Well, I kind of don’t really know where to start with this blog post. So much has happened in such a short amount of time. I guess I should start by saying, I am still here, in Salta Argentina and I am doing a-okay. I’m staying with Noly and fam, as they’ve kindly welcomed me into their house! For that I am very grateful because I’d truly be going nuts and be very stressed if I was on my own.
As I’m writing this, we’re on day 5 of official quarantine, but the craziness started on Sunday 15th. Before this, there had been a couple of cases in Argentina, but it all felt very remote, distant and far off. I cannot describe how truly bizarre it was, talking to my family and hearing all the stories of their trips to the shops and how toilet roll was disappearing from the shelves like hotcakes and the panic that seemed to be kicking off back home, whilst here things felt relatively chill. On Sunday 15th, the last church service I’ve been to, it was weird. Greetings with elbows, nothing more. Then, afterwards, the church emptied suuuper quickly, as people weren’t able to go around mwah mwah-ing and greeting each other. Later that day, it started kicking off with the supermarkets and things started seeming more real and serious. That night, there was an announcement that all educational classes were to be cancelled until the 31st March, people were to work from home where possible and it was advised to avoid contact with people. Two days later, it stepped up again and some jobs where people were still having to go in, were told they had to work from home. Then on Thursday of last week, the announcement was made that all of Argentina is to be in quarantine until the 31st March.
For me, the fact that the decision was made for us to be in quarantine, was a really helpful thing. There was one day when I was in my place when all of this was kicking off, and I felt really anxious and a bit stressed all the time. Now, thankfully, I feel a lot more relaxed. This definitely, in part, comes down to not being on my own, but is also that things aren’t changing so quickly as they were. The rate of cases is still going up (as of today it’s about 300 cases in Argentina and 8 who have died) but not as much as in other countries. I hope this is some comfort to all of you at home in England, who have recently gone into quarantine, that it’s actually okay. I absolutely hate with a passion not leaving the house all day, so I really thought I’d have gone crazy by now, but I think the gratefulness at having a roof over my head and food on my plate is enough to keep me sane. I went for a walk yesterday (this is allowed if it’s just one person) and it was bizarre, walking through the neighbourhood. Barely a trace of anyone, just the odd person sitting in their garden or a family playing tennis on their property.
What I also find bizarre, is thinking back to life before coronavirus. What did we talk about all the time?! (I mentioned this to my Nanna and she responded with, well. Brexit. Very true!). It’s weird though, trying to think of other things to talk about, it alllll just ends up going back to the topic of coronavirus and what’s going on in the world and different countries etc.
Well, I think that’s all for now my loves. I shall leave you with a picture of my first ever quarantine date as set up by my favourite human
Nadia's Adventures 