Trapped in Bulgaria for now

Diary of a digital nomad trapped by the coronavirus pandemic in Sofia, Bulgaria. 18th of March.

Today we stayed the whole day at home. I focused on work to keep my mind busy again. Miguel sent me a video of a friend of his brother in Madrid. He lives on the top floor of a block of buildings, so he has a private terrace. He was outside, in the terrace, with loud music and a wig, dancing and shouting like crazy.

People in Madrid have been in quarantine for a week now, and I guess that is just a reaction –as good as any other– to release stress. I am worried of what would people do if they are forced to stay inside for two weeks, one month or even more. I am worried of what I would do.

Eleven new cases were detected today in Bulgaria, down from nineteen new cases yesterday. While the total amount has increased to more than ninety cases, the fact that new infections are not increasing, but actually decreasing, is a much appreciated ray of hope. Perhaps the country is doing things right.

So right now things are not that dramatic in Bulgaria. But we just learned that we are positively trapped in the country for at least two weeks.

Thanks to a friend, we got in touch with the embassy of Spain in Bulgaria. He sent us a newsletter he had just received (because he lived in Bulgaria) saying that flights to and from Spain had been banned since the 17th. No way to get back home.

Not that we wanted to go back. As I mentioned in a previous post, Madrid is probably one of the worst places to be right now if you want to stay healthy. But still… it’s kind of distressing.

I am a gym rat, so the lack of exercise was making me nervous. I downloaded an app called “Home Workout” and did some chest exercises. It felt really good. I was considering yesterday doing some street exercise using the many calisthenics facilities and parks here in Sofia, but the fact that the virus can survive for days or weeks in metal surfaces is not especially alluring. I don’t want to exercise with latex gloves.

So exhausted, but feeling better today. I hope tomorrow will be a lot brighter.

How are you doing? I hope that, wherever you are, you are safe, healthy and feeling well.

Take care.