My first two photography tours of the year weren’t really well distributed again this year. With the exception of a few days at home in between I was away on two trips over a 3 1/2 week period since the end of February. When I left for Kauaʻi there were rumblings about the coronavirus (COVID-19, Wuhan Flu) in the media, but I didn’t really see any outward indications where I was. When I arrived in Kauaʻi I talked to my Uber driver and he mentioned that tourism seemed to be down a bit, but I still didn’t see any outward indications. After the Kauaʻi workshop I was home for five days before my next trip to Mexico.
There still wasn’t a lot of official action yet, but as I made my way to the airport via the bus and BART I did notice a few people wearing masks. When I first got to Mexico I still didn’t see a lot of external evidence of actions, but it was certainly being talked about (among my group) a lot more. Things were shutting down in Europe and elsewhere and the US government was starting to float some ideas. Apparently the governor of the State of Yucatán was being more aggressive. When I first arrived at my Airbnb, I learned that the local schools had all been closed. As we progressed on our tour, day 3 was a water day, shooting in a cenote and at the beach. The next day was a light day and we had planned to go to the reserve at Rio Lagartos, but the governor had closed down all the beaches as tourist gathering places, so we ended up at an alternate hacienda. The next day we were scheduled to shoot at our second cenote, but all of those had also been closed down to the public for the same reason. This was a disappointment, but we went with the flow. It was clear things were getting more serious. As we came back to Izamal, our base of operations, there was a police checkpoint to stop and check people from the outside for symptoms before letting them in. As we were staying there, we didn’t get stopped. One of our models left the tour early as she as a Canadian didn’t want to get blocked from re-entering the US per recent rule changes. Luckily they were able to find a good last-minute replacement for her on our last three shoots. We completed our tour with a few site modifications, and on the plus-side we got to shoot with five different models over the course of the tour. I had planned to stay around in Mérida for four more days after the tour just to relax and see the sights. 
However the US State Department issued a Level 4 travel advisory basically saying do not travel internationally, and if you were already traveling get back immediately or you might get stuck outside the country for an indeterminant period. I hesitated a while, but things appeared to be changing quickly so I eventually decided to cut my trip shot to ensure I’d be able to get back (as did most of my fellow travelers). I canceled some days in my Airbnb and changed my plane tickets to fly home the day after the tour. Luckily they both had essentially waived the penalties for changing plans.
Aside from the inconveniences on our tour, it was sad to realize the impact that all the closures and chasing away of all the tourists was going to have on the local economy and people. In some of the areas we were in, tourism seemed to be the only source of income, and this was clearly going to cause some long-term hardships on the local people. As we left our hotel for the last time, we learned that the owner would be shuttering the place for the season as all of their reservations had been canceled. I couldn’t help but think of the maid, serving, and grounds staff of more than a half-dozen people who would probably soon be unemployed.
After our last shoot, we had our going away lunch at an upscale restaurant in a new mall in Mérida. The mall was mostly empty, and when we arrived at the restaurant (which was totally empty of customers when we got there) they wouldn’t let us in until they’d checked our temperatures (by government order) and verified that they fell within guidelines. We’d been walking in the hot outdoors, so a few people had to stand around in the air conditioning to cool down to pass. When we were seated, the waiter came by with a bottle of hand sanitizer and gave us all a squirt. Things were changing in real-time in Mexico. Dasha and Dima gave us some parting gifts, partially in humor, consisting of a face mask and hand sanitizer, which actually turned out to be useful on the trip home.
The flight out of Mexico was uneventful, and clearing US Customs in Houston was super quick as there were no lines. This was in big contrast to some news reports we’d seen a few days earlier where they had rerouted planes coming from Europe to just a few airports and they were checking everybody for disease symptoms, causing massive crowds. My original connecting flight out of Houston was canceled (I assume due to lack of passengers) and I caught another flight two hours later, which was 3/4 empty. I made my way home and when I went to get on the bus, the front half was taped off to keep people away from the driver, so we had to enter by the back door — but it turned out to be a free ride. After finally getting home, I quickly ran to the store to get some groceries on a Saturday night, and many of the shelves looked like locusts had been through.
I did a lot of traveling during a period when most people might not have recommended it. I had a couple of great trips and lots of enjoyable photography. I got home (apparently) safe and symptom free. Now I get to spend some time sheltering in place and working on my photos, which for me isn’t really much different than normal times.