I spent my first two days in Recife freaking out about Canada’s latest $2000 hotel-quarantine requirement.

I have no idea how I’m going to come back to Canada—despite having a return ticket with Air Canada, no less. I’m getting panic attacks at the thought of being locked up in a room. I can’t even imagine the logistics, since I’m supposed to quarantine in Toronto and I don’t even have warm clothes. And $2,000 is a lot of money. And there are no details.

Here I am, freaking out again. I can’t get over it. Just typing it makes it real, just typing it makes me anxious again.

Which is unfortunate, because everything else is okay.

I had to snap out of this mental funk.

I decided to go to Olinda for a few hours.

Olinda is only about 20 kilometres from Recife but it’s another world. It’s a quiet colonial city with steep, cobblestone-paved streets and colourful houses, many churches and a picturesque “Alto da Sé” neighbourhood on top of a tree-covered hill from which you can see Recife’s skyline in the distance and Olinda’s historical centre.

I took a taxi. Normally, I’d take the bus, but I wasn’t feeling quite like myself, plus it was only about $10, so probably a wise investment considering how crowded buses get in Recife.

Olinda is famous for Carnival street parties, but since the upcoming event has been cancelled I expected it to be very quiet. Oh, shit. Was I going to be alone wandering around? Awkward. Potentially dangerous. Damn.

In fact, there were a few tourists. Not as many as usual and the crowd was 100% Brazilian but at least I wasn’t alone.

And somehow, Olinda helped me get some perspective. It’s an old city but it feels timeless and it’s still standing. History is full of ups and downs, from merciless wars to selfless inventions, from atrocities and disasters to cultural heights.

The future doesn’t technically exist yet, we still have to create it.

Maybe I’m worrying too much, after all.