I spent my day on a wooden tri-maran here in the Philippines doing some 'island hopping'. The water was beautiful, the wife was happy, and there was no Covid anywhere in sight. Highlight of the day was the island where we stopped for lunch. It was a tiny place without much of a beach, just a little village and about 300 fishing boats. Children playing in the water, in and around the boats, grabbing onto the bamboo pontoons as we pulled up to the beach. They didn't have a care in the world. They would be considered in 'extreme poverty' by any modern definition….and this kind of re-alignment of thinking is exactly why I moved here. We were miles away from anyone or anywhere that gave a flying fuck about the rest of the world's problems, much less Covid.
Faith in humanity restored
To contrast, the other families staying at our same hotel (mostly philippine tourists who can afford a vacation), spend their time hand-sanitizing and wearing there masks down at the beach. Literally not a single person has said a word to me or my family about it, but so many people are just sheepling right along. Slightly depressing, but not enough to shade the awesome day we had, or those fisher families living their 'free' life under the sun.