Our Next Stop…The Quarantine Zone!

This update covers through March 31st…

While we were still camping at El Chalten we found out the Argentine government had decided to close all national parks due to the Coronavirus Pandemic.  This was the beginning of the end for our travel plans.  Two days later, as we tried to decide what to do next, the campground announced it would be closing in five days and everyone needed to leave.  So we packed up our tent and loaded the bikes to head north.  We hoped to reach the Argentinian Lake District since much of it is private property; we thought it might still be open.  It was not to be.

********* If you prefer not to read a necessarily verbose explanation of how we ended up in quarantine, you can skip the next four paragraphs, it won’t hurt my feelings…much 😉 *********

We only made it as far as the small town of Gobernador Gregores.  As we approached the town we saw a police checkpoint stopping traffic.  We could see that there were already several groups of travelers pulled over to the side of the road.  The officer informed us that anybody who had entered Argentina less than fourteen days ago must get a medical check at the local hospital.  Since we were planning to stay here for two nights anyway we didn’t think much of it.  After a lot of waiting around we were finally led to the hospital (we drove our bikes behind an ambulance) and then waited around some more to get our 90-second medical check.  The doctor gave us a paper that said we were currently healthy and told us to return in four days (fourteen days from our entry date) for another checkup, after which he would give us another paper certifying us as virus free.  This was on March 17th.  He never said one word about us being in quarantine.

Well, we arrived at our hotel tired but certifiably healthy (at least physically).  It is called Hospedaje Alberdi (Alberdi Lodging) and we had stayed here several months before on our way down south.  It is more expensive than most places we stay, but also much nicer and larger (we were splurging).  The owners, Oscar and Magui, are very accommodating to our needs and beyond friendly!  The next day, we went to the store to replenish our food supplies and stopped at an ATM to replenish our cash supplies.  When we saw the owners they were surprised to see us outside because they had been informed by the police that we were under quarantine and were prohibited from leaving our room for any reason!  Of course, nobody had bothered to tell us that.  So, we readily agreed to the plan of staying in our rooms until our three days were up.  This plan lasted about eight hours…  Which, to be honest, was about how long any plan lasted in the first week of coronavirus response.

At 9pm on the same night two police cars, with their lights flashing, showed up at our rooms and told us they were there to escort us to a ‘group’ quarantine at the local gym.  We were totally surprised by this new turn of events!  And since it takes us about two hours to pack up, we were not excited about a change of accommodations this late at night.  Our Spanish-speaking skills really paid off here as we spent about twenty minutes convincing the police to let us stay where we were just for the night and we would be happy to go to the gym tomorrow morning.  Whew!  It was stressful and sure got our adrenaline going shortly before bedtime!

When we woke up the next day we packed up for our move to the gym and ‘group quarantine’ (two words that don’t logically go together).  Once we were all ready, we asked Oscar to call the police so they could escort us to the gym (the plan from the night before).  He did.  We waited.  Nobody came.  He called again.  We waited some more and still nobody came.  Finally, on his third call the police told him to send us to the gas station (the town only has one) where we could meet the police.  So, we drove there.  Still no police!  While we were waiting (again), we saw some other foreign travelers and decided to ask them if they knew what was going on.  They sure did!  They had been staying at the gym quarantine last night when the police woke everybody at 2am and told them to leave immediately!!!  The gym quarantine was now closed.  Totally perplexed and dumbfounded by this turn of events, we drove back to Hospedaje Alberdi and told Oscar and Magui what we had found out.  They were completely horrified by what had happened at the gym and told us, “don’t worry, we would never throw anybody out on the street.”  Once again, they called the police and asked them to come and explain what we were supposed to do now.  Believe it or not, they finally showed up!

The officer who we spoke to was very polite and tried to explain that we simply needed to keep traveling north.  He offered to give us a piece of paper that said we had permission to travel.  He also told us we could not stay because all hotels in the town had been ordered closed in order to stop the spread of the Coronavirus.  We said we understood the reasoning, but we still had two problems.  First, via the internet I had learned that the next town north of us had shut its borders and was only allowing local residents to enter.  Second, if all hotels are closed, where are we supposed to stay that night, even if we could get into the town?  The officer thought about it for a minute and then conceded that we had some very good points.  He offered to contact his superiors and see if an exception could be made for us to stay where we were.  Long story (yes, Chris, yes it is)…it goes back and forth a few more times after this…eventually we were given special permission to stay by the emergency city council.  But we had to promise to stay quarantined until the newly announced national quarantine was lifted on March 31st (haha, we wish).  To this we happily agreed.  So we were staying at the only open hotel room in the whole town; it was truly a miraculous answer to our many prayers.

For the next three days Oscar and Magui would bring anything we needed to our doorstep and leave it for us (we were under total quarantine at this point).  We did have visitors every single day.  A pair of medical techs came to give us a quick health check to make sure we weren’t showing any symptoms of the virus.  After the fourth day they gave us a stamped piece of paper certifying we were healthy.

From this point onward we have been under the same restrictions as the rest of the population… Stay at home except to buy groceries and medicine…which translates into about forty minutes outside our rooms once a week for each of us.  No walks, no hikes, no outside activity of any kind.  Here we sit, stand, and pace day after day, week after week.  I spend most of my time organizing and editing photos, writing blog updates, and reading books (finished seven so far).  Sharon spends her time also organizing photos (have we mentioned before – we have a lot of photos), working on digital scrapbooks, and cooking.  We have used this downtime to wash just about everything we own (see pic) – from our motorcycle jackets and pants to our camping sleeping pads.  There is no washing machine, so we wash it all by hand; fortunately, there is also no rush!  There is decent internet service here, so we have been able to talk to our very patient family (many dropped calls) and do other internet-dependent tasks (like go to virtual church and keep up on Coronavirus news).  About two weeks into our quarantine we started doing exercise videos so we will fit through the door when we finally leave!  We really do feel unbelievably fortunate to be where we are right now.  Our hosts and friends, Oscar and Magui, have brought us homemade food several times and continue to be beyond hospitable.  They are the epitome of the ‘solidarity’ slogan that has been touted by so many lately.  I will never forget when they told us, “We would never throw you into the street” in the face of current government orders.  Talk about loving your neighbor.

Sedentarily,

Chris & Sharon