A Blessed Easter to you! And, a quick update….
Health
I mentioned in the last post that I got wiped out by a bug that could be covid for about 2 weeks. By Holy Week, I was feeling better, and by the Easter Triduum, I was probably at 95%. Right now I feel very good. So, today, I took the 3-hour bus to Quito, followed by a half-hour taxi ride, to arrive at my friend’s house to stay a few nights. I went and got a covid antibody test - which came back …. positive and negative! Positive for short-term antibodies, and negative for long-term. It’s the worst possible result, because, if it were really true, it would mean I’m in the first week or two of having covid, in the contagious stage. (Of course, it would also seem to mean that my very first positive covid test back in February was false.) The problem is that there are reliability issues with the tests, and they have to be understood in the context of the person symptom history. What a mess it all is !
Since I had arrived too late to see a doctor, I had planned already to see a doctor Tuesday morning, to discuss my whole history, including the new test. I’ll certainly take a PCR test either tomorrow or the next morning.
The good news is that I’m feeling better, I have a good place to stay in Quito until I leave Ecuador (though I have to return briefly to Chontal to pick up all my things), and I have 15 days before my flight to work out my health and the associated flight requirements. The bad news is that this has become an expensive, diagnostic mess. I’ve already spent 10 days in quarantine (feeling 100%), another 2 weeks sick and isolated, and now, it’s possible I might have another quarantine. And it’s possible, if things were to take a tough turn medically, that I might have to go through the mess of extending my visa the day after my scheduled flight, as well as purchase another flight. There’s a lot more I could write, but certainly, after I get back to Boston, I won’t be making any plans to return to Ecuador until the covid pandemic is really calmed and under control!
Holy Week
By Palm Sunday, I was feeling better - about 90%. By then, it had been over 2 weeks since my symptoms had started, and all had been slowly improving over the previous week - any elevated temperature had stopped in the first several days. So, I felt I could be around people with distancing and mask precautions, according to CDC recommendations. It put me in a position, feeling well, to participate later in the week in the Triduum, which I did, with precautions. As it turned out, the priest couldn’t be around either Holy Thursday or Good Friday, so it fell to me to lead the para-liturgies on those days. I offered reflections throughout, which I hope to share at some point.
Good Friday was marked by a loss of electricity in the pueblo. Here’s a view of the street right after sunset:
In this video, if you wait a bit, you’ll see headlights from a car come into view, and afterwards illuminate what was hidden in the dark:
We were without electricity until the afternoon on Easter Sunday. That meant nights with a few candles amidst pitch darkness, and a whole Easter Vigil in candlelight.
It didn’t help matters that we lost water for the better part of those two days, too. It certainly was a time of patient waiting!
Other Stuff
Finally, I’ll leave you with a few pictures from around the pueblo. Have a blessed Easter week!
