Patience is a virtue…
I guess I now have my own version of one of my favourite stories “The Chinese Farmer” by Allen Watts.
Almost two weeks ago, I would have flown to Buenos Aires for a great project to work on, with correspondent and friend Peter Schouten. I worked hard towards that travel date:
Finishing up edits and printing for the Canvassing in the Making project, for an exhibition in museum Bussemakershuis which will be opening end of this month.
My brand new camera had a problem and had to be swapped for a new one last minute, which was done with the amazing help af Bas Schweitzer and Chris at Transcontinenta.
In the mean time I was of course researching the Buenos Aires story, pitching it and applying for grants to make it even possible.
As the ticket I booked was sending me via the US, I needed to apply for an ESTA as it is mandatory, even if you’re only transferring. Normally an ESTA won’t be to much trouble with a Dutch passport, but as I have traveled to Iraq last year for the Company of Many project, the ESTA didn’t come through. So I delayed my flight with a week. I was gutted and it got to me for a second, but… what could I do? I had to accept it for what it was and that’s that.
But that wasn’t it at all… Literally the day after rebooking my flight, I woke up after a rough night; tossing, turning, sweating and awake every hour or so. A soar throat and a headache were indicating a self-test could be a smart idea. Low and behold: I tested positive for covid. What the F was actually happening here…. is this how it feels when mr Murphy is letting his law reign down on me?? Again not much I could do, except surrendering to the moment and just letting it all happen.
That very same day, Peter calls from Argentina… He suddenly has to fly to Ecuador for an emergency story over there… The plan is to be back in a week. By that time I hope to be all up and well again and able to fly. No idea if the ESTA will have come through by then though.
“Hold on…. with an official positive PCR-test in my pocket, I could cancel my flight and get my money back… as Covid is an officially reason not to fly, I can make a claim with my cancellation insurance. With that money, I might be able to buy myself, at least partly, a new ticket to Buenos Aires. A ticket with a different route altogether, avoiding transferring in the US. Problem solved.” Not a bad idea all together I thought.
In the mean time, in self-quarantine, I had all the time in the world to arrange stuff with the insurance, do some extra research, send out more pitches, twitch the grant application to perfection ánd chill a bit from all the hard work last week… It was a brilliant plan. I even had time to start writing this blog. Or at least, the first part of it. While writing it all down I quickly decided it would just stay a draft which I would post by the time I had a bit more clarity; whenever that would be.
By now, I am in Argentina. The Dutch health service cleared me and gave me permission to fly only two days after the flight I had to cancel. Even more frustrating: the cancelation insurance hadn’t payed yet for the first ticket. I know they will have to, but a quick google search while I was ill and had all the time in the world, showed me that the whole added insurance service of vliegtickets.nl is quite likely a scam. I haven’t given up yet, as I did meet literally every criteria in their terms and conditions and fortunately enough I had the lucidity to start building file from the start. A quick search with the ANVR (travel branch organization) taught me I will have plenty of time to pursue all this after a month of work in Buenas Aires. So I bought a completely new ticket again and - as it was very last moment and this time directly with the airline company as I don’t trust the cheaper agencies anymore - paid the mother-load for it. They flew me directly to Argentina though, ready to start work only 13 hours after take-off.
After just 2 days, I’m already really enjoying work, going from one serendipity moment to the next in the project Peter and I have started. Loving the new camera while I am at it, but that’s a story for a different blog.
