Campo (country) life is downright paradisical. I tell my friend Luis, who checks in daily, the only grief we face is from angry chickens.

I’m in a hotel room in Guayaquil because I flew to Ecuador to sign a single piece of paper. A personal accusation. I cannot sign digitally.

I wanted a break from cooking. Chantal needed to unplug. And when was the last time that we dedicated ourselves to sightsee our closest city?

Now we’re back, to fulfill the obligations of our residency visas, and Ecuador amid the Pandemic is not quite the place we left behind.

In the end, a global pandemic and a criminally negligent property developer wouldn’t keep us from our retirement dream. We’re going home.

After four weeks in quarantine, Chantal and I have had more than enough opportunity to reflect on the people and events that derailed our retirement.