Perpetua Hexathlon, One Year Later
Bihotz
XM Ambassadors › ✭✭✭✭✭
This has been a very meaningful weekend for me, as well as for many other Ingress Agents.
One year ago, on this weekend, the last in-person Ingress event took place. Perhaps you were one of the many Agents who traveled to a Hexathlon site to compete in person, or perhaps - like me - you assisted your Faction with Tessellation duties behind the scenes.
For me, the last weekend of February in 2020 seemed like it was years ago, but I still remember it very vividly. After spending the week assisting the local festival in my town, I spent the weekend virtually participating in the Tessellation aspect of the Hexathlon.
I woke up early that Saturday and virtually joined the Enlightened efforts at the Bratislava and Buenos Aires Tessellation drops. I remember being moved by the excitement of our wonderful Agents in what seemed to be a pleasant summer day in Argentina's capital city. Agents of both Factions were simply excited to play Ingress.
I remember somehow still having the energy, even after that eventful morning, to walk down to the local game store and play in the Pokemon tournament. I took home second place in the adult division, despite being half asleep and having built the deck in 15 minutes. I was so tired I must have resembled the Ghost Pokemon in my decks.
This weekend was much different than the weekend a year ago. My town's festival was moved to a virtual format, there are no in-person Ingress events, and Pokemon events at the local game store have been cancelled until further notice. Because of social distancing guidelines, I rarely left my apartment, and when I did, I wore a mask - an Enlightened one of course.
Agents, even though this weekend may not have been as exciting as last year's, we must still stay strong. Wear a mask, follow local health guidelines, and help your IRL community through this pandemic. If possible, get tested regularly and sign up for a vaccine appointment. Keep in contact (virtually) with your IRL and Ingress friends and support each other through this global challenge.
One day, when the pandemic is over, we will have live Ingress events again. 💚 💙
Comments
Still remember that, I said to two other agents, let’s go to Japan! They registered, I didn’t (due to IRL things), and they got the badge. Hope to have events in the new era.
It was a fun weekend and Mission Day! I remember coming home and two days later Adelaide airport was on the news for having a coronavirus case, this strange virus that nobody knew much about had reached Australia! We were on edge to determine the times of the case and thankfully it was after we left (by a afternoon or day, can't remember which).
Two weeks later, the Melbourne Formula 1 Grand Prix was cancelled on Day 2 and a few days after that we started working from home.
It was a crazy time. Unfortunately a global health pandemic is out of our control, but thankfully we still have Ingress that we can play in some way.
Having had months of some of the strictest restrictions, lockdowns and curfews in the world, it's nice to be outside again, playing Ingress. Hopefully one day, when it's safe, we can return to in-person events such as Hexathlon!
This was right around the time that lockdowns were starting to happen, people were getting sick in the US, etc.
I hope Niantic replays or adds more events to Perpetua because many agents could not attend or were not willing to risk attending as the virus was ramping up.
I still remember this day as well. I booked a flight to Milan before the event was canceled due to the quick rises in cases in Italy. Stupid and naive I was, I still flew to Milan and walked around with a few others. That was all before everyone realized we had a pandemic at our hand and everyone still though it was just a stronger flu.