Monday, 23 March 2020: Casa Colibri to VIllahermosa

Is this what we are hurrying back for?

Justin was up way too early this morning.  I didn’t get up until about 5:00am.  We still needed to close and lock the storm shutters, strip the bed and start the laundry, clean out the safe, pack chargers, tell Abraham about Max’s medication, pack the cooler... blah, blah, blah.  Justin decided this morning that he had to paint a Colibri on one of the walls on the roof.  With the new paint looking just fabulous, we wanted a Colibri upstairs.  So that also meant cleaning up.  We were finally on our way about 9:30.  I had figured anything before 10am and we were “on time.”  

Driving out of Celestun was rather surreal.  We told them at the checkpoint that we would not be returning until the fall.  Once we pulled out, we knew we would not be able to return since Celestun has shut down its borders too.  The Yucatan as a whole has been very proactive.  This is a good thing... until you are driving out.  I hadn’t realized until today that this means Abraham can’t go home to his home each week.  This is how he gets money to his mom.  Instead, he’ll be spending his day off, Mondays, in Celestun at our house.  

Farther down the road we ran into a couple of “sanitary check points.”  They asked where we were going and where we had started.  They took out temperature at one of the checkpoints.  The guy held the probe to our forehead... very quick and non invasive.  I declined the informational paper he was distributing as I didn’t want to harbor any virus in the car.  

We stopped for one last swim early afternoon.

We’d made a travel plan with soap, disinfectant wipes and antibacterial hand sanitizer.  We’d also made a protocol for after we stopped anywhere.  We’d also agreed that once back in the states, where there was no full-service gasoline, that I’d pump the gas.  We’d read that Gus pumps were one of the most prevalent inflection points.  Since most of those suffering (dying) are men, Justin is more at risk than me.  Ok, sure, I’ll do our gas.  Let’s fry not to need to stop at night or when it is raining.  Let’s try.  

We pulled into our hotel about 6:30 pm.  Allison told us about this hotel, Hotel Baez Carrizal.  We’ve been happy with our hotel in Ciudad del Carmen but we wanted to get a bit farther down the road.  This spot turned out fine despite the fact that google maps did not provide directions that were anywhere near accurate.  We called and the hotel staff forwarded directions through What’s Ap.

I broke with the plan when I went inside looking for a luggage cart.  I didn’t see one but the guy saw me looking so he followed me to the car.  Great!  He touched every bit of our luggage as he placed it on a cart that had been touched how many other people and all their stuff... huge mistake.  

Day One in the books. 356 miles; about eight hours drive time; 245 pesos in tolls