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ECUADOR SERIES: ADVENTURES IN VILCABAMBA 3

ECUADOR SERIES: ADVENTURES IN VILCABAMBA 3

December 2018 · 8 min read

This post won't make much sense to you unless you read how this adventure started. Here are the links to my previous posts where I described this adventure: part 1and part 2.

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The doctor stated that my partner was stable at that time and only in following morning we would know for sure if the surgery was needed or not. It was up to the chief surgeon to decide it. Until then, she was keeping him in the hospital under close observation.

Talking more with her I learnt that the hospital was equipped with CT scan, ultrasound and a surgery room. Not bad for a small village like Vilcabamba!

She looked at me and asked me if I had anything to eat so far that day. I hadn't, I totally forgot about it. She took my hand and told me to go have lunch; she would keep an eye on my buddy. She smiled while whispering, there was no need for me to faint again.

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View of the Central Square in Vilcabamba

I took her advice and left for lunch. As soon as I came out of the hospital a strong sun light greeted me. The sky was blue, with very few clouds and the sun was shinning brightly. A warm wind was sweeping lightly the dusty road I took towards the centre, where the restaurants were.

It looked like a perfect day in the mountains. Then something clicked. It was the word perfect. Nothing good happens in a perfect day; I know this from my own experience. Then I tried to rephrased my thought. Instead of a perfect day, I could have said warm sunny day, just to give myself a faux peace of mind while I started to mumble I am not superstitious, by Europe, a Swedish band I used to like.

I entered three restaurants, looked at their almuerzo del dia and decided I was not able to eat a big meal, due to my nausea. I settled for three corn buns and two bananas for the moment. Maybe for dinner I would be feeling better and be able to eat more.

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I walked to the hostal, took a short shower and hurried back to the hospital. I was back in less than ninety minutes. My buddy was still sleeping but his figure was more relaxed. His blood work results came and it showed his appendix was irritated, his liver enzymes were elevated and his white cells count was not too high above the normal range. Two hours later he woke up and said his pain was still there but slowly decreasing its intensity.

I spent the night in the hospital with him and his roommate, a funny Colombian who had injured his leg in a crazy bike stunt. The nurses and the doctor checked up on them both each three-four hours, giving them their medication, changing their glucose bags.

The following morning, they have been seen by the entire medical staff: the ER doctor from the previous day, who worked for twenty-six hours, four or five nurses, the internist, the surgeon, the chief of the hospital, the general physician and couple of resident students. One of the nurses took blood from him again and one hour later she gave me the good news that the results were much better.

He had to be better because he looked better, seemed to have more energy, talked more, joked around with the nurses, and he was smiling. He was actually impatient to be released from the hospital.


View of the Central Square in Vilcabamba

After the second medical check up visit during the day, the doctors agreed to discharge him, only after they had prescribed him antibiotics for another five days, and advised him to watch his diet and never eat food sold on the street.

In the end, before taking off, I addressed to the doctor in charge of his case the following question: Doctor, how much do we owe you? Or how much do we owe the hospital?.

He seemed not to understand my question although my Spanish was quite eloquent. He was confused. I asked him where should I pay for all the care they have provided. He looked at me and smiled while telling me: You owe us nothing. You don't have to pay anything, Mrs.!

I explained to him that we were not Ecuadorian residents, therefore we could not benefit for the CAJA services for free. He disagreed insisting there was nothing to be paid for. He wished us lots of health and a safe flight back home and hurried to the next room patients. Two minutes later he returned to remind me to take the prescriptions for my buddy from the hospital's pharmacy.


View of the Central Square in Vilcabamba

I headed to the pharmacy and handed the prescriptions to the pharmacist, waited for him to prepare the drugs and took my wallet out, being ready to pay. The pharmacist saw me and started to laugh. Him too, said I do not need to pay.

It was my turn to be confuse. What was wrong with these people? You didn't need to pay for medicine?. He gave me four of the five medicines I needed, apologizing he did not have the fifth one, but letting me know that it was available in the pharmacy across the street.

I thanked him and went to the pharmacy where I bought the missing drug for no more than $2.50 USD. Where on Earth do you buy antibiotics for five days with these money? And as a foreigner, where do you get such a good treatment on ER, and you do not pay anything? For sure not in QUEBEC! Not in North America as well!

