It was supposed to be a South American backpacking adventure, a trip Edmontonian Michael Melymick started in mid-December, when no one was talking about a new virus. “Maybe like four or five months, I wanted to be gone for,” Melymick said, now in self-isolation back in Edmonton.
He and his girlfriend returned to Canada from Peru, a country they spent three weeks in after it closed itself off with travel and curfew restrictions because of COVID-19.
When they arrived in Peru on March 11, “That’s when everything hit the fan,” said Melymick. “I guess they’re just doing their job, but it’s still weird getting approached by police in a foreign country.” Melymick added the police presence in the country seemed to increase in an instant. “It was