Aaron Rodgers is lucky he’s Aaron Rodgers.
Traveling with three people in a rural area of Peru, the Green Bay Packers quarterback was close to not making it out of the country before its borders closed due to the coronavirus crisis.
Rodgers described the hectic scene calling into The Pat McAfee Show on Friday.
“Things were getting a little dicey,” Rodgers said, describing the scene as countries were thinking about closing their borders slow the outbreak’s spread. “We were keeping a keen eye on it with some contacts that had contacts with the Pentagon. We realized four or five days in, it was time to make a decision.”
The initial plan, developed months prior to the ordeal, was for the group to travel around South America longer, but as COVID-19 concerns grew, they had no choice but to end it prematurely.
Rodgers said if had he and his group had been flying commercial they likely wouldn’t have made it out of Peru right away, especially with inclement weather complicating things at an already chaotic airport.
“When we rolled up to the airport at, like, 7 in the morning. It was wall-to-wall people, and you couldn’t move,” Rodgers said.
“And I was thinking, ‘This isn’t very safe.’ Not many masks on, and there was definitely a panic in the air. But somehow made it through, and then they shut the airport down because it was really bad weather. They had a drop-dead time where they were going to shut the entire airport down. We made it by about 15 minutes. Made it back.”
Since he’s returned to the United States, Rodgers said things have calmed down a bit. He bought a six pack of beer, has been quarantining with former NASCAR driver and girlfriend, Danica Patrick, while his most excitement came from finally finding toilet paper at the store Thursday.
