TAMPA, Fla. — A Tampa man and his friends are now desperate to come home after almost three weeks of being kept in quarantine in a hostel in Peru.
They say they are now guarded by the Peruvian military.
What was once a dream to climb a mountain has turned into a living nightmare.
Three weeks ago, a group of five friends went to Peru to climb Machu Picchu. They'd been planning the trip for a year, but days after getting there, the country was locked down and they were locked in.
"So here in our room there are six beds, a bunk bed here, a bunk bed here and another here and here's the bathroom," Zachary Meckstroth, 28, said.
He is no stranger to traveling. He and his friends left Florida for Peru on March 12.
"We checked all the travel advisories through the embassy, there were no travel advisories about going to Peru," he said.
But a couple of days later, and with only hours notice, Peru closed its borders because of the virus. Back here in Tampa, Meckstroth's dad, Chad, was surprised at how quickly it escalated.
"That was the thing, usually the countries have given like two or three days notice before they closed the borders, Peru did it in like 6-12 hours," Chad Meckstroth said.
Not enough time for Meckstroth and his friends to book a flight and get to the airport. So, they were quarantined inside a hostel in the town of Cusco with 140 other people.
Initially, they had the freedom to move around until Zach says two people inside tested positive for COVID-19.
"I was told that if I was to leave it would be 5-10 years in prison and threatened way beyond," he said. "Three Americans tried to leave a couple of days ago and the police pulled a gun on them and they came back inside."
Chad Meckstroth is scared for his son.
"It's really upsetting. We're distraught because we can't do anything. I just want to get on a plane and go down there but I can't," he said.
Each day Meckstroth and his friends are in contact with the American Consulate in Peru, but they have no answers.
"All we want to do is come home, we are sick and tired of the lack of urgency of getting us home," he said.
Zach says they are only getting about one meal a day and they are scared.
None of them have shown symptoms of the virus and want to be tested so they can be cleared to come home.
They do still have their phones and WiFi and talk to family every day.
Meckstroth says all the American Consulate in Peru will tell him is "they're working on it."
So at this point, he has no idea when he will get to come home.
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