107 Days of Quarantine & Lessons Learned

107 days…we can hardly believe it! After traveling continuously for almost two years; staying in one place for so long definitely has been a major change for us. When you add the strict quarantine restrictions into the mix it has been challenging at times. Overall, we are doing absolutely great! We feel totally safe and blessed to have such an amazing setup at Hospedaje Alberdi where Oscar and Magui (the owners) have treated us fabulously. Their compassion and kindness in the midst of their own difficulties is extremely humbling.

The first 50 days of our quarantine were the most difficult. During that time we were not allowed to leave our small apartment except to go food shopping (which we took turns doing once a week). A single hour outdoors every fourteen days was not enough! Fortunately, the government relaxed the restrictions after 51 days and now allows us a daily hour outside – it makes a huge difference!!! With the temperature dropping into the teens, it is full-blown Winter here, we still go outside. Speaking of the seasons, we have really enjoyed the transition from Fall to Winter. Watching as the leaves gradually change color before ultimately falling to the ground where they are swept up in great drifts by the pampa winds. It is a beautiful novelty and much different than what we are accustomed to.

So what have we been up to with all this enforced indoor time? Lots of stuff, actually. We both spent some time working on projects for Give Hope 2 Kids orphanage (educational and medical). Sharon also continues to work on scrap-booking our travels. I am working on the much less interesting organization of our contacts and purging of our email. For leisure we have learned several new card and dice games and play them regularly. We also listen to audio books, read digital books, play games, and watch musicals (on Fridays…our scheduled date night), documentaries, and movies. We also just finished reading the book The Meaning Of Marriage and started The 5 Love Languages. Improving our marriage has always been a goal, but spending 23 hours a day together has increased our motivation to have the best marriage possible!

Another large part of our day is spent in food preparation and consumption. Nothing fancy really, just takes a long time. For breakfast Sharon bakes homemade pumpkin or banana bread or makes french toast. For lunch I fix and eat a BIG salad. This is one of my all-time favorite meals and something I have not eaten much since we started traveling. Sharon normally eats a raw pepper instead. For dinner we have spaghetti and garlic bread or pizza. That’s it. We have this every single day. Luckily, we both don’t need a lot of variety in our diet! Well, we did buy empanadas one night as a special celebration dinner to commemorate the two-year milestone of living on the road! We started this absolutely incredible and amazing adventure of “The Americas Trip” on June 4^th 2018. It really is hard to believe that we have been traveling for so long! As part of our celebration we each wrote down some things we have learned during this trip and would like to share them with you…

• Duck tape and a multi-tool are even more necessary than I had imagined (Chris)
• People are the same everywhere – this was reinforced time and time again in our travels
• Hospitality to travelers is so significant (especially to long-term travelers)
• Being a Christian instantly connects across likes, dislikes, cultures, politics, and other barriers
• To be content and happy; we don’t really need that much stuff
• God is in control. We saw this on so many different occasions it was truly miraculous
• God’s generous provision – both in the daily routine of life and over the long-term
• The corruption of power and prejudice in every culture we visited drives the abuse of the most vulnerable. Both historically and today.
• Visiting a new place is even more exciting and rewarding than returning to a wonderful place
• The abundance of goods and their availability is only true for a small percentage of the world
• An even greater appreciation of the incredible beauty of God’s creation
• We should never judge a place, a country, or a people by the media coverage it is given

As far as the virus goes; there are zero cases of Covid in the town of Gobernador Gregores and, even more amazing, there are zero cases in the entire state (for over a month now)!!! Unfortunately, the capital of Argentina, Buenos Aires, has not been as fortunate. Because of this, the current quarantine restrictions have been extended until July 17^th and will undoubtedly be extended unless things improve.

You may be wondering why we are still here in Argentina instead of having returned to the US as soon as possible. The answer is slightly complicated, but I will try to explain it as simply as possible. When we entered Argentina on our motorcycles we were issued Temporary Vehicle Permits. Some countries permit the sale of foreign vehicles in certain areas (Free Trade Zones) or through other means; however, Argentina is not one of those countries. Therefore, our motorcycles must leave the country and this is not possible since all borders are currently closed. So, our initial hope was to wait until the borders reopened, drive back into Chile and sell our motorcycles. Unfortunately, Chile’s situation with the virus has only worsened over time and it does not look like the border will be reopening anytime soon. We are not sure what we will do now, but your thoughts and prayers for our future plans are always appreciated. When we do leave here we plan to return to the US to visit family, friends, and churches before heading back to Honduras as missionaries.

We hope this update finds you and those you care about doing well! Thank you for sharing this adventure with us (with all its many and unexpected turns).

Chris & Sharon