SIX Months!!

If memory serves, and it does occasionally, I have been home from Mexico and living in the times of Covid for six months. Amazing. Upon arriving my grasp of the reality of the situation was feeble. As I have written previously, the pandemic had not really taken off when I left Oaxaca, case rates were low and fatalities almost non existent. This in fact contributed to my delay in returning since for a time it seem that returning was like leaping from the frying pan into the fire. Obviously the situation was going to deteriorate but in the days before my departure the government was just beginning to lock things down. Concerts and other events had been cancelled but street life was full on, a major protest in the Zocolo had continued up to the night before I left. All this left me ill prepared for Ontario life.

The first real hint I got was when I discovered there were no shuttles from the airport to the outlying communities. Niagara Airbus stopped operating several days before I returned. Turns out that a one way rental even with drop of f charges is cheaper than taking a shuttle. Who knew? I arrived home to quarantine and a house well stocked by my friends. For fourteen days life was quiet but fine. The big surprise was finding out on the fifteenth day that the free life was pretty much like quarantine...not much to do. I could do my own shopping and go for walks but that was about it.

Mainly I remember how frightened we were of the lurking bacteria threatening to jump us the minute we stepped out or forgot to wash our hands.

Things are somewhat better now.