SAN DIEGO — A college student from San Diego is stuck in Peru, trying to get home to San Diego.
Jared Petry is from Rancho Penasquitos. He's a junior at UC Santa Barbara. He and his girlfriend have been studying abroad in South America since January.
"It was pretty much a backpacking trip for six weeks through southern Chile and we decided to stop in Peru," said Petry from his hotel room in Lima.
Last week, Peru shut its borders due to the coronavirus pandemic.
"It was kind of like everything happened at once," said Petry. "We showed up at the airport, it was pure chaos."
March 16 they discovered their flight to Los Angeles had been canceled.
"It was a really scary scene," said Petry. "We were not very hopeful getting any flights home, everyone was in the same situation."
Peru now has a curfew. From 8:00 p.m. to 5:00 a.m. no one is allowed to go out. The US embassy in Peru is closed.
Petry says getting information has been difficult.
On Friday Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced the creation of a "Repatriation Task Force" to help U.S. citizens come home. A handful of chartered flights have arrived in the U.S. from Morocco and Peru.
Petry was told it could be anywhere from 15 to 30 days before he and his girlfriend are able to come home, but he's doing his best to remain optimistic.
"I would just rather be in San Diego at this point," he said.
Sunday The U.S. Embassy in Lima posted this on it's website:
"The U.S. Embassy in Lima is operating and is coordinating closely with the Peruvian Government on all options for U.S. citizens to depart the country and are arranging charter aircraft. To date, approximately 500 American tourists departed Peru this weekend and included some of the most urgent medical cases. The U.S. Embassy will continue messaging as additional flight plans are finalized. Please note, these flights will be subjected to reimbursement."