Stub for Argentina Trip

I never did a real blog entry for this trip, but wanted to capture the trip logistics and timeline for my records. This is as best as I can reconstruct, February 14, 2023.

• Flew to Atlanta for staff retreat, Monday, March, 2, 2020. Staff retreat Tuesday through Thursday, March 3-6. Visited CDC headquarters (unrelated to pandemic, about environmental threats from climate change, but we asked lots of climate questions). 
• Flew to Buenos Aires then Bariloche on March 6-7, 2020. There was increasing worry about this 'Covid-19' thing, and I saw people using hand sanitizer on their tray tables on my flights, but I wasn't too worried. Nathan and Allison had cancelled their trip to SE Asia, but that seemed reasonable given that the case numbers were higher there; at the time there were few cases in the U.S. The first Covid cases in the U.S. were in January, but cases began showing up in Portland and Atlanta during my work trip.
• Studied Spanish in Bariloche for first week, at La Montaña Spanish school
• Did morning classes, and spent afternoons exploring area, with school excursions or on my own
• Visited Lago Nahuel Huapi, took boat tour to Isla Victoria, and Los Arrayanes National Park
• Took bus to Cascada de los Duendes and the mirador
• Took bus to Cerro Campanario
• Took tour bus to Cerro Leones
• Took bus to Cerro Llao Llao
• Stayed in one hostel, then changed to another hostel: too much street noise, lots of excitement from soccer games.
• Visited chocolate shops, other local attractions
• Flew from Bariloche to El Calafate, then took bus to El Chalten, March 13
• Did local hike around the miradors that evening, went back to hostel
• I had planned to stay for two days, then head down to Ushuaia
• Got word that because of the pandemic, Argentina's borders were closing (on Tuesday). Initially, I blew this off - it's probably not that serious - but I talked to Dad, who told me that the situation was looking increasingly serious, with restrictions increasing by the hour, and massive chaos. I grudgingly decided to play it safe and return to the U.S. I was able to get through to my airlines after more than an hour of disconnected calls and being put on hold, and rebooked my return flight to the U.S. the day after next.
• I did both of the hikes I'd planned for the next two days on the next day: Laguna Torres and Tres Lagos
• I then returned to El Calafate and flew back to Portland, March 15-16. The airports were crazy in Argentina, as I got one of the last regular flights out of the country, but they were ghost towns back in the U.S.

March 3, 2020: "CDC reports 60 cases of COVID-19 across Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New York, Oregon, Rhode Island, Washington, and Wisconsin. Of the 60 COVID-19 infections detected, 21 are travel-related, 11 are from person-to-person spread, and 27 are unknown."

March 6, 2020: "The Grand Princess cruise ship is stranded off the California coast after officials learn that a California man who had traveled on the ship last month contracted COIVID-19 and died. The California Air National Guard drops off a limited supply of testing kits by helicopter; more than 3,500 people are aboard the ship, but only 46 are able to be tested and 21 (mostly crew members) test positive."

March 11, 2020: After more than 118,000 cases in 114 countries and 4,291 deaths, the WHO declares COVID-19 a pandemic.

March 13, 2020: "The Trump Administration declares a nationwide emergency and issues an additional travel ban on non-U.S. citizens traveling from 26 European countries due to COVID-19."

https://www.cdc.gov/museum/timeline/covid19.html

"Argentinian President Alberto Fernandez announced on Sunday, March 15, the closure of the country's borders to all non-residents for a 15-day period in order to prevent the spread of the coronavirus (COVID-19). In addition, authorities announced that all flights from Europe and the United States will be suspended for at least 30 days as of Tuesday, March 17 while schools will be closed nationwide until March 31."

https://crisis24.garda.com/alerts/2020/03/argentina-authorities-close-borders-to-non-residents-march-15-30-amid-covid-19-outbreak-update-3