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| a Big Thank you to Carlos, Sally and Jago |
With B in hospital, waiting to be
discharged, and the 2nd love of his life locked in a police station,
Valentine’s day wasn’t holding much promise for a happy ending. And then three
English speaking hospital staff appeared. It had been a holiday weekend and now
they were back. Now we realise why the Ruta 40 was so busy. Two doctors and the nutritionist were there
to attend to our every need, including finding a tow-truck to fetch the baggage
and bike which are 135kms away. We receive a message that the tow truck is on
its way in 30mins to the very destination we need.
I scramble into smelly bike
gear, grab ID documents for me and the bike, a couple of apples, a cooldrink
and my gift cake. The weather forecast shows a red thermometer, warning of
exceptional heat today. The towtruck is driven by Marcus.
nd hospital, Buta Ranquil. It is
hot, hot, hot. In fact so hot that one of the tyres on the trailer threw its
tread. I’m learning fast how to be an apprentice and handed Marcus all the
tools from the back of his pick-up so that he could remove the wheel. Luckily
this trailer had a double wheel system . We drove into the Auto stop just
outside Buta Ranquil on 3 wheels. While this was getting repaired I walked to
the hospital with a weird impression I’m in a Clint Eastwood movie. No shade,
just a cocacola, marching in full bike gear, no helmet, and this apparition
steps in from the heat into the empty hospital foyer. Drumroll. The doctor who
had attended B was not on duty. It was very difficult to explain “that on
Monday we had been treated there and I had returned to say thank and that my
husband was OK. The three ladies sitting around the Coffee table kept telling
me it was Wednesday everytime I said the ‘Lunes’ for Monday. In the end I gave
up, big smile, many Gracias and trudged back to Marcus and his 4-wheeled trailer.
Marcus couldn’t find the house where the Peugot 205 was and this was when I
discovered the reason for his closed window. At every passing person, he
stopped, opened his door and yelled out “ hola, etc etc in Spanish,where is
bla,bla,bla”. That door got opened and shut a good many times before we found
the broken down car, which was tucked out of sight behind the garage under some
trees. Lucky I had my dungarees and boots on, posing as an apprentice, as it
needed both of us to push and pull and steer this car out onto the road to get
the winch attached and hauled upon to the platform. The back of the pick-up is
full of bike gear, the bike loaded and car loaded and its time to go back to
Chos Malal. We arrive at 9pm, a good day’s work ! One of the English speaking
doctors (US/Argentinian) has kindly offered us a room in their house to rest
and recover. His wife is a GP and when they came off duty they took B with
them. The drive back was uneventful, except for the rabbit skin I saw drying on
the Armco barrier. It’s desolate out here! Marcus and his mates offloaded the
car, and then we arrived at the lovely cool house of Eduardo and Milka where the
bike was unwinched, covered and locked. With our dirty, dusty baggage scattered
all over their lawn, we settled in for a super supper and lots of stories about
Argentina and Africa. B, me and the bike are all together in the loving home of
Eduardo and Milka, who are expecting baby no 1 in 4months. Our Valentine’s Day
ended happily after all.
We drive back down
the road, daytime, that we had travelled by ambulance, at night, 3 days ago.
 |
| driving into the late evening sun |
I scramble into smelly bike
gear, grab ID documents for me and the bike, a couple of apples, a cooldrink
and my gift cake. The weather forecast shows a red thermometer, warning of
exceptional heat today. The towtruck is driven by Marcus. nd hospital, Buta Ranquil. It is
hot, hot, hot. In fact so hot that one of the tyres on the trailer threw its
tread. I’m learning fast how to be an apprentice and handed Marcus all the
tools from the back of his pick-up so that he could remove the wheel. Luckily
this trailer had a double wheel system . We drove into the Auto stop just
outside Buta Ranquil on 3 wheels. While this was getting repaired I walked to
the hospital with a weird impression I’m in a Clint Eastwood movie. No shade,
just a cocacola, marching in full bike gear, no helmet, and this apparition
steps in from the heat into the empty hospital foyer. Drumroll. The doctor who
had attended B was not on duty. It was very difficult to explain “that on
Monday we had been treated there and I had returned to say thank and that my
husband was OK. The three ladies sitting around the Coffee table kept telling
me it was Wednesday everytime I said the ‘Lunes’ for Monday. In the end I gave
up, big smile, many Gracias and trudged back to Marcus and his 4-wheeled trailer.
Marcus couldn’t find the house where the Peugot 205 was and this was when I
discovered the reason for his closed window. At every passing person, he
stopped, opened his door and yelled out “ hola, etc etc in Spanish,where is
bla,bla,bla”. That door got opened and shut a good many times before we found
the broken down car, which was tucked out of sight behind the garage under some
trees. Lucky I had my dungarees and boots on, posing as an apprentice, as it
needed both of us to push and pull and steer this car out onto the road to get
the winch attached and hauled upon to the platform. The back of the pick-up is
full of bike gear, the bike loaded and car loaded and its time to go back to
Chos Malal. We arrive at 9pm, a good day’s work ! One of the English speaking
doctors (US/Argentinian) has kindly offered us a room in their house to rest
and recover. His wife is a GP and when they came off duty they took B with
them. The drive back was uneventful, except for the rabbit skin I saw drying on
the Armco barrier. It’s desolate out here! Marcus and his mates offloaded the
car, and then we arrived at the lovely cool house of Eduardo and Milka where the
bike was unwinched, covered and locked. With our dirty, dusty baggage scattered
all over their lawn, we settled in for a super supper and lots of stories about
Argentina and Africa. B, me and the bike are all together in the loving home of
Eduardo and Milka, who are expecting baby no 1 in 4months. Our Valentine’s Day
ended happily after all.
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