OUR COVID EXPERIENCE IN CUENCA

Dear Family and Friends,

The last time I posted to this blog was in October of last year.  Since I last posted we have been on a couple of tours.  Little did we know then that they may be the last tours we ever take.  

We were away from Ecuador from October until the first of March 2020.  Actually we landed in Cuenca about two weeks before the lockdown began.  Everything happened so fast and it all seems so surreal. 

It has been four months now.  Chuck and I have followed the rules faithfully to prevent the spread of the virus.  In June we started venturing out and meeting with just a few friends for card playing, coffee, and lunches.  We have felt pretty safe keeping our contacts to just four or five people.  Well, we have felt pretty safe until just this week.  

All of a sudden we are aware that the virus is quite prevalent within the expat community here in Cuenca.  We have heard of several people who have had it or going through it.  We even have friends who have succumbed to it.

We have decided to become even more extreme in protecting ourselves.  We are choosing to close down face to face contact with everyone except each other.  

We will continue to get out and walk.  This is important for our health.  We will have to, of course, continue to grocery shop.  We may even eat out, if it is a place that we feel safe with lots of space between tables. We have just decided to not have direct contact with others, even while using face masks.  It is so contagious that even with the strict precautions we are taking we can still get it.  

Chuck and I are so fortunate that we have each other.  So many expats are here and living alone.  Some are able to cope better than others.  

We are not judging of others.  People will do what they think best.  If they choose to get together with friends that they feel are safe, we understand. We were starting to do that ourselves.  

For all of our family and friends in the USA and other countries, we are sending you our love and wishing you good health.  Please take special care of yourselves, we love you.

Now that you know that we are still kicking...if you would, please comment about how you are doing, what your stay healthy strategy is or if you have had the virus.  We are all going through this but, as we are learning, each of our experiences are different.

Love,

Nancy and Chuck