Never a dull moment

When Jim woke up this morning he was aware that the pain in his ribs was getting worse so we decided it was time to have it checked out-this from the fall last Friday in Cuzco. We went on the tour of Santiago that lasted until about 2 and then the program director Max and one of the trainees that has been with us, went for a quick (and very good) sandwich and Coke-yes they are good here in Chile! Then he took us to a clinic near here. It was quite an experience! At one point I sat next to a little boy about 9 and his mom and I could tell his mom was urging him to ask in English where I was from. So I turned and smiled at him and encouraged him and he asked-and I told him. Then I asked the one good question I know from the Ecuador trip-what is your name....and he said his name was Andre. I told him he spoke English well and he shyly smiled. His mother beamed. About that time they were called back. It was quite a process-a triage and then wait for your number and almost as soon as we were called and paid for the visit $50 which our insurance from the trip will pay for, they called us back. He was seen by a lady intern who spoke English well but as she said, not for diagnosing. Our tour director Max was with us all the way and translated and talked to both doctors. Can we say he will get a great tip? Anyway, the final verdict is that Jim either cracked a rib or else has a really big hematoma between the muscle and the ribs and the treatment is the same for both-take pain pills. I get to lift all the luggage....joy. If he runs fever or gets shortness of breath, he has to go back for xrays and all-to be sure it has not punctured a lung. He has to deep breath all the time so he can keep from getting an infection. At least it put our mind at ease that he is safe to travel and we are going to go get the pain pills filled in a few minutes just so we have them. Think he needs them for a day or two.

Most of the group has gone on a wine tasting tour tonight for dinner, but since we don't drink, we opted out and they were leaving as soon as we got back-like in 5 min. so I think it was a wise decision. Our friend Jan got our stuff off the bus after the city tour as Max had told everyone to leave ALL valuables, purses,etc on the bus. Not everyone listened obviously as one gal either dropped her wallet or was pickpocketed-Max thinks she dropped it and of course it was not there when she went back. While we were waiting in the clinic, he got a call that two other ladies were "mugged" of their purses -dont' know the details but these ladies had big purses and were not being careful. It surely made a point to us not to take ANYTHING with us that mattered! But when we got to the clinic, we didn't have passport copies or anything since we left them on the bus, didn't have my credit card as it was on the bus-and Jim's kept giving the lady a hard time going through. Never fails. It did finally work so all is well.
Santiago is a beautiful city but very crowded and I will be rather glad to move out into the countryside for the above reasons. But it is modern and old mixed and really pretty and ringed by beautiful snow capped mountains. It is lovely spring weather and just a delightful time to travel here. The people here are much more mixed-more like what we see in the states, as compared to either Peru or Ecuador. There is so much to see and learn!
We are getting ready to go get Jim's rx filled , eat some dinner and walk to the park-carrying nothing of value!
Happy Birthday Delaney!!