Quarantine life in Costa Rica: How are we dealing?

A global pandemic hit our fast and furious world in early 2020. Consequently, life as we all have known it, came to a standstill across the globe few weeks ago. Certainly, our life is no exception. Today is day#42 of our (self) quarantine life in Costa Rica.

Not too long ago, we had practically uprooted our life that we had carefully concocted in Bangalore over several years. We moved across the oceans to land in Costa Rica with the primary purpose of traveling in this part of the world. But, given this pandemic situation, non-essential travel is nonexistent at the moment, and does not seem promising for the foreseeable future either.

We are obeying the instructions of #stayathome and #quedateencasa. We recognize that this compulsion may actually work as a blessing in disguise allowing people to spend quality time with their families at home. But the concept of home can be tricky for expats like us and many of you. International borders now being shut for most countries, including the country of our origin and the country of our current residence, we do not even know when we will get to see our family and friends again in person.

Thousands of miles away from kith and kin, how are we dealing with this quarantine life in Costa Rica?

The situation in Costa Rica

Costa Rica has been able to contain the virus well so far, at least in this first wave. The number of active cases in the country has been on continuous decline for the past few days. Costa Rica has managed to #flattenthecurve. As of April 27, there are 697 total cases with 287 recoveries and 6 deaths, leaving the number of active cases to 404.

Although the country never entered a complete lock-down mode, the government has been implementing control measures from a very early stage. For example, Costa Rica suspended mass gatherings when the reported cases still read in single digit. They declared a State of Emergency before the country recorded its first COVID-19 related death. The people of Costa Rica have also responded well to the instructions. Costa Rica does not have army. So the commoners know how to abide by rules without the implementation of military discipline, like a forced lock-down.

We are not going into the details of the measures implemented by the Costa Rica government. Our story for today is the quarantine life in Costa Rica, not the control measures. But in case you are interested, you can read this article on how Costa Rica has managed to contain the coronavirus so far.

Today the President and the Health Minister declared relaxation of some social distancing measures effective May 1. However, they emphasized that this is not the time to sing victory, but instead to remain disciplined.

Acknowledgement

We are thankful to the Government, the Ministry of Health and the common people of Costa Rica for having effectively handled this pandemic situation so far. This has given us immense confidence in the system, while we live this (self) quarantine life in Costa Rica, far away from our home country.

Fun fact:

While many governments around the world are being criticized for their inefficient response to the pandemic, the Health Minister of Costa Rica, Daniel Salas, has risen to become a heartthrob of the nation during this period – think Funko Pops, memes and cakes!

Starting the quarantine life in Costa Rica – Calm after a storm

Our life had been a constant whirlwind since late 2019 for various reasons, good, bad and ugly. We just kept riding the highs and lows of life without having a moment to pause. By the time we started the self quarantine, extreme emotions on either end of the happiness spectrum had consumed all our energy.

Day#1 of our quarantine life in Costa Rica. It was just the two of us at home after a long time. We had nobody else to meet, nowhere else to travel and nothing else to do. Reflecting deep into our tired bodies and souls, we decided to take this self-quarantine as an opportunity to begin a much needed healing process. We resolved to make our life saner. We considered this quarantine life in Costa Rica as the calm after a storm.

Quarantine life – Reality checks

We are conscious of our current standings as compared to the happenings around the world. Humankind is fighting a greater war against an invisible enemy. It is not just about you and me anymore.

Gratitude for privileged status

Millions of people around the world are sick due to this virus infection. Thousands of people have already died. Medical professionals around the world are working round the clock. Professionals in essential services are working tirelessly in order to make our lives easier.

Businesses have been forced to shut down. Thousands of people have lost their jobs and many more are about to lose theirs in the coming months. Daily wage earners have no clue on how they will feed their children tomorrow. Many people will die of starvation, irrespective of whether they are attacked by the virus or not.

We do not know if we are also going to lose our jobs in the coming months. Neither of us like to dwell on ifs and buts. At least as of today, both of us hold jobs that allow the flexibility of working from home everyday during this quarantine period. We can afford the rent of the apartment we live in. We can afford to buy groceries and other essentials that can sustain us.

Basically, both of us belong to that group of people who just need to “stay home” to protect the human race during this pandemic. We realize how privileged that is! In fact, we are able to discuss the topics in the following sections only because of the privileged life we are currently living.

