Venecia

The villa in Venecia was much nicer. It was located at the top of a mountain, 4km from the main road and any other house.

It included a pool and my own room, and the weather was much cooler. Maria, her husband Miguel, and their dog (Mocha) also lived there. Maria would cook and clean, and Miguel was responsible for the upkeep of the property and the pool. Twice a week, we would order groceries to get delivered from Ciudad Bolívar.

At the beginning, I was still spending most of my waking hours working, adding new features to Embodia.

And the lockdown kept getting extended. Governments worldwide were starting to provide ways for expats to fly home. The first to leave was Alex, who flew back to France. Then Morgan and Dave flew back to the UK.

After about a month in the villa, my workload was a bit more manageable, and I was able to take a few hours before dinner to go hiking around the villa, which had some amazing views.

On the weekend, Miguel would also loan me his dirt bike so I go into Ciudad Bolívar to withdraw some money and get some groceries.

At first, I would always get stopped and questioned by the Colombian police, so I would try to get by with my broken Spanish. But after a few times, the police officer started to recognize me and let me through without any issues.

With no end in sight for the lockdown, I jumped on the opportunity when the Canadian government set up a flight for Canadians from Bogota to Toronto on June 9th.

With my decision to leave, and since I was the only expat remaining, everyone else decided to go back to Medellin (where they permanently live). We took a cab from the villa to Medellin on June 8th.

I then took an overnight bus set up by the Canadian government from Medellin to Bogota. From Bogota, I flew to Toronto, and then took an internal flight to Montreal.