Pictured is a packed Puerto Vallarta International Airport on March 22. Bemus Point residents Susan and Greg Jones were in the resort town on Mexico’s Pacific coast when concerns of the coronavirus forced many vacationers to find quick routes home. Photos by Susan Jones

Susan Jones and her husband Greg have vacationed in Puerto Vallarta for the last two decades.

For the last eight years, the Bemus Point residents have called the resort town on Mexico’s west coast their home during the winter months.

And up until 10 days before they were scheduled to begin their trip back to Chautauqua County, this winter’s escape seemed to be no different than the previous seven — even as the world around them began shutting down due to the outbreak of COVID-19.

“No one seemed alarmed, no one seemed concerned and no one was excited,” Jones said.

And then, all at once, it hit.

An empty San Francisco International Airport is pictured on March 28 after the couple returned to the U.S.

Following Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s decision to close the country’s borders, the resort, which according to Jones is heavily populated by Canadian tourists, became a “ghost town.”

“That’s when everybody sat up and took notice,” she said.

Her nerves soon turned to how the six family members who had joined them would return home.

Family members who lived in Connecticut went to Salt Lake City in order to catch a connecting flight to John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York, while other members, due to return home to Jamestown, could only get as close as Hamilton, Ontario, by way of a connecting flight in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

The remaining two family members, due for Cleveland, luckily had little problem finding flights back.

Meanwhile, in Puerto Vallarta, the mass exodus and impending cancellations by the resort soon resulted in staff layoffs.

“They began moving people and consolidating them into one building because they were letting staff go,” Jones said. “We were moved twice. Within a week, everything shut down. … Restaurants, busses, cabs. If you stayed behind, and there are a few people I know who have, but they are communicating with one and another about how to get certain things and how to get access to medical help, should they need it.”

“Then the phone calls started coming from United that our flight home had been canceled.”

The Joneses were lucky: after enough conversations with representatives of the airline, they were able to make sure they were on a plane, finally securing reservations for a flight into Pittsburgh last Sunday by way of San Francisco International Airport.

“There was absolutely no one there,” Jones said of the scene in San Francisco. “It was creepy. We sat in a waiting area until 11 p.m. that night and there was nothing open except for a place that had soup, coffee and was selling leftover beer out of one of the stores.”

Social distance was maintained on the plane, she said, with a flight that usually holds between 160 and 170 people holding not even 40.

“Then, we got to Pittsburgh at 6 a.m. and it was a ghost town again,” Jones said. “There was one car outside and it was a police car. That’s all we saw. It’s eerie. I wasn’t flying at the time of September 11th, so I can’t imagine how that was, but this was certainly strange. There was no one around.”

“The flight attendants were based in San Francisco and all the flights back to San Francisco had been canceled,” she added. “They slept on the plane and were flying back with the pilot who was merely taking the plane back. Otherwise, they would have had to wait until Thursday to get a flight.”

Now, the Joneses are just happy to be back at their home, where they’ll quarantine for 14 days: a difficult task for two people who are heavily involved in the community. But, they’re making the most of the situation they’ve returned to.

“We’re both very active in Rotary and Rotary had its first Zoom meeting with 40 people in attendance and that was great fun,” she said. “I’m also getting well acquainted with new services like InstaCart for grocery shopping. I had to go to the hospital to have a blood test and they’ve managed to re-arrange their schedule so that no one is coming into contact with other people, which is very good. I’m just impressed with how people are coping.”

Still, though, her heart hurts for friends who weren’t able to leave as well as the natives they’ve come to know.

“When we left Mexico, we were hugging people because you don’t know if you will ever see them again. … That’s how scary this is” she said, noting that the town had one confirmed case of coronavirus when they left. ”

The average Mexican I feel greatly sorry for because they don’t have the social availability of help that we do,” she said. “They don’t have people that are going to step up and pay unemployment. These people are furloughed for at least a month, if not more. They have children at home.”

All the more reason to be grateful for what they have, she noted.

“I’m feeling very fortunate that we were able to manage the system to our favor,” she said. “We were able to fight our way to get home and then so fortunate to be here in our country.”

“We count our lucky stars … and here we are in Jamestown.”