How The Coronavirus Almost Swallowed my Marriage

Or How The World “Started To End” While I Was On My Honeymoon

I got married on March 7, 2020. I traveled to Punta Cana, Dominican Republic (for those who are not linking the name to the person, it is on that island to Cuba's right) on the 8th. We stayed there until the eighteenth. And we were gradually feeling the effects of the virus.

As soon as we arrived, I remember that I went to find out about the corona cases over there. There was only one. Ok. The hotel was packed, lots of entertainment, dancers, games, scavenger hunts, music… You “gringos” loving it all (there were practically only Canadians and Americans in our resort), we thought it all a little “for gringo to see ” (then we started to enjoy it a lot!), but the atmosphere was typical for a resort on a beach.

Happiness, joy, games, sun, nature…

It was fine!

We followed the news according to the information that relatives sent by WhatsApp. Gradually we realized that things were getting ugly. But there was no direct effect on what we were experiencing. That place was so huge and so full of attractions that it was difficult to even think about Brazil. As nobody understood Portuguese besides us, it seemed that my wife and I had a particular language (in practice, that was it), which made us feel like our reality would be a little distorted (at the airport, on the way back, when I heard someone speaking Portuguese for the first…