There is a wellness kit with disinfectant, a Face mask, Gloves and a bag of Emergen-C. Equipment in the time of a pandemic. Housekeeping comes twice a day but will visit less if i prefer. I stick to the regular schedule (I’m a sucker for turndown) but go out on the balcony when they clean. I happily note that when Nicole arrives that evening she will be masked and wearing a disposable dress over her uniform, as well as gloves and a hood.
Fast WiFi allows me to work efficiently from the hotel and the general beach scene that was my zoom backdrop is replaced with the real business, the sound of the waves on my soundtrack instead of watching the daytime TV. I’ve traded my usual day-long sweats for a fluffy robe. When the sun goes down, I declare the first day a success.
Life in hotel quarantine
The next two days went smoothly. I zoom in with colleagues from the USA who are visibly jealous of my new beach location. During meals, delicacies prepared by the chef are served on a linen-covered table overlooking the sea. I write, email and update mine Social media feedsalternating chaise longue, bed and sofa. My days are only interrupted by the chirping of the banana quits, the odd jam of the taps and the hum of the air conditioning.
But on the third day the shine is gone from the apple. I don’t get dressed anymore and stay in my robe all day. I watch wistfully hikers and swimmers on the beach. (Grand Anse is public – like all beaches here – and therefore strictly forbidden for quarantine.) My only brief human contacts are room service and cleaning staff. I’m lonely, but four days a week I miss my running habit the most. In combination with the daily cheese plates, I feel physically and mentally uncomfortable.
Grenada’s Grand Anse Beach
Courtesy of Silversands Grenada
On the fourth day, hope comes in the form of two nurses who come to do the free PCR test Grenada needs before visitors can be released from quarantine. I’ll have the results in a day or two, they tell me, and I’ll keep my fingers crossed, it’s the former.
The fifth day is breaking and I wake up hopeful. I get the green light to go and check into my next hotel. Mount CinnamonThis will be my base for exploring Grenada in the remaining days. But lunchtime comes and goes and then suddenly it’s 5 p.m. I realize that even in a luxury resort – which may be the best possible place to be in quarantine – five days of detention isn’t much fun. When I post an update on Instagram, a local hotelier reports that her guests sometimes don’t get results until 9 p.m. Hope returns. Sure enough, reception calls at 9.10 p.m. I am negative and can go in the morning. Angels sing!
Free at last
Before going to sleep, I lay out my gear for a sunrise along the Caribbean crescent that mocked me. And when I finally start running the next morning, every wave of the waves on my sneakers feels like a beach reception. I pass seniors taking a sea bath in shallow water and hikers with their dogs in tow. Sailboats cavort at anchor and the capital of St. George’s beckons in the distance. Everything is illuminated in the morning sun. And so I am at last.
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