Pandemic Pandemonium Update 2.0
Published July 17, 2020
Wow, so it has been a couple months since my last post and I figure it's time to give you an update. Long overdue update, really. TLDNR - I am back in my house in Spain and finally decompressing from months of uncertainty.
But, first, let's go back to Bosnia & Herzegovina where I left you last. I am eternally grateful to my hosts at Riverside Buna House, they kept letting me extend my stay as needed and without question. I ended up living in that house for nearly three full months.
Eventually though, my 90 days of tourist visa were running out and I had to leave the country. So we packed up on June 12, 2020 and headed back to Croatia. I was definitely nervous that we wouldn't be allowed to cross the border into Croatia. The messaging around borders had been changing constantly - which dates, who would be allowed, would you need a test? would you need to quarantine on arrival? etc. As an American citizen who no longer has formal residency in the EU zone, they could very well have rejected me. But there was also this clause in the Croatian border announcement that said Americans were welcome if they could get to the border and prove paid accommodation. So I had my documents all ready to go and within five minutes or so, the border guard let us cross and we were back.
The plan was to stay a couple weeks in a house near Krka National Park until July 1st when it was rumoured the Schengen Zone would reopen their borders to external countries. Regardless, I had another 90 days to wait in Croatia if needed as my 180 time had reset. While all this was going on, the virus was under control in the Western Balkans and improving across the rest of Europe. EU countries were reopening their borders to each other, some with limitations, some more open.
We were all happy to be back in Croatia! Our rental house had such a great garden for the dogs, plus some interesting visitors.
But I got really excited when Spain announced it would open to outside countries earlier than planned. Effective on June 21, 2020 Spain was open for tourism. Hallelujah! Upon this news, I left my rental house early and drove across five countries in four days (Croatia to Slovenia to Italy to France and then into Spain). I was that eager to be back in my own home!
The first night of our roadtrip, we camped at Lake Garda in northern Italy. Very pretty location but so very hot that it was uncomfortable for all of us, especially Booker. The next two nights we stayed in hotels with air conditioning. Far less scenic but far more comfortable. I was relieved to see people practicing good social distancing at a rest stop in Spain. Ozzie was happy to see my lunch.
So now the dogs and I are in our house in Spain. We came back to a garden that is wildly out of control after six months of no maintenance. Household projects have been keeping us busy, along with playing in the pool. We've been back three weeks today and still have plenty of work to do to get the back garden under control. But we are feeling more settled every day and are thankful to be surrounded by our own things.
Below is a view of my central garden, some "before" images and what it looks like after a lot of cutting plants back.
Below is the back garden and pool area. What a mess! After a lot of scrubbing pool tiles, chopping back lavender, and pulling weeds (with the help of Ozzie of course) the pool is now open!
Stay safe. Be well. Wear the dang mask.