How could it be otherwise with my condition of inveterate traveler, a global pandemic had to find me traveling of course…
Although I must say that it was one of the worst trips that I have lived, luckily the stay was not so bad after all and it has helped me to understand and tie up many loose ends with respect to our society and the culture that today dominates everything., that of consumerism and banality. Even so, There is also the help and selfless collaboration of good people who with their company make the world a little better ...
It all started the week of 9 of March, I had planned to make a trip to Uruguay (my natal country) to carry out some procedures that cannot be postponed, also take the opportunity to visit the family and take a vacation at the end of the month and even spend Easter there. That week passed normally, It is true that there were fewer people in the streets and the alarms had gone off in Italy and China, but at the moment no one gave it too much importance.
As the days went by, things were getting worse and serious, so I had to define what to do with the trip, weigh the time and inconvenience it would have, although I never thought that I would face a global pandemic in less than 3 days and seeing that there were already countries that closed the borders for people from risk areas such as Spain, Italy and China I was encouraged and bought a ticket for the 13/03/20 with peace of mind since Uruguay did not have any cases so far and it was working normally, I also went to my country of birth, although I have lived in Spain for many years and have dual nationality, I thought that I would always be welcome there despite everything ...
That friday 13 March I was preparing everything to leave for the airport when they call me and tell me that the president is speaking in a conference, was declaring the state of alarm for the health crisis caused by Covid-19 that would become official from the next day 14/03. At that time my decision was to continue with the plan since taking into account the situation I could not travel for several months and I could not postpone it, so I went to the airport, there I would find out if the flight left or not. Everything was working normally except that most of the people were already wearing masks and gloves, the flight left on time for a stopover in Madrid, where I did not know if it was possible to continue my journey. I swear it was the most uncertain trip of my life, because I have had delays, cancellations, emergency landings, etc. but the closing of borders due to a pandemic??!! It was totally new to everyone ...
Arriving in Madrid, the airport was practically empty except for the passengers of the flight that arrived in my plane and curiously it was full, many people returned on vacation to Uruguay where they lived, others went for various reasons as in my case, to visit a family member or on vacation. During the trip there was tension, we commented on what we were going to find when we got there, mi familia me avisó mientras estaba en Madrid a punto de despegar hacia Montevideo que el gobierno de Uruguay tenía previsto cerrar fronteras y que estaban haciendo las gestiones. 12 hs. Traveling without knowing if we were going to enter the country or what they were going to do with us ... During my trip, they had already been detected in Uruguay 2 first cases of Covid-19 that set off all the alarms, which is why the border closures because they wanted to act quickly and that the same thing as Italy or Spain would not happen.
We arrived in the morning, We landed and they had us on the plane for almost an hour to check that we were all in optimal sanitary conditions to get off the plane, some suspicious passengers took them out through another door of the plane and took them to carry out other types of more exhaustive controls. The rest in passport control urged us to quarantine 14 isolated days to avoid any type of contagion. In my case, I was going to do paperwork, I needed to move and I couldn't stay 15 days locked up I felt angry, discriminated against and plagued by coming from a risk zone. Like they took it for granted that we were all infected, while here in Spain they were forcing the population to stay in their homes thus dictating the first mandatory confinement of 15 days. At that time he could not comprehend such magnitude and neither could the isolation, in a fit of not disturbing my family who was uncomfortable with the situation, I went to a hotel to spend the days there, but the next day they told me that the hotel was going to close due to preventive measures and that I had to leave, so I had to go back to my family's house, always taking all the precautions away from safety, face mask, gel alcohol, etc. in case I was infected, although I had no symptoms.
Meanwhile it happened 1 week and I had progressed with my paperwork despite the fact that everything was practically closed and I could not leave, in Uruguay they dictated voluntary quarantine for prevention since there were few cases and the population being small except in the capital Montevideo. The rest of the country does not usually have crowds of people like the big cities, for that reason there is less risk of contagion, I must also say that the population collaborated by staying at home of their own free will, taking into account the risk. Something that we here did not do I guess we did not believe it could be true until the worst came, dead and dead that add up.
The great challenge, having closed the borders both Uruguay and Spain, was to return home, I contacted the Spanish consulate in Uruguay to ask for information and they responded quickly. At that time a rescue flight was being organized with the collaboration of the Iberia company, the Uruguayan Foreign Ministry and the Spanish government to repatriate Spaniards stranded in Uruguay who were near 500. The next day they called me from Iberia to confirm the ticket and be able to go home, on a full flight with 286 passengers returning home, most spanish, Uruguayans established in Spain and the rest of Europeans from other countries who arrived here to make a stopover. When they gave me the news I burst into tears of emotion because I was coming home, even though I knew that I came to be locked up in quarantine, I just wanted to go home. After so much tension, so much uncertainty and not knowing every day what would happen to my life I had a certainty, thanks to my family I had the necessary restraint to withstand such pressure because despite the situation they were the best hosts when I stayed in their homes.
The return journey started when I arrived at the airport and a long queue awaited me until boarding., the airport was closed it only received rescue flights organized by the government so it was not possible to check-in online and the controls were very exhaustive, we had to sign an affidavit making ourselves responsible that we were traveling to a risk area.
While I was in the queue that lasted more than 2 hours. I had the opportunity to observe people and listen to conversations ... while I was scared and suffered by what we were living, there were people who were relaxed and seemed unaware of the situation. Taking selfies with the mobile and without any type of protection, others buying souvenirs in the shop that was rarely open, I think at that time they were not aware that this is a before and after for humanity.
Already in Madrid it was very distressing to see the airport completely empty and closed, as well as the deserted city of Barcelona, however there was something positive in that image and that we are all collaborating to get out of this pandemic. I'm home now!
We have to wake up to stop living in banality and realize that we are fragile and that we are far from invincible ... now we know that we still have a chance to reverse all this, Let's not let her escape and when we have the option to leave, let's do it with conscience or else we will be worse again., Let's try to collaborate with each other from the depth of getting ahead as humanity and not as individuals because in the end we are social beings and we need each other, This has shown that we are all weak in the face of the threat of death, regardless of nationality, neither race nor social class so let's get the message of the universe to improve!
Daiam I.
14/04/2020
