Back home

Our last post was written at the beginning of the chaos, when Honduras closed all borders and we traveled to Tela by private transport. In the following days, the rules became stricter: all highways were completely closed for private vehicles, there was a curfew, and towards the end, you could only submit a note at the stores for the employees to get everything and only on certain days of the week. The sale of alcohol was also prohibited. Luckily, we were able to make the necessary contacts to buy our after-work beer in a private backyard.

Fortunately, we found ourselves with a Canadian couple and a young American in a beautiful vacation resort with a pool. The operator was very friendly and offered us accommodation for a fraction of the usual price, as no one knew exactly how long we would be stuck there. So the whole situation was relatively bearable for us, but after 1.5 weeks, boredom set in, especially after the others found a flight back home.

Finally, last Friday we received confirmation that we could fly to Frankfurt with a flight organized by Germany. So we wanted to enjoy our last days in a relaxed way. But on Monday, the shock came: because many more Germans subsequently registered, we were removed from the flight. Then everything happened very quickly. On Tuesday at 08:30, we were able to book a flight to Zurich via Houston and New York. After quickly packing and organizing a taxi with a pass, we left for the airport at 09:30. And the flight actually took off.

In Houston, we were able to spend the night with our lockdown roommate, as it happened to be where he lives. Rarely have we seen an acquaintance from a vacation again so quickly. On Wednesday, we continued to New York, to the eerily empty Newark airport. When the Swiss plane actually landed there, we were confident that we would still make it to Switzerland.

Even though the end of our journey fell victim to the corona outbreak, we can overall say that we have enjoyed our trip in South Africa, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe, Madagascar, New Zealand, Argentina, Chile, the Falkland Islands, Bolivia, Costa Rica, Nicaragua, and Honduras, and we will take many good memories home.