What an unexpected title to write, or even think about, while living in Mexico. Or while living anywhere right now? Life for everyone has been changing extremely fast, waking up each day to a new headline. We’ve had a lot of people ask, “What’s the Coronavirus situation like in Mexico?” so we thought we’d share…

The Calm Before The Storm

Just three weeks ago Kyle was on his annual boys ski trip in Colorado and Leigh had friends come down to visit Cabo while Kyle was away. We all joked about the Coronavirus and how everyone should be traveling with masks, making fun of the news telling people how to wash your hands properly. We laughed about how the planes smelled like Clorox wipes. We questioned why people were cancelling their vacations — at the time that seemed extreme. Since it had yet to hit the U.S. in an exponential way, no one understood the severity of the situation yet. Instead, we vacationed and had some of the best times with our friends while enjoying some much needed time off.

On March 9th, Kyle returned home to Cabo and Leigh’s friends returned back to the states. Everyone left the trip feeling very grateful for the time we had together. In hindsight, we now feel very blessed to share these times as it truly was the “calm before the storm”. The following week was slow, depleted of serotonin and we were a bit depressed coming off the high’s of being with our friends …but also excited to be back together in Cabo. The hottest topic on everyone’s mind and social feeds was the terrible Bachelor finale. And that was the worst we had to worry about. Peter. Freaking Peter.

We got out of the house on Wednesday, working remote from the Marina downtown, enjoying snacks and drinks, sending e-mails, and laughing at the careless college Spring Breakers walking by. We’ve never seen Spring Break in Cabo and it is QUITE the sight.

By Thursday, things took a sharp turn. Coronavirus was now COVID-19 and seemed to be getting very serious, very quickly. Leigh’s day was spent pausing and cancelling ad campaigns, super busy and very stressful. It became evident this was going to impact our lives not only from a social perspective but now, a work perspective too.

Friday (the 13th) rolled around and we decided to take an hour in the morning to head to the grocery stores. Seeing the stories of toilet paper hoarding and lines around the block in the US, we figured we should get ahead of the curve here. To our surprise, the stores were completely normal. Tons of TP, pasta, no lines, really no crowd at all. No hand sanitizer on the shelves, but that was about all that was missing. It was a weird feeling, considering what we were seeing from friends and family on social media. We ended the day up on our rooftop to unwind the week with a cocktail by the fire pit.

Getaway To The Beach

Saturday we spent the day at popular Medano Beach, which was pretty busy. It felt like a normal beach day. We could hear people around us talking about Coronavirus but still… not a huge deal. A lady on the beach who was from Vail told us that cases had suddenly spiked in Colorado due to an infected Italian man who had been to several ski resorts. Less than one week since Kyle had been on the slopes with friends, the ski resorts were now shutting down. Thankfully Kyle is healthy with no symptoms, but we took precautions to stay at home and away from others, just in case.

Fast forward 5 days later on the 18th, we decide to go back for more groceries, same store. There is now a security guard pumping hand sanitizer into your hand as you walk in, as another guard is wiping down your grocery cart. Every store employee is now is wearing a mask, toilet paper and pasta shelves are (a bit) emptier but nothing drastic. Still no lines or crowds. We stocked up on necessities and went home. We’re now in full-blown sanitzing and hand-washing mode after entering the outside world.

A BIRTHDAY TO …REMEMBER?

It’s now Thursday and Kyle’s 31st birthday has arrived. Cornavirus is no longer a funny meme on social media and has now become a global pandemic. Considering our Cabo beaches , bar & restaurants were just completely swarmed with cruise passengers and college Spring Breakers the last three weeks, we knew it was inevitable to pop up here. What a birthday to remember. One for the books, for sure.

We cancelled our evening dinner plans and staycation weekend to Todos Santos we had planned. Instead we celebrated with an early morning pickup of delicious donuts from a new spot downtown. We’re both still busy working, from home, which we’re used to… so it was just another day for us. We ended the evening with birthday buffalo chicken Kraft mac ‘n’ cheese at home (#gourmet).

LIVING ON THE EDGE

The weekend hit and we decided to get out out of the house. Friday we spent sunset at the ‘Shipwrecks’ public beach to take a break from the house. We passed by a kids birthday party at our neighborhood playground with 40+ adults and kids (they shut it down to clean it the next day) At the beach, there were quite a few people dining at the Sheraton’s restaurant. As we were hearing tons about ‘social distancing’ occurring at home, it was evident it hadn’t set in much here yet.

Saturday, the 21st, we took a ride to El Tule, a usually quiet and secluded locals beach. There were people there, but spaced out, so we set up and hung out for most of the day to take our minds off of the craziness. It was a good day to relax our minds. A local family was next to us and our dogs started playing together. We are now in the headspace of thinking of germs transferring on our dogs fur and questioning if we should accept the homemade, fresh marlin ceviche tostadas the nice man just offered us. Thankfully we accepted the gracious offer, as they were delicious.

Our next move was dousing our hands in sanitizer so it’s safe to say we’re officially on edge now.