Travel in the time of Corona

Unsurprisingly, I did not end up going on my trip to South America (Uruguay, Argentina, and Brazil). The rise of Coronavirus in the Americas was too much to ignore. Out of an abundance of caution, I chose to indefinitely postpone my trip. I hope to reschedule as soon as possible. When that might be, I have no idea. The situation with COVID-19 is evolving around the world, and the situation in the US as well as in South America has likely not peaked yet and may impact mobility for the next few months. 

While it is for the best that I (and everyone else whose job does not preclude it) “socially distance”, I went through several iterations of modifying my trip until ultimately deciding to cancel it. First, I thought I could cancel just the Argentina leg and be fine as I was worried about crowds, boat travel from Uruguay and the numerous direct flights coming in from Italy.  

A week ago, Uruguay had no confirmed infections. Up to the last minute, I wondered if I should risk it- I was still getting “business as normal” emails from hotels, airlines, and tour guides. And would getting stuck in Uruguay be so bad? They have good healthcare, right? The risk seemed low-ish to proceed with a trip on which that I had already sunk a fair amount of money. And their initial inbound travel restrictions didn’t apply to the US!

Fast forward a week, Uruguay has 79 confirmed infections, US travelers are subject to a mandatory 14 day quarantine upon entering the country (I’m sure there are worse places to be quarantined, but there are much better ways to spend time in a new country!) and who knows how the re-entry situation would have changed by the time I would have arrived back in the US tomorrow! 

So, I’m here in Boston socially distancing for the foreseeable future. I hope to go to Uruguay and elsewhere in South America in the late summer, but for now, taking it day by day. Stay healthy- and in the meantime, stay tuned for Pt. 2 of my Iceland blog and some reflections on my first two visits to South America!