Yohany Castro was one of 900 Venezuelan tourists who were stranded in the U.S. after the South American country shut its borders because of the coronavirus pandemic.

On September 13, she bought tickets to a repatriation flight to Mexico then to Venezuela with money she and her husband raised.

Castro, 38, was able to continue to work at her bank job in Venezuela virtually from her cousin’s Kissimmee home.

After seven months, she was able to reunite with her husband.

“He told me ‘you don’t look real. You don’t look real,’” Castro said. “He also told me he loves me so much. It felt like it was March not September because March was when I was supposed to arrive from my vacation.”

Unlike Castro, some Venezuelan tourists remain stranded in the U.S. She said they continue to remain in contact with each other.