Quarantine

So, we’re already six weeks in quarantine and I’ve felt many different emotions during those weeks. Six weeks, without a paid job, without being able to teach my students, without being able to meet friends or go to a restaurant. Some moments I feel frustrated, angry, sad and very curious about how things will go on after the quarantaine.

Yesterday I had a conversation about the support the Peruvian government is giving to the people. They are giving out an amount of money to the poorest families and baskets filled with primary food supplies like rice, oil, beans and sugar. The president said that these baskets have the value of 80 soles each. I really appreciate the Peruvian government for taking care of their people and making sure everyone at least has some food to eat.

But during that conversation I found out that many mayors from different municipalities are not delivering the basket with a value of 80 soles but far less. This means that they are stealing food which is supposed to go to the poor people. Also, not all poor families have received the money they were promised. These families are suffering, as they don’t have any savings to buy any food supplies.

Stories like these can make me very angry and frustrated because of the injustice that is done to so many people. It’s already bad enough that we have to be locked up in our houses but even worse for the people that don’t have anything to eat. On top of that they keep extending the quarantine instead of being completely honest and give a more realistic date, of which they probably already know of. We wait two weeks and before the two weeks end they tell us the quarantine will be extended two more weeks. How can we rely on a government that isn’t being truthful? I prefer they’d tell us straight away what the end date is, even though it might be two months away. That way, we know what we can expect and we can try to prepare ourselves for the times that are coming.

At other moments, when I look at my personal situation, I feel so happy and grateful to finally have a lot of free time and do whatever I feel like doing. I am doing so many things I normally don’t have time for but now I do and I don’t believe I will get this change again soon. That’s why I’m trying to make the most out of it. I’m in a beautiful location, surrounded by astonishing mountains full of nature and got some good books to read thanks to my friends that gave those to me. I’m more grateful then ever for all the friendships that I have and happy that I have time to speak with them. I can catch up with many friends I haven’t spoken to in a while because both sides were always too busy.

I’m using all my time to read my books about plant based nutrition and female archetypes. I’m doing an online course on ayurveda which is also focused on nutrition. I love to learn and I’m taking the time to learn about all of this. Why? Because with that knowledge I can help myself and other people. I just finished an online course about herbalism, which I consider very important, as our medicine can come simply from nature instead of chemically made in a laboratory. I’m taking walks in nature, I’m still excercising, sometimes I draw or colour mandalas, which is very therapeutic by the way. Meditation is my daily practice to get closer to myself. I do yoga and I do a lot of cooking and on top of that I’m writing everytime I feel inspired which is one of my passions.

Life is just beautiful!

The best of all of this, is that nature got a time to rest, just like us humans. Contamination levels have gone down drastically in all parts of the world. Contaminated rivers are now cristal clear, skies full of smog have disappeared and people can now see the stars at night. Animals that we thought were extinct have shown up and even ‘wild’ animals go into the cities. Finally, mother nature got some well deserved rest.