Tip: Be grateful for what you have instead of complaining about what you do not have.

Reality about travel in current times

Setting off for new destinations gives us utmost joy on earth. But now when the world is in a quarantine mode, none of us can actually travel for leisure. That must be so suffocating, isn’t that killing us?

No, it is not.

We completely recognize the need for putting a pause on travels during this pandemic. Health and safety of humans around the world are far more valuable than our personal need of soothing those itchy feet.

However, what has been bothering us is how badly the travel industry has been hit by the pandemic. Even after this health crisis is over, the travel industry will take a long time to cope up with the current damages. Especially the small businesses.

We cannot stop thinking about some of the people we have closely interacted with during our travels. Like the family selling hot dogs at Trinidad Plaza in Cartagena. Or the young guy who runs his own company tours to Mayan ruins sites in Guatemala. Or the old men and women selling heavenly tea and Maggi by the treacherous roads of Himalayas. These people run their shops at individual capacity without the cushion of big investors and big assets. What are these people doing now? How are they feeding themselves and their families?

So, no, we are not really sad, neither frustrated for not being able to travel now. There are many people out there whose daily bread are at stake due to lack of tourism. Whereas for privileged people like us, travel is only a gratification. What exactly should we complain about?

Tip: When we can resume traveling, start with domestic travel, helping local small businesses and boosting local economy.

Don’t cancel, postpone 🇨🇷⁦ pic.twitter.com/Sg5ZIbpdJW

— Carlos Alvarado Quesada (@CarlosAlvQ) March 22, 2020

Activities during quarantine in Costa Rica

Despite the conscious cognizance about the realities around the world, we need to take care of ourselves too. After all, we are only humans. We need to fill our days with activities.

Although our day jobs keep us busy for around 45-50 hours a week, we are able to pursue other activities as well during this quarantine period.

Good thing is that Indranil and I have too many areas of interest. Truth be told, we do not feel that the clock is ticking at a slower pace these days. We have always wished if we had more time in life. Looks like that wish has been granted. Now who lets a granted wish go in vain?

Reading and writing

Reading and writing practices are highly correlated.

Indranil has been a voracious reader pretty much all his life. But he often laments not being able to read as much as he would have loved to. He also has several ideas for writing but the drafts in his head do not always get converted to ink on page (or typed words on computer).

For me too, although I like reading, I have not done much justice to the collection of books we have at home. When it comes to writing, I never seem to be able to check off my long list of articles pipeline.

Well, now is a fantastic time to correct all of that. Both of us are writing and reading a lot more than we have done in the recent years. We still may be short of our reading/writing targets. But just being able to read and write more gives us the satisfaction of making good use of our quarantine life.

Tip: It doesn’t need to be reading/writing. Pick your own hobby, a long-forgotten one or a new one.

Netflix and chill, but…

Netflix and chill, isn’t that a favorite pastime for all of us, irrespective of how busy our days are? Guaranteed, this activity will feature even higher on everyone’s list, particularly when the days (or nights) feel longer now.

There are all kinds of content out there to be consumed, not just on Netflix but as well as other streaming platforms. All it takes is a click to start sinking in that world. That is why we have been trying to choose our pick a bit judiciously so that we do not end up spending all our precious quarantine time on Netflix only. We have been mixing up a bit of everything – binge-worthy (Money Heist), critically acclaimed (The Spy), world cinema (Layla M.), feel good (Maska) and of course Bengali movies (Alinagarer Golokdhadha) for Sunday matinee at home.

Tip: Netflix and chill all you want, but remember the keywords ‘moderation’ and ‘selective’.

✅ We hang out every weekend.
✅ We eat all our meals together.
✅ Your parents know about us.

Hate to break it to you, but we may be in a serious relationship.

— Netflix India (@NetflixIndia) May 23, 2019

Cooking therapy

Both Indranil and I love to eat. Dining out and experimenting with world cuisine are (were?) a regular part of our life and travels. However, when it comes to cooking, neither of us are (were?) categorically enthusiastic about it. Unless we are hosting friends or family for lunch or dinner. (That is also a story of the past now!)

