A Very Covidy Christmas!
Just before returning from Watamu, I developed a small sore throat that got me nervous. Willa also started complaining of an ear ache, so I took the two of us to a local clinic for Covid tests, which both came back negative. Willa just had a lot of beach sand stuck in her ear! We headed back to Tigoni to settle back into our friends’ house for Christmas. I still had the sore throat, a headache, and some other mild symptoms that made me think that maybe that test hadn’t been accurate. I went back for a PCR and lo and behold, a positive result, just in time for Christmas! Luckily, the house where we were staying was large enough that I could isolate, and meanwhile we made the decision that we sadly couldn’t make our tour in Egypt, and it couldn’t be easily postponed. Simultaneously, we learned that Morocco was going to keep its border closed for another month, also scuppering our plans to go there for another residency. ACK!
During the following days of isolation and recovery for me we thought the others had escaped infection, then Lex came down with a fever, and then a couple days later, Carl and Willa as well. Luckily, all cases were quite mild and everyone is essentially back to normal. In the intervening days, we made the decision and arrangements to head to Mexico instead. We’ll be spending a month in Mexico City, where I made arrangements for a studio/residency situation. But first, a week first in Puerto Vallarta to see another part of the country and meet up with Carl’s friend from grad school who lives there with his family. We are off on our long journey tomorrow: an 8.5 hour flight to Frankfurt, an 8 hour layover, a 12.5 hour flight to Mexico City, a night at an airport hotel and a drop off of some baggage at our future house rental, and a flight the next afternoon to Puerto Vallarta. The kids are excited for all the unfettered and unlimited screen access.
We ended up staying much longer in Kenya than anticipated, and Covid has indeed spoiled many a plan. We are regretful we didn’t have a chance to explore South Africa, Egypt, and Morocco. But hopefully we can engineer ways to make our way back to those places at some other time. And back to Kenya, for that matter, as we have really loved being here and will miss it a lot.
