A big thank you for all the people that have reached out to us to see if we are ok in Spain. So, in response, if I can give an update on our current situation. Not wanting to be dramatic but here goes!!
As you are mostly aware – part of our plan to become travel nomads was to come to Spain for the process of gaining our EU cards with access to Croatia. We then aimed to leave Spain to fetch our boat in May once the weather improved to start to live on-board.
We have been watching the Coronavirus situation closely and at the beginning of this week things were still on an acceptable level in the Country. We have been waiting for the residency cards which we finally collected on Friday but unfortunately at that stage it was already too late.
The number of infections have escalated at an incomprehensible rate going from 29 Feb with 32 cases to 374 one week later and now to 6391 yesterday.
Despite the lack of public announcements and safety briefs, purely based on the numbers we started taking precautions. It was at this stage we noticed the emptying of the streets and restaurants closing their doors which reflected the community’s awareness of the virus.
When we realised that the situation was out of control even though the government still appeared to be ignoring the facts, we began the process of exit from the country.
We made the decision on Wednesday to for Croatia. After much searching we could find flights by hopping countries for Thursday this week ahead. But unfortunately the next day Croatia shut the border to Spain and implemented a 14 day quarantine within a government facility. We still did not have our EU residency cards and so could not proceed.
We started researching Portugal as an option as Spain was placed on the prohibited country list in Croatia. Suddenly Spain woke up (pretty sure it was after the UK announces travel ban to Spain and started turning flights to Spain away mid-air). Now there is a state of emergency and life has changed.
What this means is that we will not get across the border. We are stopped from leaving the apartment for anything aside from food and emergencies. Fortunately we were able to find some food as there is much panic buying (Toilet rolls seriously?) and have been able to purchase enough essential food to last 5 days. We will handle the week after when we get there.
Tomorrow we will no longer be able to go outdoors cycling. The pictures were from yesterday when we could still move without restrictions. We were fortunate enough to be able to get to a pharmacy far from the city and get medication in the chance that we are/do get the virus.
We are following South Africa every moment. Remember 32 known cases on the 29th. South Africa is choosing to allow foreigners into the country without quarantine. You need to take precaution now. I can’t stress that enough. So it might not get worse with you but what harm is there to look after yourself.
There is no excuse to not learn from the historical data of what other countries have done and are going through. If you only read 1 thing on corona – make it this article. Remember for every confirmed case there are up to 27 unknown – please be
A big congratulations to our South African President for the difficult decisions taken to protect our countr.
https://medium.com/@tomaspueyo/coronavirus-act-today-or-people-will-die-f4d3d9cd99ca
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