I can’t believe this series is almost over! What a week its been so far, and we still have two more to go. If you’re just joining the series, at the bottom of this page are links to all the other episodes. There is also a place for you to subscribe to my blog!

This blog is titled ‘the Americas’ however it hasn’t turned out anything like I wanted. I was unable to get many responses from South America with many people i reached out too not wanting to take part or just not responding (I suspect language may have been an issue). Nonetheless, here we have responses from Canada, Brazil and Peru!

If you are just joining us then please remember that these are all real people who are not experts , they are discussing their real lives and they are simply answering the questions I asked. Those questions were;

1. Briefly introduce yourself, where in the world you are and who you are locked down with.
   
   
2. How has this experience impacted you and your daily life?
   
   
3. What is the general feeling of the lockdown situation in your part of the world?
   
   
4. What are you doing to stay positive/active in this weird time?
   
   
5. What are you missing most from ‘normal life’ and what will be the first thing you do when this is all over?

Also please remember that English might not be the first language of these amazing people so be mindful if there are any grammar or spelling issues, which is pretty standard here!

Erick and Fernanda, Curitiba Brazil

We are Erick & Fernanda, a part-time travel couple that lives in Curitiba, Brazil! We’re locked down together and with our family.

We’ve had some travel plans for April and European summer that had to be rescheduled. And about daily life, our work shifted from office to home and we’re just going out for essential shopping.

In Brazil the population is facing some coordination issues between states and president. On our state, Paraná, Lockdown was never tight, at first all the stores / restaurants / gyms closed, but you’d always be free to go out, thankfully most didn’t. Now some business started to reopen and people are tired of staying home, which leads to some agglomerations and the cases are still increasing. People suffer a lot with misinformation and fake news too.

Spending time together and enjoying the extra free time! I’ve now found time to be more fitness again and we’ve been more into cooking lately (covid-chefs! Haha).

Surely travelling, hanging out with friends and going to restaurant / movies. Guess we’ll do all of these when all is over, but taking extra care, of course!

You can follow these two on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ladoaladoporai/

Frederick,Montreal, Canada

Hello, I’m Frederick from Montreal, CANADA, I’m 40 years old, I’m locked down since March 13^th with my girlfriend. I love to post my travel photos on Instagram.

It’s my first time in my life than on unemployment due to the Covid-19, it’s hard because I love my job into hotel business / tourism but there’s nothing I can do about like millions of people around the World, we are on the same boat! My girlfriend & I are going out of our apartment to go to the pharmacy or the grocery store. We are not taking any chances since Montreal is the epicentre of the pandemic in Canada, we respect the rules, we are very strict with ourselves & we follow the tips of the healthcare system of our province.

At the beginning it felt good to be home & relax but after nearly 2 months locked down, I miss my work at the hotel & miss my colleagues too. Our GM at the hotel mentioned that we might reopen in July. I cross my fingers everything will be ok. I can’t wait to restart because I start to feel depressed & a bit down too. I know it’s going to take a while to recover especially in my field, tourism/hotels.

I started to challenged myself and I decided to cook some breads, cookies, pies & so on to change my mind + doing some exercises at home.

I really miss my work, chatting with our client & chatting with my co-workers too, that’s what I really miss actually! On the top, I could mention, that I miss going out to try new restaurants/bars/coffee shops with my girlfriend. The first thing I will do is probably go out for beers with my brother into a bar + travel with my girlfriend!

You can connect with Frederick:

•  INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/fbmtl/
• TWITTER: https://twitter.com/fbmtl
• YELP: https://julienf.yelp.ca 

Cielo, Lima Peru

I am 15 years old and I am from Peru; I live in the city of Lima and I have been practically 2 months with my family in quarantine.

This pandemic really hit me because it was a very fast change of life; I still remember that on vacation I travelled to Miami and when I returned the virus was already arriving in the country; just in those days my classes begin; when we had already been going to school for 2 weeks they tell us that classes will be suspended; Everything really changed because we were already in quarantine.

Here there is fear, fear of knowing that if we go out we can have the virus and pass it on to more people.

What affected me was not being able to visit my grandparents on weekends; nor see my friends at school; I am one of the people who loved going to the gym but when this happened it affected me at the beginning, because I felt more active there; Although now I do it at home but I miss being able to socialise with the people who went. Now we are all afraid because we know that if we go out we can catch it.

This quarantine helped me reflect and be aware of various things; It also helped me by being able to be in closer union with the family and have fun with them. In order not to get bored, I make desserts with my mother and play with my brothers; I also call my grandparents and do sports at home.
When all this is over, the first thing I will do is see my grandparents, friends, and all the people I miss.

