After a week enjoying a lovely, quiet, relaxing holiday in Huatulco, with sun, sea and spicy Oaxaca food, reality finally hit. Whispers of covid-19 reaching our shores had been circulating even while we were in the resort, and for days I’d been watching the news, watching the numbers climb on from hundreds to thousands, and travel from country to country. The Prime Minister had just gotten on the news, telling Canadians on holiday to get back as soon as possible. Many people cancelled their travel plans altogether, and some left early. Friends were sending me pictures of empty planes and empty hotels as the reality of coronavirus finally hit.

As we waited in the Huatulco airport, we saw signs being put up about washing hands, monitoring your health, and quarantining. As we sat on the plane, passengers began pulling out wet-wipes and cleaning things down. “Well,” we joked, “At least the plane has never been cleaner.”

Immediately after getting back from Mexico, we are doing our mandatory two-week self quarantine. Coming back from Mexico was a bit nerve-wracking. We weren’t sure what to expect when we arrived at Pearson Airport, but all immigration did was ask a few questions and send us on our way.

The two weeks of self quarantine at home are going by painfully slow. Every day waking up, looking out the window, knowing that everything is closed, everyone is hiding at home, and there is nowhere to go, nothing to do, and nobody to see. All we do is take walks and step five feet away from people on the sidewalk when you see them coming. Everyone is feeling the same fear and uncertainty about what is going to happen. No one even seems to know what IS happening – the news changes every day.

We’ve had to bust out all the old toys and board games to keep boredom away. It is so hard keeping kids apart from their friends. We can’t see any family until after the two-week period, and even then it will be from a distance. It is a sobering reality after a spring break holiday, and it’s been very depressing.

I’m going to try to blog as much as possible, to keep track of what happens, because this could be a historic moment in history, a pandemic that hasn’t been experienced probably since the 1918 Spanish flu.

I’m also going to put my passport away, because it sounds like we won’t be going anywhere for a long time!!