Traralgon & Morwell – Throughout our travels we have kept up-to-date on US news, especially about COVID-19. So we were aware of the binge or panic buying of toilet paper and other items across the US in March. We were surprised, however, when we discovered similar behavior of shoppers in Victoria. During one trip to Woolworths in mid March, our checker explained that the extra purchases began the day before because the Australian government reported the likelihood of state and/or country-wide lockdowns.

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Then we started receiving emails from United Airlines about changes in flight schedules and possible cancellations for planes leaving Melbourne the following week. Because we wanted to continue with our plan to go from Australia to Mexico, with a (hopefully) brief layover in the US, we decided to head to Mexico a week sooner. We are very thankful we made that decision! Just before boarding our flight, we learned that our plane was the last United transit between Melbourne and San Francisco for the foreseeable future. 

Mexico City – At the beginning of our week in the capital city about 1/3 of restaurants and shops were closed. The ones that were open required customers to use hand sanitizer when entering and exiting. A few restaurants even stationed an employee at the entrance to squirt the liquid on customer’s hands, just to make sure guests were really germ free. And one restaurant employee also took our temperatures before we were seated. Masks were not required indoors or outdoors, and we saw many fliers explaining healthful practices. By time we left the city, local officials had closed all museums plus schools, and more businesses were shuttering because of so few tourists. 

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Yes, we read these two flyers displayed in the elevator of our apartment building. We just didn’t always remember to follow all of the recommendations.

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Puerto Escondido – Our original plan was to visit three other cities in Mexico during April and May. But Oaxaca and Mazatlan were crossed off our 2020 list when the domestic airlines cancelled almost all flights. So we stayed put in Puerto Escondido for about 8 weeks. And that turned out to be a pleasant experience, except for the fact that local officials closed the beaches. Police and life guards regularly cruised the shoreline and beachfront roads from early morning until about 10 pm to enforce this rule. Many mornings from our guesthouse balcony or during our daily walk, we watched a few surfers, boogie boarders, and beach walkers sneak in a bit of beach fun between patrols. The “renegades” learned that the police pickup trucks usually traveled down the roads at 8 and 10 am. And the patrol units on ATVs took about 20-30 minutes to drive the length of the beach.

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The Mexican government shut down beer production facilities in April, but shops still stocked plenty of other types of alcohol. And we saw lots of toilet paper for sale.

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Puerto Escondido officials discouraged tourists by shutting down all hostels and hotels during the week before and after Easter. This was very sad for the local businesses since those two weeks are usually their busiest all year. We were not affected by that edict, fortunately, because we stayed in a private guesthouse. All  people were required to wear masks in businesses, so we purchased several cloth masks made by a local seamstress. Many stores started selling face coverings and we even a discovered an employee at a beachfront surf shop sewing masks. 

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Throughout our two-month stay in PE we saw quite a few friendly street dogs. Usually local residents feed the dogs, but the financial strain of closed businesses and lack of tourists made this more challenging, unfortunately.

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Stores and restaurants added many signs and floor markings to remind customers about social distancing and to wear required face coverings. 

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Local officials directed residents and the very few visitors in the costal city to “stay home” as much as possible. Since beaches were closed and most tourist activities were cancelled, we complied for the most part. We got acquainted with a local family and the teenage son explained that public schools switched from in-person classes to instruction given via TV. Many families do not have internet service, so online instruction is not a realistic option. During our visit most restaurants transitioned from sit-down service to only take-away options. Fortunately a few eateries still offered inconspicuous (not visible to police driving by) dine-in options, so we had a good reason to leave our guesthouse for a short while most evenings. 

Near the end of one of our morning walks we discovered a shop selling coronavirus piñatas! We got an extra chuckle from the added bat decorations. 

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Airports and Airplanes – We experienced new COVID-19 protocols for airlines and at airports in Australia, the US, and Mexico during our travels from March through May. Only airport employees in Mexico seemed interested in our body temperatures and, surprisingly, they didn’t collect our completed, newly-required health forms before our flights to and from Puerto Escondido.  We dutifully wore our colorful cloth masks during our 25 hours of flying between the three countries, except when eating or drinking. In May masks were optional inside the large Dallas-Forth Worth airport, but required at all Mexico airports and Portland International Airport. Sadly, we saw so many closed shops and eateries. Looking at the mostly-empty monitors displaying arrival and departure information was also disheartening. We did experience some bright spots during our March to May air travels: non-harried employees at check-in counters, very short lines for security screenings, and less-than-full planes. 

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