Josh is sleeping so I thought I'd take advantage of the time and write a quick update.
On Tuesday, we took a trip to the hospital to see what the Argentinean healthcare system is like. I've had a kidney infection of sorts for about 10 days but kept ignoring it (very sensible) until it was actually giving me backpain, and Josh insisted we see a doctor as my method of 'pretend it's not there and drink lots of water' was pretty ineffective. Healthcare is free for all in Argentina, whether you are a citizen or just a visitor, but they don't take appointments, so you just show up at the hospital and it's a first come first served system.
The nearest hospital was only a ten minute walk from our hostal in Rosario, so we headed over early Tuesday morn. Josh spoke to the guy on reception and we were directed to the clinic for non-emergency patients, only to find there had been a 'fault' (their word) and there were no doctors there. All day. Yep, no doctors at the doctors surgery! They told us to come back the next day, but I was feeling pretty crappy by this point so we went to another hospital a bit further away.
We only had to wait about 20 minutes, which is really good for a walk-in clinic, and the doctor was really excited to practise her English. I was poked and prodded and asked questions, and then she gave me the sacred prescription for antibiotics! I was very excited by this point as I felt awful. We walked over to the pharmacy and handed over the prescription.
You know how normally when you go to get a prescription, they take about 5-10 mins to prepare it etc? Not in Argentina apparently! The woman at the front desk literally just reached under her table, pulled out the antibiotics and handed them over, not even in a box or bag! Feeling much better already, have to take them for a week though to be sure.
Last night (Wednesday) we left our wonderful hostel in Rosario to head to Uruguay. The bus to Montevideo was 10 hours, but we had the semi-cama seats again so we were expecting to just sleep most of the night.
That was the plan anyway.
It was freezing. Not chilly, not cold, but freezing. I sat there shivering uncontrollably and feeling pretty miserable, until we got to the border at about 5am. We got off the bus and asked the driver to turn the temperature up, which he did, but just by 1 degree. I hadn't managed to sleep at all at this point, and josh had only managed a few hours, so we had to beg to be allowed access to our bags in the hold, so we could get towels out to use as blankets. The woman who was the equivalent of an air hostess had a go at Josh for holding up the journey! He was like, it's freezing upstairs, I don't care how long it takes, I need a hoody!
We were allowed to our bags, and I got some socks and a towel to cover me, and thankfully managed to get an hour or two of sleep before we arrived in Montevideo, but it was a really miserable journey overall. I'd worn jeans and a hoody cos I was expecting it to be cool, but this took the A.C. to a new level!
We're now staying in a little apartment in Montevideo until Monday, then we might go to the beach resorts, or to another city. Who knows! It's lovely and sunny, about 28 degrees (which is 84 fahrenheit I think) so we''ll probably go for a walk along the beach this afternoon! Such a hard life :)
No comments:
Post a Comment