Colombia Forum

yolatengo
Joined 2019
Posts: 545

4 years ago

Blog post (mar 25)

4 years ago

Tuesday, March 24, 2020

Only a month ago, covid-19 seemed inconsequential to my world. I‘m still getting adjusted to retired life and to living in a different culture. Now this! It hasn’t been easy at times, but we all find ways to cope. I keep imagining it could be worse, like being locked in isolation in prison. There’s also the comfort of knowing that I’m much safer in isolation.

Today is day 4 of the quarantine. Actually, this is the 2nd quarantine for me and Antioquians. The first applied only to Medellin. That ended yesterday and the new national quarantine went into effect right after. Seemingly the same rules. It’s supposed to last 19 days. It seems unlikely that it will end after that time, but who knows? It’s the uncertainty of the future that frightens people the most. I am still trying to process the enormity of what’s going on. It’s surreal.

I have little contact with the outside world, which makes the quarantine that much more difficult to deal with. Moreover, I’ve always had a problem getting Colombian news and that is isolating in itself. I get a Spanish newspaper delivered but it takes me forever to get through it. Plus, I sanitize it before reading it. Well, just the end pages as per Terry’s advice. The online news is not nearly as comprehensive as the print paper. However, believe it or not, I find my best source to be Facebook. The downside is having to sift through the garbage posts.

In many ways I’m very fortunate in that I don’t have problems getting food and don’t have to live day to day. This is a poor country. Many people get paid daily and use the money for housing and food. Or they get paid twice a month. I don’t know what provision is being made for that or if they’re still getting paid. It’s all very sad. I know it’s mostly a global problem, but for many Colombians, they were living on the edge before the pandemic.

Wednesday, March 25, 2020

The isolation was getting to me and I took advantage of the rules that allow one person in each household to go out every day for food. I went to a supermarket over a mile away just so I could get some exercise, something I haven’t gotten for 5 days now. I’ve gained 2 or 3 pounds! I went early so as to avoid people. And that I did. I only passed about 10 or 15 people each way. There were hardly any cars. Normally, it’s hustling and bustling. And the supermarket (Exito) was empty, though the shelves were well-stocked. There were more employees in the store than customers.

There’s really no way to enforce the quarantine effectively, but it helps greatly that most people, at least in Sabaneta, are abiding voluntarily by the rules.

Stay safe.

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