, March 16, after 6 out of 10 sessions, my PT told me that the hospital would indefinitely postpone all physical therapy due to the outbreak of the coronavirus.  

There are a lot of details I don't remember.  But I recall that Eli and I went to the grocery store after my therapy session that Monday to stock up.  We might need to hole up in the bach for a week or two.  While at the store, we decided that maybe it would be best to go to the bach in Sacha rather than staying in Lago Agrio.  The Sacha bach has running water.  It's larger and is more separate from other dwellings.  The heat in Sacha seems to be less intense.  It's also farther away from our friends in Lago, but if the point of all of this was to stay away from people, that didn't seem to be such an issue. 

We called one of our friends in Lago who has a vehicle and asked if he would take us to Sacha at his convenience.  He agreed to come pick us up at 1:00.  It was after noon, and we were still at the supermarket!  We rushed back to the bach, organized our groceries and chucked personal belongings into our backpacks.  Juan arrived before we were done packing, but we just threw things together as best we could and hurried out to catch our ride.  We figured we would be gone for a week, possibly two. 

It is now May 28, and we have not yet left the bach in Sacha.  Had I known this is how it would turn out, it's true that I would have packed a bit differently.  However, I have all the essentials, and I'm so thankful that we decided to come here.  I don't know that I have ever been so daily consciously thankful for running water and an indoor bathroom!  

In our 10.5 weeks of quarantine thus far, I believe I have been "out" on four different occasions to shop for groceries.  We're allowed out one day a week - determined by the last digit of our cédula (resident ID card).  The final digit on my card is a 2, meaning I'm allowed out for essential activities on Mondays.  So, if we haven't had a pressing need on a Monday, I don't get an outing that week.  The curfew is from 2 pm to 5 am; masks are mandatory.  Taking out the trash and hanging up the laundry are my most coveted chores since it means that I either get to go across the street (trash) or up on the roof (laundry).  Fortunately, we do laundry nearly every day, so that gives me almost daily roof time.  Fresh air and sunshine do wonders for the spirit during quarantine!    

I'm sure there are many other details that are not included in this quarantine summary, but that's the basic story from our little corner.