Hey all!  We are back with another blog, and as you may have guessed, this one is not like the others.  While almost the whole world is in quarantine right now, maybe you all are interested in how it is going for us here, since we have chosen to stay here in Ecuador rather than return to the United States. 

We decided to stay for a few reasons.  We have continued our job teaching English online, and feel very thankful to continue to have a source of income, acknowledging that this is not the reality for so many people both here in Ecuador as well as in other parts of the world.  Also, if anyone reading has seen news about Ecuador that has reached international attention, it looks like the situation here is almost apocalyptic. The reality is that in the province of Guayas, the situation is extremely serious, and while in our province the virus is serious, the situation is not as bad here as it is in Guayas.  To leave the country, we would have to fly out of Guayaquil, and we prefer not to travel out of Cuenca and risk infection if it is not absolutely necessary. Finally, swift action and harsh restrictions from the government make us feel safer than if we were to return to the United States. 

Of course, harsher restrictions can be hard on one mentally, but we feel that in the end it will prevent many infections and deaths.  On March 12th, the government announced that all classes were canceled nationwide until further notice. When this happened, volunteering effectively stopped for both of us, and CEDEI decided to continue classes online.  A curfew was put into place across the country, first from 9pm-5am, then restricted to 7pm-5am, then finally 2pm-5am. During the curfew, no one can be outside unless they have specific permission from the government (doctors, police officers, etc), and if caught, there are consequences that vary in severity for each offense.  Everything closes around noon in order to give people time to get home before the curfew begins. Other measures have been put into place, for example wearing a mask in public is obligatory. In order to enter any store, one must have gloves, a mask, and be sprayed with alcohol. Only one person per group/family can enter at a time.  In the markets, one can only enter once a week depending on their license number, and it’s the same for driving a car! Even within our apartment building, if we have to leave for some reason, we have to take off our shoes at the main door and wear slippers up to our apartment, and no one is permitted inside that does not live in the building. 

The sign says that 30 people maximum can be in the store, one person per family can enter, and children are prohibited from entering.  The small blue sign says that one must enter with a mask and gloves.  The employee is holding a bottle of alcohol to spray on customers as they enter. 

Store fronts closed and replaced with a small pop up shop that sells masks and gloves. 

Outside of the 10 de Agosto market 

Right by our house in La Plaza San Francisco. 

This part of the plaza is usually filled vendors selling colorful artisan crafts and other souvenirs, tourists taking it all in, or people commuting to or from work. 

An empty, gloomy Plaza San Francisco. 

All of this goes to say that we haven't seen much outside of our apartment this month. We have been taking all of the restrictions very seriously and staying inside, leaving very rarely to stock up on food.  Every day we are finding new ways to pass the time, whether it is playing cards, watching every Disney movie over again, zoom calls with friends and family, painting, working out, coloring with our little neighbors, posting throwback pictures, or binging Tiger King (yes, they hype has even reached us here).  We started the new cycle (our third, we can’t believe it) with CEDEI on Monday and anticipate that it will be conducted entirely online. It is nice to have something to do during the day; something to focus on and to make us feel accomplished at the end of the day. After working so much and so hard for our whole time here, that feeling was definitely missing once the quarantine started.  We are missing our kiddos from volunteering so much, and are always thinking of them hoping they and their families are making it okay through this crisis. It would have killed us to leave the country without ever having had the chance to say goodbye to all of them, which is another reason we decided to stay. We are hoping that everyone here continues to take the restrictions seriously and that we can return to normal life as soon as possible. 

Some quarantine painting!

Coloring with our little neighbors!

Some of our friends feel that when this is all over they will need a break from Cuenca, but I feel the opposite.  I feel like I haven’t seen Cuenca, a city I’ve come to call home in months! The day I can leave out my front door and be met with Cuenca- the real Cuenca, alive bustling with people, not a ghost town- I might just kiss the streets. I’m sure that feeling will be shared all over the world.  We are certainly all in this together (while staying physically apart). 

Thanks for reading!