Locked Down!

But not locked in or out…so far! Beginning last week, March 24th, Curacao went into lock down once again due to the high numbers of Covid-19 cases each day. The Prime Minister declared lock down for two weeks to try to get the numbers down. Right now tourists are still allowed to come into the country.

It is the UK variant that has arrived onto the island and it is spreading quicker than the original. Vaccines are not getting to the island as they needed. As of this day, April 2nd, only 16,500 out of approximately 160,000 people have been vaccinated.

The hospital is full. The old hospital, Sehos, is now on standby to open for overflow. Healthcare workers are suffering from exhaustion and there is a call for healthcare workers from the Netherlands and possibly other countries as well to come give some relief to these professionals.

Lock down, what does that exactly mean? There is a curfew. No one on the streets from 9:00 p.m. to 4:30 a.m. Businesses are closed except for grocery stores, pharmacies, hardware stores, and some delivery only restaurants. Not even Starbucks is open!

Exercise outdoors is allowed, however only during certain times of the day. I’ll get to that in a moment. According to the first letter on your license plate, (Plachi di dia) Plate of the Day, you may go to the types of stores opened. Our days are Thursday and Monday. Sunday, no cars are allowed on the street and no stores are open.

Restaurants that provide take-away are not allowed to operate at this time which is becoming a bit controversial and many, due to this rule, are getting ready to file bankruptcy. It is certainly a catch-22 around here at the moment. The restaurant owners are arguing that take-away and drive-thru could alleviate the crowded grocery stores on the plachi di dia. We can attest to the overcrowding in the grocery stores and it feels like that is going to be the place a person is going to contract Covid-19. A couple days ago, they finally figured out how to allow a few people at a time in the stores, hence lines standing 6′ apart outside along the side of the store. Everyone that walks in has to have a grocery cart, that’s how they know how many are in the store at a time. That means when Jay and I go to the store together, we each get a cart.

Not only all the many businesses are closed during lock down, so are beaches and churches. No beach time and no Sunday church, no Easter service two years in a row for us.

Ten days into lock down….the covid-19 case numbers seem to still be high, leveling off from a few days ago, however not lowering like they should. So new curfew went into effect as of today – 7:00 p.m. – 4:30 a.m.

Our walks each day have been very quiet – no one on the streets or walkways.

This morning at 9:00 a.m. Jay and I decided to walk the corridor and on to Otrobanda. The bridge is closed to walk across to get to Punda, so Otrobanda is our dead end.

At the end of the corridor we witnessed a police car clearing the few people sitting in or on their cars along the coastline, which is the corridor.

Not really understanding curfew, we decided to ask the police officer to help explain. Mystery solved as to why we have been the only ones out walking when we’ve been out each day. During lock down outdoor exercise is allowed, however it is only between the hours 4:30 a.m. to 8:00 a.m. and 4:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. Then the police officer kindly said to us, it is after 10:00 a.m. so you need to turn around and go back home. Oops!

For those of you who know me well, did you catch the 4:30 a.m. to 8:00 a.m.!? If I’m going to get any quality sleep, those are my hours! Stay tuned…the new adventure in this trip could possibly convert me into a morning person. (I know you are laughing as hard as Jay is right now.)

To continue the laughter and before we get to what Jay and I have been up to during lock down, I have a list, “The World’s Favorite Lockdown” songs because you know how I like to get songs into a blog and I have had time to think about these things. Here we go: “Toxic” by Britney Spears; “Stayin Alive” by Bee Gees; “U Can’t Touch This” by MC Hammer; “Don’t Stand So Close To Me” and “Every Breath You Take” by The Police; (By the way, when I walked up to the police car to ask the rules, the officer put his hand up for me to stop and not get so close. (Just thought of that when I noted that song) “I Will Survive” Gloria Gaynor; “Mask Off” by Future; “Work from Home” by Fifth Harmony; “Survivor” by Destiny’s Child; “Harder to Breathe” by Maroon 5. I know there are several more, but that’s all I can think of at the moment.

Lock down sounds a bit dismal, however my mind is going to 2 Corinthians 4:8-9, “We have troubles all around us, but we are not defeated. We often don’t know what to do, but we don’t give up. We are persecuted, but God does not leave us. We are hurt sometimes, but we are not destroyed.” I think many traditional versions say, “We are pressured in every way but not crushed; we are perplexed but not in despair; we are persecuted but not abandoned, we are struck down but not destroyed.”

We are locked down, but we are not defeated, feel a bit persecuted because our freedom to walk except for certain hours that are not conducive to my hours, but life on an island is not destroyed either. It’s kind of the old adage “When given lemons, make lemonade.”

While Jay is watching lectures and panels on quantum physics, entanglement, and black holes; with a great view, I get quality time to write things like this and….. A Bible study???…….get ready!! Ladies, there could be something around the corner this fall.

Okay, there are island things going on as well. A lovely pool in our complex to enjoy.

And, you guessed it, lock down does not stop Jay Harris and lionfish spearing.

A typical lock down day begins by dragging me out of bed at 5:45 a.m., walking a mile, (.86 of a mile to be exact) to a dive shop that has been so generous to give us the codes to many of the doors to store our gear and get tanks to dive, gear up, ten steps from the dive shop into the water, swim 20-30 minutes (dodging a fishing boat or two) while watching the sun come up, to keep a reef or two clear of the invasive lionfish.

Unbeknownst to us, we were kind of abiding to the curfew rules by walking back from the dive, again a mile, and home by 8:00 a.m. Our day ends, again abiding by the rule of curfew, walking the mile back to the dive shop around 4:30 pm to put our gear away that has been out drying, then walking back home to enjoy a lovely glass of wine with dinner and a sunset while slapping a few mosquitoes away. It might not be the Camino, but we are getting the miles in each day.

Yes, Jay is baking sour dough bread in Curacao.

There may be pressures of learning what we can and cannot do, by no means we are crushed. We get a bit perplexed as to why some of the rules get made, but we are not in any type of despair. Many days, I can’t imagine how perplexed and struck down some of the business owners and workers who are just trying to keep food on their table are feeling, but they are not destroyed. As a matter of fact, during our walks at the incorrect times, we’ve see many of these business owners using this time to paint or update their facilities. That is a picture of hope. That is making lemonade. This Holy Week, we are reminded these momentary afflictions are producing absolute incomparable eternal weight of glory. We can’t focus on what is seen because that is temporary. It is the unseen, the renewing in each of us that is so important, because that is the eternal.

We don’t know when we will be released from lock down and we don’t know if rules will tighten up even more, but what we do know who is really in control. We want to let His light shine through any of the darkness we are seeing or feeling. And we want our hearts to shine the light of Christ to all those we do come in contact with, even 6′ apart so very early in the morning. His mercies are new every morning.

Happy Easter! Blessings, Jay and Kelly