You can connect with Cielo on Instagram: ://www.instagram.com/cielocorasma/

Guto and Camila, Bahia, Brazil

We are Guto and Camila, a couple who always loves to travel as a hobby. We are Brazilian and we are going through the period of isolation together.

This experience changed our routine a lot. Camila had a scheduled graduation that was postponed without a due date. We had a trip to Europe in April that was also postponed. Guto is a dentist and is a profession that cannot be exercised as a home office. We develop religious activities practically every night that were also affected due to social distance.

Brazil is experiencing a very large political polarisation and this has generated many uncertainties regarding information. There is a lot of information at all times and many completely different points of view. This creates greater insecurity in the population and a lack of confidence.

We’ve been trying to keep our minds busy. We have done video conferences with friends, lives, we are cooking (which we did not do), we take care of our pets, reading the Bible and praying, we watch many movies and series, we update our social networks and we do not waste time listening to a lot of bad news.

What we are missing most is the contact with people. We are very sociable people and we are surrounded by friends all the time and we really miss it. The first thing we will do after all of this over is going to be to gather friends and travel.

You can follow Guto and Camila on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/viageminlove/

Paige, British Columbia, Canada

My name is Paige, and I am a Canadian currently locked down in Canada. I grew up in British Columbia just outside of Vancouver. I live alone, but two of my best friends live upstairs who I socialise with. We are all working so no one is currently locked in. I was living in Ireland when COVID arrived, so I had to self-isolate for 14 days before returning to work.

COVID has likely changed the course of my entire life. I had planned on living abroad for most of the upcoming two-years as I had obtained a work visa for Ireland. I was only 10 weeks into my two years when COVID became a major concern and returning home became the only viable reality. So, in the grand scheme of things, COVID has changed my daily life completely, although now that I am home my life has quite a bit of normalcy. I have re-settled in Canada until this pandemic is over, and I have gone back to work. During the self-isolation period however and for several weeks afterwards, my life had slowed and shrunk a considerable amount.

The general feeling in British Columbia has heightened in the past couple of weeks as our situation has improved, and some restrictions have lessened. The new “normal” of having security at grocery doorways and social distancing are still very much occurring, but I believe I speak for most when I say that the feeling of alienation by these things has largely subsided as we embrace them as part of our new daily life… at least for now. Many folks, including myself, have struggled with their mental health during this crisis. I think we are all incredibly grateful for technology keeping us connected right now.

I regularly chat with friends and family and I go for walks around the local area. Better weather (i.e. not the West coast rain on the daily!) make the whole situation more bearable. Going back to work these past weeks has also helped to affirm my daily routine and has greatly improved my mental health overall. Having a place to go where I know I am in control and can keep busy has been fantastic, and I have never been more grateful for a highly physical job!

I miss pub patios, and I will be running to my favourite local patio for a pint and some pub fare as soon as possible. I miss the social aspect of activities like eating out and the feeling of going to a pub with friends on a sunny Friday afternoon. Really, any obnoxious, loud social gathering full of laughs and good food is what is on the docket when this is over.

You can follow Paiges journey:

• WEBSITE: https://paigebo.wixsite.com/adventuresofmissppan
• INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/paigeybo/
• FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/MissPPan/

Breno, Belo Horizonte, Brazil

My name is Breno from Trota Mundos (@otrotamundos). I live in Brazil and am currently quarantined at my home with my husband.

I am a public servant and, since quarantine, I work in home office system. I avoid leaving home and take great care when I have to go out, shop, etc. I haven’t visited my parents in months and I can’t find my friends the way I used to. I have performed many household chores with which I was not used to.

Unfortunately, the President of Brazil does not give credit to science, encourages agglomerations and is in conflict with governors who have established restrictive circulation rules. People are afraid of the pandemic and anxious to get back to normal life.

I stay informed, but without spending 100% of my time immersed in news about covid-19. I’m taking care of the house, cooking, reading, watching series and exercising at home. And also keeping in touch with family and friends online.

I miss meeting my family and friends, kissing and hugging my loved ones. When it’s all over, I want to meet at a bar and celebrate life. I also want to travel back to Brazil and the world as soon as possible.

You can follow Breno on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/otrotamundos/

Thank you again to all these amazing people for contributing to this post! And thanks to everyone who reads it, I hope you are taking away the fact that we really are in this together.

Don’t forget to subscribe to my blog down below and you leave a comment about which episode has been your favourite so far!

Stay Safe, Stay Home

INTRO . ASIA . OCEANIA . AFRICA . EUROPE . UNITED KINGDOM . USA