MIAMI _ The four Argentine friends, ages 29 to 34, planned two years for their 10-day beach vacation in Miami. But their early-March holiday has turned into a weekslong ordeal after coronavirus-related travel restrictions made their return to Buenos Aires impossible.
Long gone from their Hollywood Airbnb, and without the funds to stay at the hotels accepting stranded travelers, the quartet is living in an abandoned, rodent- and roach-infested house in Miami's Liberty City neighborhood. The property is completely empty, save for three mattresses retrieved from the trash.
With no refrigerator in the house, the group is keeping the small amount of food they have in plastic Tupperware by the front door. It's an upgrade from the infested kitchen, where fecal matter covers drawers and cupboards.
"We have homes in Buenos Aires, and here we are, living like indigents," said Jonatan Lopez, 33. "It's embarrassing. Our health insurance ran out, our hotel ran out, everything ran out. We have nothing, we're on the floor. It's just a really bizarre situation."
It's a classic case of wrong place at the wrong time _ a dramatic reversal of fortune that, while extreme, isn't unique.
"The original idea was just to suntan at the beach," said Damian Camarotta, 33. "We only got to go there once."
After formally sealing Argentina's borders to foreigners on March 15, president Alberto Fernandez announced less than two weeks later that he was suspending the country's repatriation program.
According to Argentine media, the last repatriation flight _ operated by Aerolineas Argentinas, the country's flag carrier _ took off from Miami on March 27. Since then, around 10,000 Argentine citizens have been left stranded around the world. An estimated 1,130 of those are in Miami.
Citing a lack of communication and guidance from consular authorities, Argentines in Miami turned to one another, creating WhatsApp groups and Instagram pages to share news of local food distribution events and tips for securing housing, protective equipment and other supplies.
It was through a WhatsApp group that Camarotta and Lopez, along with their two friends, Noelia Perales, 34, and Guillermo Hernandez, 29, who are a couple, were given the keys to the Liberty City home. The house's owner, an Argentine who lives in Miami, had bought the dilapidated property with the intention of making repairs and flipping it. In early April, learning that the four friends were in desperate need of a place to stay, he reached out and offered the house, free of charge.
"We thought, 'Amazing, we have a roof for zero pesos, zero cost," said Perales.
Some of the relief dissipated when they saw the condition of the house.
"When we first got here, we had a debate the four of us by the front door. 'Are we staying, yes or no?'" said Hernandez. "We decided to stay. With what little money we have, we bought bleach and we turned the house upside down trying to disinfect everything."
Early on, the group also invested in rat poison and in dark trash bags to cover the bedroom windows. Neighbors also approached them and provided some food.
"We're grateful for the roof over our heads, but we are worried," said Hernandez. "We're worried about this pandemic, we're worried because we're running out of money. We're just trying to deal with our new reality as best we can."
In the tumult of living in an abandoned house in a foreign country gripped by disease, a daily routine has developed.
"Every morning, we wake up and we clean and disinfect because we always find new rat droppings," said Camarotta.
After that, they often trek to a nearby Dollar Tree for cheap groceries. The round trip is about four miles.
Because of their line of work _ Camarotta and Hernandez are personal trainers, Lopez is an acrobat and figure skater _ staying in shape is also important. They share a set of resistance bands for strength training, along with a pink yoga mat. It already shows signs of being gnawed at by the rats.
Their top priority is conserving their funds, in part because foreign transactions by Argentines are now subject to a 30% surcharge by their government.
"Everything becomes really expensive for us here," said Perales. "And the money is running out. I had only budgeted for a 10-day stay."
Camarotta is in a similar bind.
"Dollars and pesos just aren't the same thing. I'm completely depleting my savings being stuck here," he said. "When I get back home, there won't be anything left."
"We're just trying to stretch it," added Hernandez. "But it's getting desperate, not knowing when we'll be able to go back and only having a couple of pesos in our wallet. We don't know if we'll be able to eat tomorrow or the day after."
Adding to the group's frustration is what they perceive as a trivialization of stranded tourists' pain by government officials and media personalities back home. Even personal acquaintances don't seem to grasp the extent of the problem.
"The response even from many of our friends is: 'You're in Miami. What are you complaining about? Just stay there a while,'" said Lopez.
For all their struggles, the friends are aware that other countrymen stranded here are not faring as well as they are.
"We want to speak not only on behalf of ourselves, but also on behalf of everyone else who is stuck here. There are families with children, there are lots of people who are just living in the airport right now, totally exposed to getting sick. We want to speak on behalf of all of us and say that something must be done so that we can go home," said Perales. "We need repatriation flights to start getting scheduled."
Once they do get back home, Perales and her friends know that they won't find the same life they left behind. The hotel Perales works in is closed, as are the gyms where Camarotta and Hernandez work.
"We'd be without money there too, but it's not the same," said Perales. "Our families are over there."
Amid the stress and uncertainty of their current situation, the group still finds occasions for levity, at least for now.
On the day after speaking with the Herald, Camarotta was set to turn 33. Did he have any plans for his birthday?
"We have plans of going to the backyard and partying with the rats," he said with a laugh.
"It'll be a Ratatouille-themed birthday," Perales added.
