Home Alone

I left you with a cliffhanger on yesterday's post when I wrote that my trip was about to take an unexpected turn.

On a previous visit to Mexico, Alejandro had given me a smart phone to use when I am down here.  This dinosaur knows zilch about using a smart phone, but Alejandro gave me a short lesson on how to turn on the phone and to call him.  When the plane landed at Mexico City airport, I tried calling him to let him know that I had arrived, but I was doing something wrong.  After I had passed through immigration and customs, I was standing in the terminal trying to figure out how to use that *#@*#! piece of technology.  Then the phone rang; it was Alejandro. I managed to answer the call.

I was planning, as usual, to spend the first several nights with Alejandro and his family at their home.  But Alejandro said that he was on his way to the airport, he would pick me up outside the terminal, and that he was going to take me directly to the apartment that I rent.  

That morning when Alejandro woke up he had a headache and a sore throat.  He was afraid that he was infected with COVID.  He called his doctor, and she told him NOT to get tested.  With the recent surge, there are horrendously long lines at all the testing centers.  Even if he were negative, he could quite possibly catch the virus while spending so much time waiting with a crowd of potentially infected people.

He said that he would be a Gate 7 of the terminal, and by the time I got there, I only had to wait a moment before Alejandro pulled up in his car.  I was double-masking, with a surgical mask over my N-95, and he was masked the same way.  I sat in the back seat, and we had the car windows open.  So, I don't think that there was much risk for me.

As I had mentioned previously, I still had one at-home testing kit.  I had packed it in my suitcase and was planning to test myself after arriving.  I told Alejandro that I would give him the kit.  When we arrived at the apartment building, he parked on the street.  I went upstairs with my luggage.  I got out the testing kit, and took it down to him.

A couple hours later he called me from his home.  He had tested positive.  So far, fingers crossed, it seems to be a mild case.  He says that he feels as if he has a bad cold or the flu.  In addition to the headache and sore throat, he is sneezing and has a runny nose.  He is coughing a little bit, but it is not a very deep cough.  He has his sense of taste and smell.  He does not have any difficulty breathing, and his oxygen level is normal.  It sounds to me as if he has Omicron. He is isolating himself in one part of the house, and so far, fingers crossed, the other family members have not displayed any symptoms.  

Alejandro was fully vaccinated last year with the Russian Sputnik vaccine.  However, he has not received a booster shot.  They just started giving boosters this month to senior citizens.  His dad received his last week.  Originally the Mexican government said that they did not plan to give the shots to anyone other than seniors.  However, they recently announced that they would continue with those who are between 40 and 60 years old.  That would include Alejandro.  He registered and was hoping to receive the booster later this month.  Let's hope that the Sputnik shots do their job, and protect him from a serious case.

So, here I am, all by myself in the apartment.  Granted, there are much worse places to be than in sunny Mexico City in my lovely condo.  But I am worried, and it seems so strange to be in the same city as Alejandro and his his family, and yet not be able to see them.

  (And yes, after much experimentation, I figured out how to use the smart phone.  In fact I took the above photo with the phone.)