Beyond Trump’s Wall: The American Backpackers Riding Out COVID-19 in Latin America

(Photo : REUTERS/Luis Echeverria)

With the constantly increasing number of confirmed COVID-19 cases and deaths in the United States, thousands of people here seek help from President Donald Trump's administration. Some Americans even ask assistance from the private security companies for their evacuation, but others have chosen to stay, apprehensive about what they see as a rapidly increasing US caseload worsened by more laidback restraint measures. 

Several Americans seem pleased, though, with their choice while the others start feeling distressed envisioning a prolonged separation from their loved ones, or are so engrossed by indecisiveness over the place they should go to. In addition, now with fewer flights overseas, available each day, fast-ranging conditions help write such a narrative.

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Settling in Guatemala for the Time Being

22-year-old Lola Daehler, a native from New York, was traveling with her friends in Hawaii while the COVID-19 worsened. This pandemic provoked sudden travel limitations not just for Daehler but for all the travelers of the world.

As a result, she eventually chose the typically tourist-crowded Atitlan lake of Guatemala which is ringed by the old-fashioned Maya villages and lush volcanoes.

The tourist said she's happy to have gotten to the lake, adding, "I get to wake up and swim" here instead of being in New York City which, she said, "seems pretty terrible" at present. 

Incidentally, New York State has turned the epicenter of the pandemic in the US with over 80,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases and more than 2,000 deaths as of this writing. Because of this, the local officials are now pleading for reinforcements.

Daehler pointed to the strictly-implemented 4 pm curfew of Guatemala which was enacted more than one week ago and is being announced every day via loudspeakers which are attached to the roaming patrols using the Maya Tz'utujil, English, and Spanish languages. 

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COVID-19 Condition in Guatemala

Moreover, the US backpacker and her friends took advantage of their stay in the lake as they passed the time reading, swimming, strumming the guitar and running. She admitted, some friends pleaded for her return home but she said it will not happen.

The authorities in Guatemala have already confirmed only 39 COVID-19 cases and just one fatality to date. Nevertheless, the health authorities said, below 600 tests have been given.

Based on an estimate made by the US Department of State in 2015, approximately, nine million Americans live abroad. However, it remains unclear how many of them reside as a whole, in Latin America.

Meanwhile, in Mexico, home to the largest US citizens' population of Latin America, Chris Landau, the US Ambassador to Mexico, appealed to all Americans to go home and asked those who have opted to stay to "think long and hard" about their personal situation at present.

Online System Registration for COVID-19 Alerts

The ambassador also encouraged the approximated 1.5 million US residents to sign up online for COVID-19 alerts so they can be traced to Mexico. Relatively, a spokesman of the embassy did not disclose the exact number of who signed up. In addition, for the past ten years, 76-year-old Tina Rosa, a former Oregon resident has lived near the attractive Mexican town of San Miguel de Allende. 

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Last weekend, she said, she went out for the first time in ten consecutive days, with a pair of gloves and a face mask, to buy extra fencing for the expansion of her garden. She was emotional though when she said she wondered if she would ever go back and see her friends again. With her voice shaking, Rosa also said, she didn't even know if she'd ever see her daughter again.