It's a Weird Time to be a Traveler.

It's been a couple of weeks since our travel plans were halted and COVID-19 became the dominating factor in people's lives across the world. So much has changed since we were in Panama City with our friends, Joel & Alicia, preparing to ship our vans to Colombia.

NOTE: The "we" referred to throughout this post consists of all 5 of us- Joel, Alicia, Zach, Miles & I. We're a pack now. Quickly becoming great friends, and we feel really grateful to have these humans as our quarantine companions to support each other through all the uncertainty we're experiencing right now. Alright... resuming post.

We were all in agreement that before we did anything else, we should head back to Boquete to put as much distance as possible between us and Panama City where the dense population was sure to be a magnet for COVID-19. So we made the 6 hour drive, passed a few police check points, passed a health check point, found a safe place to park temporarily, and started sorting through our options. As we talked through everything, we quickly realized we were trying to hit a moving target. It seemed like every hour there was new information to consider- another country shutting its borders, another airline canceling flights. How many new cases were there? How many deaths? What cities were the cases in? Anything near us? Anything near our families? Everything felt so erratic and unsettling. We could have booked a last minute flight back to the states, but where? Alabama? Arizona? We don't have a "home". And if we did fly "home" what would we do with the van? Which airlines were accepting pets? And if we didn't fly "home" how long would we be here? How much time was on our immigration visa? How much time was on our vehicle permit? When would borders open back up? Could we even continue our journey to South America when this is all over? Would we drive back to the States?

Panama Canal: driving back to Boquete from Panama City

With all those questions swirling through our heads we all just kept reminding each other that we were safe, we were healthy, as were our families at home, and we were fortunate to have options at all. We decided to search for somewhere to stay that was fully isolated, like an apartment or long term hotel, to wait this out and give us the ability to clearly decide what was next for us. So we shifted our focus away from all of the noise and onto a new living situation. We got in touch with a family member.... of a family member's co-worker.... who got us in touch with a realtor.... here in Boquete. She asked what we were looking for. "A 2bd/1ba with a full kitchen, parking for 2 vans, dog friendly, hot water, and laundry would be nice," is what we told her. A couple days went by and we were starting to get anxious as we waited to hear back about a place to live and our thoughts slipped back to the chaos around us. Hotels were closing down and we were currently staying/parked at one. Friends of ours were refused a rental house due to their nationality (read: because they are foreigners). Migration officers came to check in on us and while we were fine for the moment, we heard that a German tourist was deported- presumably because of his recent travel history. We'd read reports from other overlanders in Argentina being turned away at grocery stores. Peru's borders shut down completely with no flights in or out and no notice for foreigners to even have a chance to make it home. Mandatory health checks were being ordered for foreigners. Parks and public spaces were closing. Canadian friends were detained by immigration police in El Salvador for over 24hrs before the Canadian Embassy officials could escort them to their rented house for quarantine. Oh, and Panama outlawed the sale of alcohol for the time being.... so there was that too. More than anything we wanted a safe space (and a glass of wine!). And while we were safe at that moment parked outside of a hotel, we were at the mercy of the hotel owner allowing us to stay there, other travelers passing through that we had no choice but to come in contact with, and migration officials shutting the hotel down.

Quarantine home #1: Pension Topas front lawn.

We made our own living room in the middle of our two vans.

But about a week and A LOT of new information later, including the news that Panama had halted all international flights in or out of the country, our realtor called to say she thought she had something that would work. "Funky but cool" is how she described it and told us to meet her for a showing. As the owner walked us around the property, I started to tear up. He showed us the outdoor living room and kitchen. And then the indoor living room and kitchen (with an oven!). And then the 2 private bedrooms with their own bathrooms. The stack of board games, puzzles, and movies. The gym downstairs. And the stock of booze he was willing to sell us. The relief that I felt knowing that we had a safe, secluded space to call ours for the next month or so was more than I could describe or that my emotions could handle. We handed over $750 for the next 30 days and started moving in right then and there.

Quarantine home #2!

"funky but cool"

Outdoor living room.

Move in day: we stocked up on food!

SO MUCH FOOD.

View of Fran from the top floor.

Klaus parked out front.

Like most you, we're taking everything day by day. It's been a little over two weeks since we moved into our safe space and I've been trying to sort through everything I've been feeling- it's such a mixed bag. I felt a wave of frustration as we were seeing people's posts hash-tagged #stayathome complaining about toilet paper while baking bread with their huge back yards and swimming pools that screamed "abundance" in the background. All the while, we didn't have a home to hunker down in- toilet paper or not. We couldn't be fully isolated or bake or watch all the Netflix we wanted. I felt sadness as I realized that we might not be able to continue to South America. That this journey we planned and saved for for over 3 years might come to an end before we got to the parts we were most excited about. And then anxiety crept in with all the "what if?" and "what comes next?" scenarios. What if borders don't open back up? What if we can't get a flight back in a couple months? What if we have to stop traveling and we can't get jobs? It was an all out pity party and in hindsight seemed pretty silly, but it's what I was feeling at the time and I'm glad I can look at it now from a new perspective.

