We’ve entered into quarantine life: week three (or day 75 of March). The downside: we have not been out to a bar, restaurant, or engaged with other humans in over two weeks. The upside: We’re saving a ton of money? More quality time together? The Instagram memes? Tiger King?

The latesT on CoViD-iN-CABO

We have had the privilege to escape to the beach a few times and have taken lots of walks around the neighborhood. Other than that… home it’s been. There are no more cruise ships in port. The Spring Breakers and vacationers have returned home. The part-time locals in our neighborhood from the US and Canada have ended their time in Cabo early.

On Saturday, 3/21 the border between the U.S. and Mexico was closed, allowing only non-essential travel through. Apparently this only applies to the land border but if you come in by air, borders are still open. The news has made this a bit confusing. There are still flights out, just very few coming in.

Currently there is no ‘stay at home’ order in place, but they are strongly encouraging social distancing. While not government-mandated, restaurants have started to shut down on their own. Casinos, bars and gyms have been forced to close down. Most hotels are still open but empty. About 7% have closed down temporarily. The theme of Cabo’s #SaveTourism messaging right now is “don’t cancel, postpone.”

In the beginning of the week there were 5 confirmed COVID-19 cases. As of Sunday, 3/29, there are 9 confirmed cases with others suspected, all from tourists, so we are still within ‘Phase 1’ importation here. There are 81,000 locals in Cabo San Lucas, 93,000 total people in San Jose del Cabo, 764,000 in the state of Baja California Sur and 3.3 million in Baja California (Norte).

We realize Mexico’s lack of widespread cases could also be from limited testing, but we’re hoping if they keep Los Cabos isolated like it is now, they can control it.

Keep Up With our NEW “Normal”

On Sunday morning we ordered breakfast ‘in’ to support our neighborhood deli. Homemade veggie omelets and waffles — so delicious. We spent the afternoon on the patio, lounging in hammocks and sipping on frozen margs. Another relaxing weekend in the books.

Hola, Cabo!

A few weeks ago we launched an Instagram account to feature our favorite Cabo spots called @HolaCabo. It’s been a fun outlet to document our photos and engage with local businesses. Guess you just can’t take the Nightlife out of us?! This week, we decided to use it to help support local bars and restaurants to help feature the ones who are offering pick-up and delivery services. Gotta do our part to help #supportlocal. This city relies on tourism and now with just locals left, these businesses are going to be struggling.

We love taking photos, love drinking cocktails and eating good food, so this Instagram account has become a fun, creative outlet for us. And what better time to have a fun hobby to keep ya going? We’ll be turning off the news and putting our energy here while we ride out this time at home.

#SUPPORTLOCAL

After seeing a few great deals while researching for @HolaCabo, we decided to #SupportLocal this week. We had an organic produce box delivered from the Pescadaro farms from BajaFresh. For $500 pesos we had over a weeks worth of fresh fruits and veggies at our doorstep. Sure, we had to Google what some of the strange looking items were, but this was an awesome deal and we were excited to try out some fun recipes.

For dinner one night, we ordered takeout from Il Forno, an Italian spot downtown. They were offering 50% off their menu if you came by to pick up food. We felt guilty even accepting the discount, considering we were likely only one of a few orders they had all day. The burrata, pizza and pasta did not disappoint. It was delicious and a great weeknight cheat meal.

Driving downtown was so weird. It is evident how heavily populated this city is with tourists on your average day. Now, only a few local vendors remained hanging out in the streets, most shops and bars completely closed up, not many cars on the road. It was so weird to see this bustling beach town at a complete standstill. A true ghost town. Even the Costco parking lot was empty… something we had yet to see as Cabo locals. Clearly that is the tourists grocery store of choice.

“All my friends”

*Queue LCD Soundsystem* In typical fashion, our group of friends goes all-out on anything we do. We decided to host a birthday/virtual happy hour this past Thursday evening and boy, did everyone show up in full spirit. One group text, a Zoom link and a costume dress code and just like that we had 30 friends on a call to catch up, laugh, take our minds off the news and unwind together. The best time. And so easy. Why don’t we always do this? This technology isn’t new!

Maybe that is the silver lining right now coming from the Coronavirus quarantine situation. Everyone is staying connected in ways that have always been possible, but now more than ever, we have the extra time to take advantage of technology to lean in and focus in on our friendships and relationships. We seem to always have the excuses of work, outside fun and events to distract us but hope this mindset will change after this unique time in life.

LAS PLAYAS ESTAN CERRADOS. NO BUENO.

On Saturday we learned that all public beaches had been closed. Kind of annoying considering there are literally no tourists left and not enough locals to crowd the amount of beaches if they tried. However, we are firm believers of practicing social distancing, so do not discredit the decision (but ugh, really - the beaches!? Our one last outlettttt).

To get out of the house for a few hours, we took a car ride. We tried to find a coastal drive through Pedregal, got lost and returned back downtown. At this point, Kennedy’s car anxiety set in so we decided to swing by our go to drive-up beach, El Tule, to see if it was actually closed.

To our surprise the beach was open (or at least wasn’t being monitored at the time by the Federales) so we unpacked our chairs and hung out for a bit. There were quite a few families taking in the sunshine, all more than 6 feet apart, of course.

We made an (essential) stop home by Vinoteca and grabbed a few bottles of red to stock up our bar cart. Our Saturday evening was spent watching artists ‘go live’ on Instagram with their ‘concerts at home series’. Caught an Umphrey’s McGee basement set and a Diplo rager. Not a bad evening.

So What’s Next?

While both the US & Canada have asked US Citizens abroad to return home, we have decided to stay put, as we feel it is safer here than in the US (for now). The ‘call home’ is mostly targeted to those who require special medical attention that only the US could provide if they were to come into contact with the virus. We are abiding by the rules and staying home, working remotely as we do, ordering in food, cozying up in our awesome townhome and Kennedy is keeping us active and providing great company.

We’re a little nervous to see how Cabo comes out on the other side of this pandemic. Like we mentioned, this city relies completely on tourism. Will it make a comeback? Surely if it could survive Hurricane Odile in 2014, it can survive this. But like everyone, the fear of the unknown is the most unsettling part of this whole experience. We keep shaking our heads and saying “of alllllll the times to decide to move away….”.

Only time will tell what happens next, but we’re hoping Cabo continues to take this seriously after seeing what has happened around the globe. And unfortunately, until the U.S. gets their breakout under control, we likely will not see a resurgence in the economy and life that is Los Cabos for a while. The US dollar is worth almost 24 pesos right now (usually it around 18).

For now… no more Art Walks, no more party days on Medano Beach, no more trying new restaurants or staycations to explore the nearby beach towns. We keep getting bummed out when we think about this halt to our ‘moving to Mexico’ experience, but then remember we need to be grateful for what we do have right now. Glass half full perspective: At least we had the last 6 months to explore and now we have time to recap it all?!

Despite all the unknown, we both feel very blessed to still have our jobs and not have too much disruption to our normal routine. While our jobs are keeping us busy and a bit stressed, we remind ourselves we are not on the frontlines saving lives. We are happy and we are healthy. Our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone out there fighting on the frontlines or is suffering from this virus. If there’s anything we can do to help you, please don’t hesitate to reach out! We’ve all got to look out for each other in this tough time.