New Zealanders stranded in Peru are asking the Government to join forces with Australia to get them home.
Some forked out more than $5000 for a flight, only to be kicked off due to Australia's border restrictions.
Caleb Nicol's hostel in Lima is emptying out, with Germans, Americans, and Brits leaving in recent days.
Except the New Zealanders are being told by our Government to "hunker down".
"It's just really hard watching people from all these other nations get government-assisted flights," he told Newshub.
Peru has been locked down since March 15.
With no flight to New Zealand on the horizon, Nicol booked a ticket on a last-minute charter to Sydney, to the tune of $5600. The flight was organised between a Peruvian travel company and the Australian government.
But last night, he was told Australia's tightened border rules require him to leave on the same day he landed.
"So because our flight was to land on the 31st and the next transiting flight was on the morning of the 1st, it meant that they wouldn't allow us to enter Australia and we were pulled off the flight," he explains.
Nicol's not alone: 23 other New Zealanders booked the same flight.
"We're feeling like we're trapped at the moment because that was our golden ticket out of here," he says.
He's pleading with New Zealand's Government to ask Australia to see sense.
"I cannot see why the Australian and New Zealand government cannot work together with us all stuck over here and get us a flight home."
More than 2000 people have signed a petition asking the Government to bring Kiwis stuck in Peru home, but the Prime Minister is making no promises.
"We have been very clear that repatriation in some parts of the world has become more difficult," Jacinda Ardern told reporters on Sunday.
Ardern says the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT) is communicating with New Zealanders abroad - but no specific support for those booted off their flight.
"I don't have direct information on that particular case but I ask MFAT for an update on that," she says.
In the meantime, MFAT is telling New Zealanders facing financial hardship to seek assistance from family and friends.
"Which wasn't very reassuring. Especially because friends and family back home are losing their jobs at the moment," says Nicol.
Peru's lockdown is expected to last at least two more weeks.