But while living this quarantine life in Costa Rica, we have been eating all our meals home-cooked. For 42 straight days, and counting! This is an all-time record for us. Restaurant takeaways and online deliveries are very much available here where we live. Yet we have not availed those options since we started this quarantine life. I cannot explain to you the sense of achievement both of us feel in this. 😛

Interestingly, to our delight, we are thoroughly enjoying this phase of cooking all our meals at home. We have fun running our little test-and-learn experiments in the kitchen. No, we haven’t really recreated any trending recipe like the dalgona coffee, neither have we baked any cake or cookie. Instead we just bring in interesting and innovative recipe twists in the simple food we love to eat.

Tip: Even if you are not a seasoned home chef, try to help out at the kitchen. You will be amazed with your contribution.

Video chats with friends and family

We live away from our families. Most of our friends are also scattered all over the world across different time zones. So, video chats with immediate family and close friends are a normal way of life for us. There is nothing quarantine special in it for us.

However, what has been different during this period is that we connected with many near and dear ones after ages. We could have the group video calls which we had always planned to have but never did.

We totally understand and would like to emphasize on the importance of video chats as it helps fill the void we (and many expats) have in life, when it comes to family and friends. Keeping regular connects with close ones can make us forget about the oceans separating us.

Tip: Video chat is no replacement of physical presence. But it is not a bad alternative either.

Opportunities during quarantine: Preparing for the future

Albert Einstein said, “In the midst of every crisis, lies great opportunity”.

Now, during this quarantine, we may not end up doing something as great as discovering or inventing something. But we all can at least make little efforts towards making our future life better.

Opportunity to improve financial standing

We are not really a good authority to give you advice on this front. We ourselves haven’t always managed our funds to the best of their potential.

But we all can do the simple math.

During this quarantine period, areas of spending money have reduced significantly for everyone. We are not traveling and we are not dining out. That should save us some bucks! With the upcoming recession, we still do not know how the future looks for us. But we are treating this quarantine life as an opportunity to improve our financial standing.

Tip: What is a compulsion today, may become a habit tomorrow.

Profession: Investment in learning and development

As much as I hate to admit, we are not full-time travelers or full-time travel bloggers. At least, not yet. Both of us have full-fledged careers in data science. This career has been earning us our livelihood for well over a decade now.

Now here is the fun part. Although we aspire to become full-time travelers, both of us love the career path we had chosen for ourselves ages ago. In the recent years, data science has grown to become one of the most coveted career paths among students and young professionals alike. This surge in interest has also resulted in continuous evolution of the discipline.

It does not look like we are going to break up with data science anytime soon. Hence to keep up with the changing dynamics of the industry, we are trying to dedicate some amount of our time and effort towards learning and development, that aligns with our profession.

Tip: Never undervalue your skills that feed you, instead invest in making them sharper. Your future self will thank you.

Passion: Nurturing our brand Paradise Catchers

Paradise Catchers travel blog is our passion project. Within the first year of its (re)launch, we have managed to expand our reader base and grow our organic traffic manifold. We love receiving and responding to emails from our readers.

Still, handling full-time jobs and traveling extensively for leisure, we have hardly been able to dedicate the attention that the blog deserves. We recognize that our brand is still in its nascent stage and needs proper care in order to grow. That is why we are trying to be more sincere about all aspects of nurturing our brand Paradise Catchers during this quarantine period. (Ironically ours is a travel blog and nobody can travel now. Still, we are not ready to give up yet!)

[We would like to take this opportunity to thank you for being a part of our journey. We hope it is a long and pleasant one.]

Tip: Have you always put off responding to your ‘true calling’? Now is a good time to explore that avenue. Pursue your passion.

What next after the quarantine?

By the time this is all over, the way we meet and greet people, the way we live, the way we travel – all may have forever been altered. There may be a new normal for everything we do. However, in that new world, hopefully we all will get to see our near and dear ones in person and we all will get to travel again.

Although this pandemic has impacted different countries and different people in different ways, there will be one thing in common. When this is all over, everyone on earth would have gone through a very strange phase in his/her life. This should help us all emerge on the other side armed with several important life lessons that no book/movie/motivational speech could ever teach us.

When the new dawn sets in, we all will have wiser perspectives on life and we all will have little more gratitude. Hopefully, humankind would have completed a much needed healing process.

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