Lockdown stories

Hey all,

The lock-down continues, and it's quite interesting to see how it affects each one of us differently. It's also quite surprising to learn about how each country handles the covid-19 situation.

Some countries are super lax and expect people to just act smart, but don't impose any specific measures. Others on the other hand, are extremely strict, like Panama where I live for instance.

We can only leave the house on specific days, and only for 2 hours each time to buy groceries. On Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays women can go out, and on Tuesdays and Thursdays, men can go. On the weekend, nobody is allowed out, and the police will fine everyone they see disrespecting the law. Now as you can imagine, living on a tourist island without tourists is like living in a ghost town. No restaurants, no bars, no tour operators, no surfers, and the list goes on.

When the government decided to close its borders to the rest of the world about a month ago, it was horrible for us. My husband and I have a small business that depends on tourism, and no tourists = no income. No income = lay offs, and eventually bankruptcy. We're not at that last stage yet, but we had to already let several colleagues go. The rest got their salaries slashed in half, now working only half time, and we are trying to keep our heads above the water every single day, hoping for some positive news.

Luckily we're in the business of teaching Spanish to foreigners, and that's something we can also do online. We started offering classes via zoom, and although we've had more success than anticipated, the numbers are far lower than what they ought to be in order to survive long term.

Every time we have a new booking, I do a little happy dance, for I hope that this booking will turn into a repeat customer who will continue purchasing classes with us. Sometimes circumstances that are out of our control get in the way of success. A power outage here and there (this happens quite a lot in this part of the world!), or a bad signal every now and then. These things are enough to earn a bad review sometimes ....

Competition is also a whole different ballgame now. Not only are we competing against the other Spanish schools in the country, but we are now fighting for clients against every Spanish school worldwide.

Doesn't seem fair, does it?

On a personal level, dire finances translate into having to move to another house with much more affordable rent. Moving with a baby and 5 pets isn't easy, and the options are limited. We simply can't afford our current rent anymore for the time being, so it is what it is. I'm not complaining though! The house may be smaller, but we still have a roof over our heads. For the time being, I still have a salary. We will have a garden to grow our own food. Lots of people are much worse off, so don't take this post as a pity piece.

I'm merely trying to show how this virus has impacted us, economically speaking. At least we have a service that can be provided online, which is not the case for a restaurant owner.

But for how much longer can we keep going this way?

Will the money run out eventually, and will people stop consuming all together? Let's hope this quarantine is lifted soon, so that we can all try and make a living again!

How has Covid-19 affected you? How if your country handling the situation?

I'd love to hear everyone's story =)

Eve