Along with much of the world, we have been put under “Shelter In Place” restrictions since March 17th, 2020. Today is Day 20 of the lockdown for us in Cuenca, and the current projection is for this to continue through April 30th.

Ecuador has taken this very seriously, and has put the entire country under lockdown, well before the other countries in Latin America. The borders were closed to international flights as of March 16th, and all buses in the city and between provinces were then also shut down. We are not allowed outside our apartment for any reason whatsoever except for food shopping, banking and medical visits. There is also an absolute curfew between 2PM and 5AM every day, and those with cars are only allowed to drive on one specified day per week, based on license number. Seniors and children are not even allowed to shop in the open air mercados, and nobody is allowed to walk to public places nor along the river. When we enter grocery stores, we’re sprayed down with a disinfectant, and cannot enter without mask and gloves.

From news reports, it appears that people in Guayaquil (the largest city in Ecuador, on the coast, 125 miles from Cuenca, where we live) have been the least cooperative, with continuing reports of parties and people generally ignoring the restrictions. As you might expect, that city also accounts for more than 70% of all reported COVID-19 infections in Ecuador. That city even has problems with corpses remaining uncollected for days, because 80% of all funeral homes have closed down, for fear of contracting the disease. The army has been brought in to remove the bodies onto refrigerated containers, until death certificates can be issued.

Things are much more positive here in Cuenca, where we live though. The more strict adherence to the lockdown has resulted in fewer people being diagnosed with COVID-19. However the testing is quite limited due to lack of test kits, and at this time, masks and other protective gear are simply not available. Our hospitals still have sufficient capability to handle the expected new cases at this point.

For us, we are doing remarkably well through all this. We now “shop for the freezer” more than in the past, and only have to go food shopping every couple weeks. Plenty of chicken, pork chops, and fish to keep us happy! Internet is good, so we can binge, and there is so much cultural content available to us gratis, from symphonies to virtual museum tours.

Our original plans were to have us in California this week, before traveling to Asia for 3-1/2 months in Singapore, Kuala Lampur, Panang, Java, Borneo, and ending with a month in Bali. That trip is now on indefinite hold, waiting for things to normalize sufficiently to make international travel possible again.

As we have noted a couple times in the past, we can see Parque Calderon from our living room window. That is the park in the heart of historic Cuenca, with the New Cathedral on the west edge. Almost anytime you see a travel poster of Cuenca, Ecuador, you will see those landmark domes. For the past few nights, they have lit the domes in the colors of the Ecuadorian flag, in support of those of Ecuadorians fighting the pandemic. The photo at the top of this post was taken last night, from our window.

Here is a short time-lapse, also shot last night, of sundown, as the lights came on.