Breakfast with a view of the smoking volcano and new rules (Day 201 + 202 of the world trip)

23.03. + 24.03.2020

Yesterday morning we enjoyed our oatmeal, muesli, bananas, almond milk breakfast on the rooftop terrace and could see the Fuego volcano smoking three times. I think Jonas even managed to capture it in a photo. After breakfast, we went to the supermarket and then spent the whole day (good) in the accommodation, where we occupied ourselves with food, a little exercise, and a lot of YouTube.

Yesterday, of course, there was news about our onward/return journey again in this unofficial WhatsApp group. At around noon, we received an email stating that there is no fixed date for a return flight, but that travelers should already come to Guatemala City and the surrounding area. Because when the date is fixed, it will all happen quite quickly.

Later in the afternoon, confirmation came that PANAMA is now also included in a repatriation flight. I wonder how many Germans are currently in Panama? Probably enough. In the group, there was wild speculation about why we (Guatemala) are still not on the list, and well... Jonas and I continued to take it easy.

Thanks to our own kitchen, the curfew is absolutely no problem for us. We just go shopping in the morning and cook for ourselves in the evening. The weather is great, and our host Irving is awesome. This morning, we had breakfast upstairs again, and the atmosphere was a bit different. It was officially confirmed by the Foreign Office that there will be a repatriation flight for Guatemala. Yay!! The people in the group went crazy. Some are still in parts of the country that are up to 10 hours away from Guatemala City, and the uncertainty there is great. Because it is no longer allowed to simply drive from city to city in the country. There are road controls with temperature checks, but also with demanded corruption money, which some vacationers naturally shy away from.

The embassy explained once again that they are trying to give enough lead time, but that you should try to come here (with Antigua, we are on the safe side. The drive to the airport takes about 1 hour, and there seem to be enough taxis that are happy to drive - maybe at exaggerated prices, but that doesn't bother us). Some people in the WhatsApp group are a bit rude, though. They complain that the embassy doesn't send their own shuttles to pick up people from other vacation areas, and so on. Then questions come up like "On the way here, I flew business class. I want that for the return flight too", which really makes you shake your head. Instead of being grateful that something is happening, they continue to complain. Oh dear...

Despite our privileged life here, Jonas and I were also happy about the news. When the flight comes, we will take it, because who knows when we'll be able to get out on our own here again? Until then, we continue to wait for more detailed information. Since the repatriation flights are supposed to last only 14 more days, let's assume that it might already start next week. Wow!

Today, there were also new measures in Guatemala. You can now only enter the supermarket with a face mask, so we made a stop at the market before our daily shopping, where face masks are sold at a bargain price. We also brought one directly to Irving (our host) so that he can continue shopping. By the way, many Europeans still didn't wear face masks in the supermarket, maybe because the information was in Spanish and if you don't inform yourself online, you don't know. The supermarket staff also didn't seem to care much. Maybe it was just a "recommendation". For the rest of the afternoon and evening, we will continue to relax. I might do a little arm workout (which never lasts long because... well. Arms are really heavy :O :D) and we will cook again in the evening.

Oh yes - officially, you are only supposed to spend a maximum of 20 minutes in the supermarket so that the other waiting people outside also have a chance. So for the sake of simplicity, we bought the same things as before. So now, for a total of 4 days, we will have spaghetti, tomatoes, corn, spinach, and black beans in the evening. At least we live a healthy life - although I have to admit that somehow a pack of cookies fell into the bag. So - the update is that the repatriation flight is confirmed, only the date is still unclear. But it will happen soon. And we continue to have a great time here.

It is positively surprising (also for Irving) how well Guatemala is handling all of this!