A Perfectico Storm

The last time I wrote about Covid back in April there were very few cases here. The government had shut down the borders very quickly (quicker than in the UK) and for a few months things were kept extremely tight and under control. There were only repatriation flights. Only citizens could come in and they had to quarantine for two weeks. The land borders were closed and tourist visas were extended several times and currently up till mid November. We were due to do our first visa run in April, as you need to re-up your visa every 90 days, but we haven’t had to do one at all.  For a few months 10 people total had died and there were a handful of cases a day - and a handful of people getting better and for quite a while (around 3 months) the number of active cases was around 400-600 and dropping. Masks were brought in and there were driving restrictions. You couldn’t drive on some days and after certain times. Bars, beaches and national parks were shut. Churches couldn’t meet. Events ...

Earlier today I was talking to Cousin Ruth (my dad’s cousin). She is self-admittedly not the most computer friendly of people, and even she has made it online to look at our poorly updated blog and I *promised* I would write an update...so here I am. Well. A lot has happened since last I wrote on April 11th - 3 and a half months ago. This post is mostly just about my Mum so feel free to skip out at this point if you wish. More posts about nature and beaches really will follow. I promise that too! . So yes, Mum died. She went into hospital just around the time I last wrote, which is in part why we haven’t written. It already felt a bit wrong to be saying “hey look at all this cool stuff” when everyone was on lockdown mostly having a pretty miserable time, but that was compounded by Mum being ill and not knowing what was going on. She went in with a kidney infection and was severely dehydrated, having been holed up at home in the north on her own (though supported by my brother who brou...

Hey there! And thank you to everyone who has been in touch checking in on us. Covid-19 has changed everything so much over the past couple of months for just about everyone... no longer are we alone in our family isolation, you all have joined us, though for a better reason than "the car is still at the mechanic and the only bus out of "town" is at 5.30am!". We are absolutely fine, in the scheme of things, and hope that all you guys are as well. On Friday 6th March at 8.40pm we were all laying on our big bed at Finca Fruition - the place we stayed for 6 weeks. Iris was asleep and all of a sudden everything began to shake, the ground moved and it felt like a great big giant was rattling the house. It stopped, and then it started again. I was scared because I didn't know what to do. We were living in a clapboard house halfway down a very steep hill. I had a deadweight child on me and it was pitch black outside in the jungle. Then it was over. Tom thought it was ...