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Embassy in Peru praised for organizing buses, planes and a trip home for stuck Canadians

An Edmonton man who arrived back home on a repatriation flight earlier this week says he's thankful to be back on Canadian soil even though it meant cutting his six-month trek through South America in half.

Michael Melymick, 24, and his girlfriend, Teneille Aulotte, 20, touched down in Edmonton on Sunday morning after spending the better of three weeks trying to get home from Lima, Peru.

"It was super-stressful. I haven't been stressed out like that in a while," said Melymick, who works in construction and left Canada for Columbia in December.

Their journey to get back home though started in the middle of March.

After spending a couple of days in Lima, Peru, at the start of the month, the couple travelled north to the surfing town of Mancora, which is about a 20-hour bus ride.

Michael Melymick
Michael Melymick

At first, Melymick said, everything was fine. Then, on March 13, the Peruvian government put a travel ban in place.

The first case of coronavirus in March was confimed on March 6. As of Monday, the country had 1,746 cases and 73 deaths.

'No one else but us'

All travel by land, sea and air was suspended meaning Melymick and his girlfriend had to wait it out in Mancora.

They spent the next 20 days at their seaside hotel. A curfew meant everyone had to stay indoors between 5 p.m. and 4 a.m.

"We were actually the only people at the hotel. There was no one else but us,' he recalled.

Melymick says the hotel owner gave them a discount and upgraded them to a better room.

"The first day we got there, the beach was just packed with people. And then toward the end, you wouldn't see a single soul on the beach because there was police," he added.

"It was really weird and just an uncomfortable feeling," he said. "You're on vacation, you don't want to be constantly being approached by police and military."

During the lockdown, Melymick was in daily contact with his dad Mike in Edmonton.

He heard about the repatriation flights and registered with the government online, where he says he received email updates on when they could get back home.

'Going home, finally'

Eventually, Melymick was notified about a flight to Toronto out of Lima on April 5. The problem was the couple was nearly 1,200 kilometers away.

On April 3, they took a seven-hour bus ride to the city of Piura. They flew to Lima, then got onto an Air Canada flight headed for Toronto.

The bus trip from Mancora stopped in several towns to pick up other Canadians for the flight out of Piura. It had a military escort, which is something Melymick says he'll never forget.

At several stops, the bus was boarded by police who checked the passports and temperatures of all the passengers.

"Everyone was kind of keeping to themselves a little bit," he said. "But you could tell everyone was happy and relieved to be going home, finally."

There was joy back in Canada, too.

Melymick's dad had been trying since February to convince his son to come back home and was relieved to hear they were booked on the repatriation flight.

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"I think he was flying over Cuba and he sent an email," recalled Mike Melymick from his home in Edmonton.

"That was the yell, the cheer, the crying. That was the big moment, you knew he was coming home."

'Blows my mind'

Melymick and his girlfriend touched down in Toronto at about 2 a.m. on April 5. Their connecting flight to Edmonton left five hours later, getting them home at 9 a.m. Sunday morning.

The cost to get home was $1,400 Canadian each.

Both Melymicks had high praise for the Canadian embassy in Lima for its efforts getting the Canadians home.

"It's right out of a movie," the senior Melymick said of his son's adventure. "The staff at the Canadian embassy in Peru really went to bat for these Canadians. "It just blows my mind the logistics that would have happened to get this rescue — buses and planes — to pick up Canadians. It's unbelievable."