the latest information that we have is
that no one is allowed to leave paradise
but I didn't really expect to get here
and experience the last festival on
earth on March 15th the tribal gathering
festival in Panama was placed under
lockdown due to the corona virus
pandemic dozens of people are still
stuck on site it's now the last festival
on earth when I first got here I didn't
know what the corona virus was and then
maybe about two weeks later some other
crew members came through therefore and
they said they've got tested Lee has
been called coronavirus I kind of fought
pretty much nothing of it at the time it
wasn't until the 10th of March before
the corona virus came to Panama and
it was pretty quick after that that it
started to have effects on what was
festival
tribal gathering was designed to be a
temporary paradise where people from
Western cities could learn from
indigenous communities how to rebalance
society and live in symbiosis with the
earth but the earth doesn't always play
ball as Kovach 19 spread the utopia was
placed under lockdown though most of the
indigenous performers had left halfway
through the festival it began to dawn on
everyone else that they were stranded
now in this paradise
the festival was just about Jen they
were saying how they wanted to close the
festival down so then I started to
realize maybe something was kind of
fattening everyone on site was called to
the main stage where we were told that
if you had been on site or in Panama for
less than 14 days then you have to
remain on site and then you could leave
after that point there was concerns
about can we get food
can we get cleaning products can we get
tobacco by this point most of the
indigenous people had left and the
management team reassured us that we had
enough food to last us that week if you
want to eat food here you have to buy it
okay look enough people before to fail
to work all that kind of stuff yeah but
you're gonna have to work thanks to you
my Mac nothing had really changed for us
we were still in the same place we were
in paradise at the the same nails and
the same great people around us not sure
if I'm able to stay here but people come
here often a party but the spirits have
been here from all the indigenous
medicine it traps people here and forces
them to work on their spiritual self and
so a lot of people here are trapped
right now and they're they're definitely
forced to you know grow as a person I've
grown as a person and very happy to be
here and we'll see if I leave until you
will have new wings that you can fly
properly
[Music]
we were to make people comfortable and
so that they felt safe and calm there
was not an element of well we might as
well just keep partying
I gave training yesterday but now
everything it's kind of normal like the
whole world is getting crazy we're in
the middle of no vote but we have
everything you won - we get fresh orange
juice in the morning ice cream and
everything and I would say everybody's
kind of happy and people are happy
people offense is water there's worse
places to be in the world by the time we
got to the Sunday we start seeing the
army a lot of authorities the police and
stuff coming I think really Bennett
started to hit me that this isn't just
like a normal like closing down the
festival military and the police came to
the festival sites the problems for
people leave and started to happen where
there was checks on people's passports
that had to happen there were checks on
people's like health you may have the
fever test on their forehead
shuttle buses had been running so anyone
that could mean I was mounting we fought
initially the bus had broken down
however we were told it was stopped by
the authorities even though they had
given permission of these buses to leave
for people to get their flights to get
out of Panama a couple of people were
dragged to forcibly on the bus and they
slept outside on the ground the next day
they were brought back but the police
have kept their passports
it's definitely changed in terms of how
serious it had become the latest
information that we have is that no one
is allowed to leave site unless they've
gotta fly to the next day and that
flight needs to be confirmed and it
needs to be proofed what oh yes here -
you know why she left people out
sleeping in the garage last night is
because that was better than taking them
to the airport and risking other people
getting infected with the virus that we
don't have people be allowed to leave
and they wouldn't then it was 14 days
quarantine and there wasn't it was this
madness it was becoming increasingly
difficult quite literally every couple
of hours to get out of that the dates
just kept being pushed back all the time
the last four days has okay after six or
seven different scenarios of what is to
happen you can go to another country
they can still leave you and like
Nicaragua still make people entertain
but what happen if this gets more crazy
you are there I don't know what to think
about these are like huge decisions that
we have to make because it's like should
I stay should I go and and there's and
there's no way to make that decision the
u.s. is not doing jack to help
American citizens feel like everyone is
just you know in a big twirl or hot we
say in Spanish and get on my tail
everyone's just kind of dizzy and trying
to figure out things you know about what
to do where to go you know and who to
trust because there has been situations
where the military are being very
aggressive the situation about leaving
changed that much that quickly that you
were on a rollercoaster of emotion each
day seemed like it was getting kind of
worse and there were other problems and
it to be honest at some point c4 like is
better because doesn't do anyone is
helping us there was an element of dread
and worry and panic urgency there was
when there was a window of opportunity
to go people felt compelled that they
had to rush wait still have tickets for
350 USD to Canada for today through
Sunday so you're responsible for all
costs which is the transport option
without a fight yeah
yes eventually it got to a point where
we stopped the quarantine here after
hopes with immigration and health and
the tribal Gabon lawyers chatting phages
and it got to a point where people could
leave the lockdown on site would no
longer be enforced but by now most
flights out of the country had been
canceled the responses were pretty quick
from the French Embassy the Hungarian
Embassy the German Embassy they were
like yep we're coming down we're gonna
extract our people we're gonna get them
home meanwhile we are still really
waiting and getting quite frustrated
about where our embassy is the British
Embassy as punters became forced to lean
on their embassies to escape the global
community quickly became a list of
distinct nationalities
tomorrow they'll probably fear different
things maybe the embassy we like private
just dive in eventually go off site we
received an email from the embassy
saying that they would come with embassy
buses I think because there was a lot of
pressure through social media they're
taking us to the British Embassy which
is good we're gonna kick up a fuss there
but they've told us that we have our own
accommodations out and transporting
things like that which is you know great
and thanks UK after the British Embassy
drove its citizens to Panama City many
of them became stranded there
indefinitely subject to strict
quarantine I live in Panama for the next
30 days at least feel really sad
I just want to go home most of the
punters were eventually able to leave
but the organizers the true believers
and people who are unable to get a
flight in time stayed behind we're still
here 20 days after the festival finished
we created a tribe from tribal
government we're in paradise we have the
beach we have the jungle is a privilege
there are dozens of people still
stranded on site no one knows when
they'll be able to come back and when
they do what kind of world they'll be
returning to you there now some of the
millions of people currently stranded
around the world due to the pandemic
[Music]