My house stood on a hill away from the main road. It was surrounded by pine trees. There were only five other houses near our home. The nearest house stood north across the street. Our house's entrance faced North West. Our house was flanked by two empty lots.
There was just one street in this community. On one end of the street was an iron gate while the other end lead to a ravine, a steep drop of 20 meters. For those who were not familiar with this road, they could easily drive or walk towards that ravine and meet their end but it was rare for strangers to end up here. In fact, whenever I took the taxi from the bus station , the taxi drivers always exclaimed that they did not realize this road existed.
Apart from the six houses , there was an informal settlement at the foot of the hill. They built steps from where their houses were to our place so they could take the shortest route from their home to the jeepney station. When I walked my dogs in the morning, I greeted them good morning and I tried to remember their faces but I was not successful. If I met any one of them downtown, I would not recognize them.
My home was the perfect place to be in quarantine. I was still able to walk my dogs daily. My dad was still able to jog daily - from the gate to the ravine and then back. Back and forth; he jogged for an hour. We did this without violating the social distancing guidelines of staying at least a meter and a half away from any human that we met on this street.
A friend told me that she read somewhere that the sun's UV rays were found to be effective in killing any type of virus. When I heard that, I decided that I would spend ten to fifteen minutes daily out in the sun. I brought out a plastic stool (it was neon green) and sat in the middle of this road. I bathed myself with the sun's rays. I wasn't sure if this really killed any germs but I noticed that I always felt energized after those moments under the sun.
The sun was a source of joy these days. It was good that the quarantine happened in the summer. I imagined I would have been miserable if we were locked in during the monsoon season when it rained daily.
I guess we were still lucky.