Quarantine Update and Bring on the Board Games!

April 6, 2020 SouthAmerica

We would like to give all an update on the conditions of quarantine here in Quito. At the same time, we would like to have a written record on the experience of this COVID-19 as expats in Ecuador. I don’t like to follow the statistics. The number of the people who contracted the virus, or the number of deaths; for two main reasons. First, the numbers change too much, and the second I believe they are wrong. Unless the entire population gets tested, we cannot have an accurate number.

Quarantine in our case hasn’t been hard at all, Jim has experience working from home. I have plenty to do in the house, with the blog, reading, and cooking. Online school is no trouble at all either. What has been hard, though, is the fact that we can’t go grocery shopping as we were used to do. I always enjoyed having my mom with me to help me choose the best quality of certain products. Now, because she is at high risk of getting the virus, she has to stay at home, and I have to go by myself, not much fun this way.

About three weeks ago, the supermarkets were still manageable. I still remember people going crazy for toilet paper as in the United States, and I still can’t understand the reason for it. But, what was completely sold out from the shelves was the Chicken. It was all gone! There were some cuts of beef left, I guess, because they were more expensive.

The second time we went back the grocery store, an employee greeted us at the entrance and squirt some hand-sanitizer on our hands. Then we were told that they have disinfected all the shopping carts. That was nice to hear. We started getting our usual list, when we noticed that this time the eggs were sold out. We still couldn’t get any chicken this time either. They told us that this supermarket was getting supplies three times a day, instead of once, as they would normally do. We got some stuff. Jim noticed that the preserved meats were okay. But on the produce section we saw some reduction of supply. It could have been that we got there too late, although it was before noon at the time.

The third time I had to go by myself, following the new regulations. I couldn’t find a mask anywhere; I had gloves, but when I arrived at the supermarket, they ordered me to get a mask. Luckily for me, there was a lady selling homemade masks. I purchased one and could enter the store. I did my grocery shopping as usual. Some people were respecting the allowed distance, others were inside shopping in groups of two, three and even four members. Not following the rules. I had to wait awhile to pay, but still the service was as normal under the new circumstances. On my way out, there was a big line of people waiting to enter, I believe that was the beginning of our current situation.

Now we haven’t been able to go back to the supermarket yet. We are under Marshall Law that takes effect from 2:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. Giving us 9 hours to get out and get things done. Basically it leaves us about 4 good hours to do the necessary activities. Grocery shopping, medical visits are allowed only in case of emergency. Regular check-ups are on hold. Pharmacies are open in case we need to buy medicine. There are some restaurants allowed to only deliver food, mainly pizza places. The supermarkets are now open from 8:00 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. we understand this is necessary to give the employees time to get to work and get back home safely withing the Marshall law hours. But for us the customers its not much time, I have been told that there are waiting lines to enter, waiting lines to pay, and waiting lines to get a taxi if people don’t have a vehicle. The only option is to go early, I guess. I haven’t tried yet.

Here in Ecuador we have a new regulation for private vehicles allow time to circulate. Ecuador had Pico y Placa regulation established well before this crisis. This regulation made private parties to not drive on certain hours during the week. This was based on the last digit of their license plate. They established this in order to alleviate traffic congestion. Then later on the government changed that old regulation to have certain days, instead of hours where people couldn’t drive. Now, under this new Marshall Law, people with private vehicles can only drive 2 days a week, between 5:00 a.m. and 2:00 p.m. All these are based on the last digit of the license plates. There was a the new regulation that took effect this past March 28th 2020. Things are moving so fast, and as of today we have a new one.

Starting today April 6th we have new restrictions as follows:

License plates ending on 1, and 2 may only drive on Mondays.

License plates ending on 3, and 4 may only drive on Tuesdays.

License plates ending on 5, and 6 may only drive on Wednesdays.

License plates ending on 7, and 8 may only drive on Thursdays.

License plates ending on 9, and 0 may only drive on Fridays.

No private vehicles are allowed to be on the streets Saturdays and Sundays.

So, what do we do with our time while at home? We play board games, and they are fun too. We are enjoying our time playing these board games because there is no rush; we aren’t going anywhere. We can take our time for each game and we will play a lot of the same games.

We have always liked Monopoly, and years ago when we were living in Chile, we found the Chilean Edition. Then a family member got the Peruvian Edition for our son. I haven’t seen them for sale since then, but I haven’t been looking for them either. We liked the many varieties Hasbro has of this classic board game. The Peruvian Monopoly has Machu Picchu as the most expensive property on the board. Of course! And the Chilean Edition has Rapa Nui as the most expensive one. Besides the fun or frustration playing this game. It is a new fun way to learn about the important landscapes of these countries. And while in South America we play South America Monopoly.

There are many new Monopoly editions for sale online. I just found out there is Monopoly pizza, for all pizza lovers. Also, there are; Unicorns vs. Llamas Monopoly, Monopoly for Millennials, Monopoly Disney edition, and many more, the list is long. Although, some of these editions sound interesting. We would like to recommend two on the North America side. The first one, Yellowstone Monopoly. This has Old Faithful Geyser as the most expensive property in the game. And the second one, National Parks Monopoly edition. This game has Yellowstone, and Yosemite National Parks as the most expensive properties on the board. Also, they created new designs on the paper bills. Both these games have different designs on them. The National Parks one has national monument buildings printed on them. And, instead of houses and hotels they have camp sites and Ranger Stations, all these adds a nice touch to it. They also have a World War II edition, and a 75th Anniversary Wizard of Oz edition. Moreover, there are city editions of this game. We know they have New York City, Chicago, and Las Vegas Monopoly, there might be more cities that we don’t know of. Finally, for all Hallmark Channel fans out there. There is a Monopoly version of it, with a Christmas Tree farm as the most expensive property on the board, plus their custom money. Sounds fun.

Whatever edition you chose to play. What is important is, to spend the time we have at home, in the best possible way. And that is to enjoy our family time. And, oh yes! Bring on the board games!