Yesterday there was a knock at my apartment door — very unusual if I haven’t let anyone in downstairs. Looking through the peephole I saw the portero (our word for the superintendent of the building).

I opened up and he presented me with this mask. I think his wife made them, although I didn’t quite understand that part. He explained that I should fold up a tissue and put it over my mouth first and then the mask. I don’t know if he was giving them to everyone, or just folks of my vintage. In any case, I was very grateful.

Masks have now been made mandatory in Buenos Aires (not sure about the rest of the country) any time we go outside. The government has also asked us to make our own, leaving the real ones for medical and emergency people. I’m all in with that.

I posted a picture a couple of weeks ago of me in my black “terrorist” face mask. I won’t feel as conspicuous going into the supermarket wearing this one, thanks to my lovely, generous portero.

At first I believed what I heard — that masks weren’t really helpful. I was told they were for people who were sick, so that they wouldn’t spread the virus to others, but didn’t do any good otherwise. Of course, now that has been shown to be wrong, so I decided to get with the program.

However, there are no masks available, so I decided to make my own. I saw videos on how to make masks out of a bra, but mine are the wrong shape. I had tried a scarf, but apparently that is the least effective, probably not helped by the fact that it kept slipping off. I then read that one of the best things to use was old t-shirt material. The only t-shirt I was willing to sacrifice was black — hence the terrorist look! Like it?