The beginning of the end of the world

At the end of the last part I had just gotten back from the Netherlands and was back in my home in el Gigante.
The next day was pretty calm, relaxing a bit, enjoying not freezing anymore, and doing a bit of surfing. The next day it was business as usual, and back to work. Nothing much had changed in my absence, a few beers had been made, according to the schedule we made before I left. Gaven was in the states at the moment, but he would be returning shortly.
For another week or two it was business as usual, although at the end we were running out of ingredients, but luckily Michael and Gaven were arriving the weekend of the 6th. Since we were out of ingredients, and therefore out of work, I decided to go to Managua a few days, and do a bit of sightseeing. Now there was not too much to see, but I figured I hadn't seen it yet, and with so much time in Nicaragua, there was no reason not to. I went to a few viewpoints, looked at some historical shit, like a tank that was gifted from Mussolini to Samoza, you know, the kind of casual gifts that dictators exchange. Some more stuff about the revolution, and just seeing the city a bit. I stayed the first night with a girl I met on tinder, and then the second night I just went to a hostel. There was a fun group of travelers in the hostel, from all over the place, with different plans. One guy had also been brewing his own beer in Canada for 20 years, and growing his own hops. We had some good conversations until pretty late, but the next morning I needed to get up early, because I'd catch a ride with Will from the airport.
At 9 in the morning I was at the airport, since Michael was gonna go surfing in the North of Nicaragua first, Will suggested he could come pick up the ingredients in his truck, since we direly needed them. Once I got there, it was a bit of waiting first, and when Michael finally arrived, there was still a massive hassle with customs, since he was bringing so many ingredients down. He also asked Will if he could bring a mechanic, since Mike wanted to buy a pickup in Managua, so we went to check that out too, after we finally got the last suitcase released.
After negotiating we still had to go to the lawyer to sign the papers. And I say negotiating, but it was more the seller dictating the price. Mike wanted to pay 500 less, and the seller said he'd leave and be in contact, after which Mike looked like a kid who sees his new toy being taken away. Anyways, after all that was settled, Mike and Megan went on their way to the North, and we went back to Gigante, to drop off the ingredients. First we went to get some lunch though, and we could bill Mike for it. So we went to Hooters, and munched away an insane amount of wings. After eating our fill, we went on our way, but at this point it was getting a bit later, so by the time we got to Gigante it was already dark. I had also moved house, since the house I was living was a bit shit, and infested with ants, all while I was paying quite a lot, more than any local would pay. So I moved into a room that Will's mum was renting out, a bit further away from the center, a bit calmer, and more space as well.
The next few days were very busy, since we finally had ingredients, so we wanted to be full steam on production, and max out our capacity in the coming days. We also got some bigger fermentation vessels, since we now had a yeast that had an operating temperature that worked outside the fermenter, but we didn't have the vessels to support that. Gaven was also back now, so he got involved a bit too, and I tried to plan together with him how to spend the next weeks. We immediately got production going on the IPA, since this one sold quicker than we could make it. I also decided that I want to leave something of mine here after I'm gone, so I named the IPA after me. "Fisherman's Legacy", all the recipes are mine, but the name sounds pretty cool, and it's the best selling beer. The others are just named after their flavour or ingredients.
Saint Patrick's day was also coming, so we decided to last minute design an Irish Red Ale, to have something typically Irish to sell during Saint Patty's. Around this time the Coronavirus had also been picking up speed a lot. Of course this all started a long time before, but when I left Europe in the end of February, it wasn't even that bad in Europe, just some cases in Italy. But the spread started to pick up in speed, and early March, the ripples could be felt all the way in Nicaragua. We didn't expect any action from the government though, since there were no confirmed cases in the country, and Costa Rica and Panamá only had a handful. There was some action from surrounding countries, and the day before Saint Patrick's day, the Home Owners Association of Iguana decided that all the businesses would close, and no more parties would be allowed. We still had our Saint Patrick's party, which they were not happy with. However, the next days we were actually closed, only doing delivery. This only lasted two days however, since after that we shut down completely, not making any food anymore. We didn't stop making beer however, since we still had beers fermenting, and ingredients at the ready. We were hoping to have a ton of beers in bottle by the time we'd reopen.
Gaven had decided to go back to the states too, since soon he might not be able to go back at all anymore. All around us stuff was getting crazier too. All the neighbouring countries closed their borders, which means I can't leave the country anymore, unless I'm flying, and now there is also a confirmed case in Managua, so maybe the government will now actually start doing something, although I don't have high expectations. People in Managua are staying inside, and people themselves are taking measures. Some supermarkets limit the amount of soap and other cleaning products you can buy, and now here in Gigante they have even decided to close the bars and Spanish school and stuff. They also asked the state if they would help close the village, as in actually closing the main access roads, but the state doesn't want to lose tax income when semana santa comes, the big vacation week that's coming soon.
For now, I'm good here, I have a nice place I can stay, for as long as this lasts. Work has stopped. The brewery has closed down and we're not brewing anymore either. I was hoping to work on upgrading the installation, but they just want to halt all activities. That means I don't have any income anymore, but my savings should last me a while. I'm surfing a lot, trying to isolate a bit, but while on the water I'm not hugging the other surfers. Life here is calm, and a bit boring. I was hoping to go to Panama by the end of march, but the Costa Rican borders are closed until April 13th at least. So now I'm just staying here, and I'll wait it out. Not sure what I'm gonna do if this will take months. I will probably want a change of pace, but I'm not planning on traveling much here with public transport, since the buses here are usually packed, so that's not a safe place to be right now. I have no intention of going home, I'll just wait it out here, and hopefully it doesn't take too long. If it takes more than two months I'll have to see about extending my visa too, but I'm not thinking about that yet. For now, I'm safe, I'm comfortable, and not completely locked down yet. I've been having a lot of contact with friends all over the world from exchanges or my travels, some of which are locked down now too as well.
I'm gonna leave it here, since I've finally caught up with the present more or less. I wish everyone well in these times, stay safe, follow advice from the experts, and keep your distance!