So January has been very much a month of highs and lows for a number of reasons. Its quite difficult travelling in high season and very annoying, plus the fact I broke my wrist has been kinda awkward as well, but here's the story from New Yrs on now that I can type again!!
So we had our apartment in Valparaiso for New Years. We were on the 14th floor so we stayed there drinking to watch the fireworks which are meant to be among the best in South America. Honestly fireworks have never impressed me and although the others liked it, it didn't do much for me. After this we spent over an hour walking into town and spent pretty much the whole night at street parties on hill tops with thousands of people which I barely remember. Have snippets of memory of glass shattered all over the streets, people dressed up in all sorts of costumes and looking out over the city from a hilltop with music blaring. Got home about 8 in the morning, had about four hours sleep before the others woke me up to go to a concert. I was in no state to be going but decided to anyway.
Was a bit of a mission to get there working out different buses etc and it was scorching hot. All I wanted to do was to go to bed. But eventually we found it. It was unlike any other concert I'd been to. Pools, water slides, people sunbathing walking around in just shorts and bikinis. Stupidly I'd worn jeans. But still managed to have a great day. One of the best days I'd had in this area. And the whole area was so nice. Way nicer than Valparaiso. But 15 minutes before the end of the concert I managed to fall, nothing to do with been drunk and broke my wrist. Didn't even feel the pain at the time but sat there laughing. Even though it was totally out of place with the bone nearly protruding from the skin I thought without the pain it couldn't be broken. But there was a few doctors around who convinced me to go to the hospital. Daniel a Texan guy we'd been hanging out with came with me cause he had the best Spanish and off we went into an ambulance getting a free ride and skipping all the after concert traffic. The ambulance driver even let Dan smoke in the back!! I was mad to just get the hospital thing over with and head back out to finish my night. But unfortunately my X-Rays showed that I had a very bad fracture and needed surgery. My doctor was so friendly as well. This was a public hospital and he recommended I come to him in a private hospital on the Mon.
So I was back in our apartment late Saturday night trying to sort out all sorts of shit with the use of only one arm. Feeling too stressed and sick to eat. A full cast on. At least the pain wasn't too bad. But I was going around in circles. The hospital needed the insurance company to confirm to pay for it. The insurance company needed an estimate on the operation to confirm it which the hospital couldn't give. Once that was sorted I needed to call the doctor to make an appointment which I couldn't get through to him. Insurance company was brilliant though and the following day I went into the hospital, got them speaking Spanish on the phone to the receptionist and it was all sorted. My Spanish was nowhere near good enough to sort all this stuff out but I heard the receptionist say something like 6 million pesos which was $13000 USD for the whole thing. Not sure what it came to in the end but I know the metal plate alone I got was worth $2000. After that the insurance company were unreal. Emailed me good luck, called me afterwards a few times to see how I was feeling and for follow up checks and all. This was when I was lying in bed with nobody to talk to. They also had Spanish speakers on call whenever I needed them as well.
The hospital was like a 5* hotel. Had my own private room. Cable TV with over 100 channels including movies. Really fast WiFi and an amazing view of the beach and the whole town of Renaca below. They were also feeding me like 4 meals a day. Pretty decent food as well. The bed had a remote to move it in any direction. I was offered showers by the nurses. Never seen anything like it not even in movies. The view was one of the best parts.
Unlike the rest of Chile where everybody seemed to speak English including old 70 yr olds on the street that we asked for directions everyone in all the hospitals we went to didn't seem to have any English. Here was me learning all these new technical words in Spanish. Thank god for Wifi and Google Translate. Helped me out a bit. My doctor had a bit of English though which was good and he was so friendly. The operation went really well and I have a big metal plate in my wrist now. Afterwards I was very down. My hand was fucked. I was told I had to have the cast on for a month and take it easy for two months. My fingers and whole arm were numb for 24 hours after the operation and it looked like I wouldn't be able to do a thing. The doctor told me I definitely can't go hiking or carry bags. But even simple things like brushing my teeth or cutting up food took weeks to do. I figured there was no way I could go on and started looking up flights home. Without been able to cook or carry a bag it would be impossible to go on. Even if I could carry my bags and cook it would be impossible down south where it was a lot of hiking. But thank god the others came in that night and cheered me up. Told me they'd cook for me, carry my bags etc and they were so helpful.
I'm writing this now four weeks after the operation. Was very awkward in the beginning trying to do things with my right hand when I'm left handed. Took two weeks before I could even hold a toothbrush and then day after day I noticed been able to do more and more with the one hand. Last night I cooked for the first time and was allowed to get the hand wet for the first time. Because of that day and the help the girls and Adrian gave me I was able to go on travelling. I had been recommended not to go hiking but still managed to do that one handed as well.
One funny story from the hospital was the nurses were asking me about the scar on my nose. Had to tell them that was from another drunken accident in Thailand in which I fell over. They found this quite funny. I know some people who fall over all the time when they are drinking. You know who you are!!!!! But this never happens me usually. But after I got this email from a friend its made me remember about four times its happened and I've always injured myself somehow!! This is what it said:
Glad to see you have progressed from falling on your face. Putting your arm out to break your fall is good progress even, if it an instinct most people perfect shortly after birth!!. Next step is to try not fall at all! Now is you chance to learn how to be ambidextrous....seize it!!!!! You'll have to come home and let us sign your cast?
I checked out of the hospital on the 5th and then we headed onto Santiago. I was in a lot of pain the first few days. Any movement the wrong way would aggravate it and it was fairly swollen as well. Santiago was an amazing city. I couldn't get over how clean and modern it was. There was an amazing metro system that would put any other to shame. That was so clean. There were all sorts of barrios or neighbourhoods around. Lots of restaurants and bars and all sorts of amazing foods from every part of the world. The first night we went to a really cool tapas/sushi place and got so much to eat. Ten little tapas dishes to share and then sushi each. Was perfect for me because it meant I could eat with chopsticks and not have to cut up my food!! The first night we arrived in was a Wednesday and no matter what time of day or night the streets were packed with people eating outdoors and enjoying the city. Seems like a perfect place to live as well. Great climate. So close to the mountains for snowboarding and so close to the beaches for surfing. Even in the summer the mountains were towering over heading capped with snow. We ended up walking around for two hours the first night looking for accommodation which was so annoying. There were so many really nice hostels but so many of them were booked up. This had never happened me before. I usually just go to a place and there is availability. So we really just hung out there and relaxed for a few days enjoying the summer. Cooked some good meals and then moved onto Valdivia down south.
Valdivia is a town of German influence and its really easy to see in the food, the buildings, the beer and the faces of the people. Felt very like been in Germany. A lot of people speak German as well. Really liked the place apart from the hostel we got. We'd decided to book in advance for once which was something we never do and then the hostel turned out to be awful. Very old and musty, not very friendly and kinda felt like it was in an old haunted house that was about to collapse. I had to go to hospital here for a check up as my doctor had some friends he recommended. So we left the hostel early, did this then went walking around and for some beers so we wouldn't have to go back to our place till late. Valdivia is very much a student city on a river. Really nice university which we walked around but unfortunately all the students were gone. At this stage since the operation I was just with the two Canadian girls as Adrian and the Australians had gone south a few days ahead of us. But we planned on leaving after one day in Valdivia to meet them in Bariloche but unfortunately everything was booked up. Again never seen anything like it. Usually we just go to a bus station and get on a bus but in this case we had to spend an extra day before moving on!! So had a nice day relaxing in the sun in a much nicer and friendlier hostel than the first night before moving back to Argentina again.
