Cartagena, Colombia
The skyline of this old city is really quite impressive.
Jason at breakfast at our hostel/hotel, Isla de Manga.
Breakfast at the hotel was the same every day: two scrambled eggs with various things mixed in, toast or arepa (a fried/grilled white corn fritter), fresh fruit (papaya, pineapple, or watermelon), juice, and coffee. The fruit was awesome!
We walked clear acoss town to find tires, but the store we wanted to order them from was closed on this holiday Monday. As I crossed the street, I was hit by the bus in the background, spun to the ground and thrown back down to the curb. Here the ambulance attendant who had rinsed out my wounds is about to load me onto the gurney for the ride to the trauma center. I was hot, hurt, sweaty, bleeding, and a bit disoriented.
This is the bus that hit me. It stopped and the driver came back to me, but I was in shock and disoriented and couldn't have any conversation with anyone standing around me except Jason. Nobody spoke English.
The tire shop we'd walked to. I'd crossed the lanes you see here and was then on the median above, not realizing there was still another lane of traffic coming from my left--the bus speeding by.
Karen at the Baru Clinica, a trauma center I was taken to in the ambulance. I'm waiting for them to take me for x-rays.
No broken bones, so they prepped me for surgery to close the gashes and cuts on my arm, hand and elbow.
My backpack with my bloody fingerprints on it from me grabbing it out of the gutter after I was hit. It had my passport, credit card and money in it, and I made sure Jason kept an eye on it while I was being tended to.
I left the surgery room with my hand bandaged like this. Over 20 stitches.
My left foot/ankle were sprained but they did nothing for it. Just told me to buy ice at the grocery store on my way back to the hotel. My foot and left calf r just starting to swell up.
My whole left side took a beating.
After two days, I had to go to a rehab mecical center to get my bandages changed. This is gonna leave an ugly scar.
Two days after the accident, I finally got a nurse to wrap my foot. Jason had to take all the laces out to get my shoe back on for the ride home.
Jason finally got our van on Aug 10th, three days after I got hit. Here it is waiting for him in the port's storage lot about 40km away. We'd flown in on July 30th, expecting the ship to arrive a few days later. Delays meant we spent weeks, not days in Cartagena.
The staff at the hostel felt sorry for me and brought me a bag of fruit and candies as a get well gesture. They were very helpful and even brought our breakfast up to the room for us the next day.
A week after the bus hit, you can see the colorful bruises on my left side really starting to bloom.
My appointment notice said the government medical insurance program was responsible for payment for my treatment. Good thing, as the prices on the wall of the clinic were in the billions of COP (Colombian Pesos) for some items. Even at 4000 COP to a dollar, that's expensive and I don't know what we would've done if we had to pay for my care out of pocket.
Part of the dinner Jason bought one night. These cream horns were filled with sweet dulce du leche filling, like soft caramel. Got a good sugar buzz just before bedtime.
Stitches are out, but still a bit of a hole in the back of my hand. Dr. said to just let the wounds heal uncovered, but I couldn't do it. I had to recover them with gauze and/or bandaids.
Jason helping the tire workers get the new tire on and pick out the best of the old ones for a spare.
The entrance to our hostel/hotel Isla de Manga Hostel. Inside the white iron fencing is the breakfast seating. We had to pull the gate open to enter/exit and then go into the building to get to our room. We were very happy with our accommodations here for the weeks we stayed. They went out of their way to make sure I was comfy after the accident.
Once we got tires we were outta here! Headed up to Santa Marta for a couple of nights R&R on the beach.
