I get notifications from the US Embassy for relevant updates for ex-pats. It sounds fancier than it is. You go to the State Department website and just sing up with your email.

Most of the time, it’s passport renewal schedules in different cities across Colombia. However, the tone of the updates have shifted since the covid19 pandemic. Lately they’ve been notifications of the ever changing quarantine rules and stipulations that are coming from the Colombia government. That’s a good thing since not all tourists/expats here may be aware of what’s happening at a national or local level here.

But then I saw the email about the humanitarian flight…

I was rather amused by the email. My imaginative mind was thinking up of scenarios in movies where the protagonist needs to get to the evacuation plane only to jump on board as it’s taking off. Somewhere in there Chuck Norris helps and stays behind to fight off the CoVid19 agents.

Back to reality, the general spirit of this flight is to help short-term expats or tourist get back home. So, while it is an important service from the US government, it doesn’t apply in our situation since we are here for the long haul.

*Update today (2020-03-26): To frustration of many who are just trying to get back home, the flight got cancelled for unknown reason. Embassy email indicated they are working with the airline to figure out solutions.