I returned to the hospital where my buddy was ready and waiting to leave. With a serious face I asked him to take a guess on how much we had to spend for the hospital and the medicines he was supposed to take the next days. His lowest guess was close to $ 2,000.00 USD. He could not believe the real figure: was $2.50 USD.

We thanked all the medical staff we met on our way out, and headed towards the exit door. We still had the feeling that someone would stop us or would scream at us: Hey! You did not pay! Stop! We were stunned. All we could say after couple of minutes was:

KUDOS TO ECUADOR!

Thank you for coming along!


Here are other travel related posts:

ECUADOR SERIES: ADVENTURES IN VILCABAMBA 2

ECUADOR SERIES: ADVENTURES IN VILCABAMBA 1

ECUADOR SERIES: DRIVING ON THE AVENUE OF VOLCANOES

ECUADOR SERIES: QUITO’S OLD TOWN

ECUADOR SERIES: MITAD DEL MUNDO + CABLE CAR RIDE IN QUITO

ECUADOR SERIES: ECUADORIAN WOMEN AND CULTURAL IDENTITY

ECUADOR SERIES: OTAVALO, THE ARTISAN MARKET MECCA

ECUADOR SERIES: COTACACHI, THE CITY BETWEN TWO VOLCANOS

ECUADOR SERIES - DUE DILIGENCE TRIP

ECUADOR SERIES: TIPS FOR TRAVELLING TO ECUADOR

PANAMA SERIES: FROM BOQUETE TO VOLCAN

PANAMA SERIES: HACIENDA LOS MOLINOS

PLACE DES ARTS, MONTREAL

OTTAWA DAY TRIP

PANAMA SERIES: PANAMA CITY’S SKYLINE AT NIGHT

PANAMA SERIES: THE GRINGO PRICE

PANAMA SERIES: STREET ART

PANAMA SERIES: TEN FACTS OR MORE ABOUT BOQUETE, PANAMA

PANAMA SERIES: BOQUETE’S FLOWERS AND COFFEE FESTIVAL

PANAMA SERIES: VISITING DAMARLI ESTATE IN BOQUETE

PANAMA SERIES: CARIBBEAN PARADISE - BOCAS DEL TORO

HIKING IN MONT-ROYAL PARK, MONTREAL

ZUMMER FUN BUS RIDE IN CONSTANTA, ROMANIA

F-MR STATION IN MONTREAL

THE STONEHENGE OF ROMANIA: SARMIZEGETUSA REGIA

LAURENTIANS MOUNTAINS: COTTAGE TRIP AT LAKE CACHÉE

OTTAWA LIGHTS SHOW ON PARLIAMENT BUILDINGS

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TRIP TO CALGARY, ALBERTA

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DOLPHINARIUM 2, CONSTANTA, ROMANIA

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BAHIA DE PAQUERA, NICOYA GULF, COSTA RICA

EXPLORING AMSTERDAM, NETHERLANDS

MACKINAC BRIDGE, MICHIGAN, USA

CHASED BY TORNADOS IN MINNESOTA

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BANFF, A RESORT TOWN INSIDE THE BANFF NATIONAL PARK, ALBERTA, CANADA

OLD PORT OF CONSTANTA, ROMANIA

ENISALA FORTRESS, ROMANIA

MORAINE LAKE, A SURREAL BEAUTY IN ALBERTA, CANADA

TIPS ON HOW TO MAKE A LIVING WHILE TRAVELLING THE WORLD

FEELING UNINSPIRED? VISIT A WELSH RETREAT: GLADSTONE’S RESIDENTIAL LIBRARY

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TURDA’S 400 FEET UNDERGROUND AMUSEMENT PARK, A HIDDEN GEM OF TRANSYLVANIA, ROMANIA

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Don't Forget: Get Travel Health Insurance!

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Unless stated otherwise, all photos used in this posts are taken and owned by myself. If you wish to use any of my images, please contact me!

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoyed it! Please leave your feedback in the comments, I would love to hear your thoughts!

@2018 LaviPicu aka The Lyme Poet. All rights reserved.

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