We have made it to Phase 2. This brings a few changes.

The beach is officially open. Although we have been able to use it for exercise for the last few weeks, the beach has been closed to swimming and lounging for 11 weeks. Now, most exciting, we can swim in the sea!!

Leo wanted to get out to swim as early as possible on the first day. He would have gone out at 7am, but we made him wait until 9am so it would be a little warmer, and we could eat breakfast. We returned for a second swim in the afternoon.

The government is trying to figure out how to ensure social distancing on the beach. The entire length of the beach is groomed every morning and rectangles are drawn to designate spaces.

Close to the water’s edge where the tractor can’t go, flags are passed out by lifeguards so you can mark your beach space.

Later in the summer, when people are allowed to travel from other provinces and countries, people will have to reserve their beach spot online. The Andalucían government is hiring 3000 unemployed people to act as beach sanitation assistants, to help local law enforcement maintain social distancing. They will receive double the minimum wage.

Another big change is that we all can go out for exercise at any time of day! This means that the boys can go out in the morning again, which is especially welcome since going out at noon is too hot, and waiting until it cools off in the evening is too late for 2 active boys to have to wait.

You can gather in groups up to 15 (although we don’t have any plans to). We have met up with a few friends at a safe distance, and will probably see a couple more, to say goodbye before we leave.

Leo played with his friend Leo, while I chatted with his mom on the beach, 2 meters apart in our separate sand rectangles.

Restaurants can open indoor seating at 50% capacity, which means that more restaurants have opened, since owners are finding it more financially worthwhile (previously they could only be open on terraces and for take out). In order to open, restaurants have to follow strict hygiene guidelines.

  • All menus are online
  • Condiments are in sealed single serve containers
  • Even the bread is individually wrapped
We visited our neighbor’s Spanish restaurant. We watched them sanitize the entire table and all of the chairs before we sat down. All of the servers wore masks.
  • Tortilla española
  • Ensalada Axarquía
  • Paella
The first Spanish food we have had in 3 months.

Restaurants have to be creative in their use of space to try to get as many customers as possible.

The Thai restaurant set up one of their tables in the pharmacy’s parking spot (since they had closed for the day). Usually those tables are about 1 foot apart from each other and all fit inside the Siam awning that you can see in background.

Barbers and beauty salons were able to open in Phase 1, but we didn’t try it until this week (since Oliver’s hair was over his eyes). You have to make an appointment and only one person is allowed inside at a time. And of course everyone has to wear a mask.

We are still not allowed to travel outside of our province. We are okay with this, since it means that no one from outside can travel to the beaches in our province, keeping our exposure down. We also aren’t needing to go anywhere since we can swim in the Mediterranean every day.

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