What snapped me out of it was recognizing our shear privilege in the world- something I've been forced to face head-on throughout this journey as we drive our $43k vehicle through countless impoverished communities, walking up in my $100 sandals with my $1000 phone in hand, asking to sleep outside a local's house for $5 a night. You can see just in that statement alone how privileged we truly are, and that's just one of the many scenarios we've encountered along this trip that have caused us to come to grips with our place in the world. But in this global crisis, the realization is magnified. Sure we were a little unsettled before finding somewhere to wait this all out. Sure things are up in the air when this is all over. But we had/have options. We had the option to, but ultimately didn't, book an overpriced plane ticket home because we could afford to. We had the option to rent a house while we wait this out because we could afford to. We have the ability to stay here as long as it takes because we planned to not have an income at this point in our lives- we didn't expect a global pandemic, but hey, the timing isn't so bad for us. When this is over, we have the option to continue to South America or ship our van back to the states or drive from here to Alaska. And if the economy isn't too broken, we have the option to get jobs at the end of it all. My point is, we recognize that having all of these options are what make us extremely privileged. Now that we are settled and I'm no longer feeling sorry for myself because I couldn't bake any cookies, I'm feeling extremely grateful to be exactly where we are at the moment. We have more than we could want or need, and for that I'm very appreciative.

Additionally, Panama has done an incredible job responding to the pandemic in order to attempt to contain the virus as best as possible. As of now, we are under a 24 hour lock down and only allowed to leave for essential supplies. Furthermore, we can only leave 3 days per week during a 2 hour time-slot based on the last digit of our passport number- women on Monday, Wednesday, and Friday; men on Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday. No one is allowed to be out on Sundays. It's only been a week since these travel restrictions were put in place, and we're already starting to see the growth rate slow down. Also, we are in the small town of Boquete that has no through traffic. So, with the travel restrictions of 2 hours for essential supplies, it's unlikely many people are entering Boquete that aren't already in quarantine here. As a result, we've been holding steady with 2 cases in our town for the last 2 weeks and most of the growth is in Panama City. In regards to healthcare in Panama, we're some of the lucky ones who's traveler's insurance doesn't have epidemic or pandemic exclusions. Meaning we'd be fully covered if we needed hospitalization due to the virus (or any other reason) up to $250,000 per person. And we're told from many ex-pats that the private hospitals in Panama are state of the art. Given we don't have health insurance in the states, we'd likely be $75,000 in debt per person if we contracted the virus back home. #MERICA. And in all honesty, it was one of the main deciding factors of why we chose to stay put in Panama for now.

Grocery store precautions: tape for each person in line to limit the distance from person to person; no more than 50 people allowed in the store at a time.

Tape for both inside and outside lines.

Aside from missing our loved ones, and worrying for their well-being in the increasingly worsening situation back home, we're all doing really well. We never thought when we first met Joel & Alicia just a couple months ago in Nicaragua we'd become roommates hunkering down in the midst of a global crisis, much less well on our way to becoming lifelong friends. After all, that's what happens when you're quarantined away from your home countries during a global pandemic, right? We spend our days exercising in the gym downstairs, cooking, reading, editing videos from our last few months of travel, analyzing Tiger King way too much, video chatting, doing yoga, playing games, doing puzzles, and baking bread. Joel has been working on a sourdough starter for the last week or so and we're all eagerly awaiting his first loaf! We've even had a couple celebrations- Joel & Zach have both had birthdays that will forever be marked by COVID-19 and way too many baked goods. It's such a strange thing to think that every person on the planet is being impacted in some way by this virus. That COVID-19 will become a timestamp in each of our lives. That we're currently living a piece of human history that we'll hopefully look back on with a better understanding of our shortcomings and learnings for the future. It's hard to see while we're in the midst of it, but it brings me comfort at the thought that when this comes to an end we might be more appreciative of our freedom to travel and gather with loved ones. We might not take for granted our ability to take a long walk, go to dinner at a local restaurant, visit with family, or purchase booze again in some legal capacity. HA. I'm just hopeful that the appreciation lasts in some sort of meaningful way.

Alicia & I

Alicia & Joel

We escaped one night to the middle of the street to watch sunset.

No one drove down this road for hours.

V serious game night.

Joel, Alicia & I

Joel takes Catan v seriously.

On of many family dinners. Falafel wraps/bowls.

Falafel bowl.

This puzzle was HARD.

Cute mom making masks <3

Family Zoom call <3

The BEST cookies.

Daily yoga in the gym downstairs.

Zach's 37th birthday <3

For now, we're prepared to wait this out for another couple months. We hope by then we'll be able to determine what our best path forward will be- if it will be safe to continue our journey South or if we'll have to make the touch decision to head back home. Whatever comes next, my only goal is to take it in stride and continue appreciating the little things. Oh, and one last thing... Miles was MADE for quarantine life! Naps all day, the same place to sleep every night, humans around all the time making treats... he's getting very spoiled and LOVING it. Seriously, I think he (and us, really) will have a hard time when we make him move back into the van.

Morning love for the pup.

Always sleeping.

Sweet boy <3