Chica Rota, No More

I am free! Free of my cement arm.

The trip to the hospital on Wednesday was mostly uneventful. I was accompanied again by Matias, the activities guy, who was supposed to stay with me and help translate and make me feel less terrified. Matias, however, always has somewhere better to be, so he dumped me at the hospital, saying he´d be "right back...you´re going to have to wait at least an hour..." Of course, ten minutes after he left, I was called in, face to face with el medico, who speaks no English.

I should go ahead and give myself a pat on the back for getting through this confrontation with the doctor by myself. My Spanish is far from perfect, but I do now know that it is functional. I cannot understand everything, but I can get the gist, and the doctor and I were able to communicate, more or less, just fine. And that was the whole point of these classes! Bien!

The whole thing was very informal. The doctor plopped my arm down on his desk, then walked over to his big black bag of scary doctor things and pulled out this enormous pair of scissors, basically. It was a cross between a wrench and a pair of scissors, and it did not look very nice. I was expecting one of those rotating blades. Something electrical. But oh, that´s right, I am in Argentina. Scary, big scissors for me. He then went about just scissoring through my cast, one big bite at a time. Seemed like it took quite a bit of physical effort on his part, so at least I know where my $15 went.

(On the subject of things not electrical, I went bowling last night - just to watch and socialize - and at the end of each lane, behind the pins, was an employee, whose job was to wait until the ball had rolled down to him and then to set the pins back up, one by one, and send the ball back down the lane! Incredible. There was like a big mat behind the pins, serving as a buffer for the bowling balls, protecting the pin-setter-upper. I wonder how much that guy makes per hour.)

When my arm was finally set free, I tried bending, moving, stretching, and my initial thought was, "Ohhhhh no." It hurt. And quite a lot. In very much the same way that it hurt when it went into the cast. The doctor told me it was normal to have pain and some swelling, but I was feeling very skeptical, as it did not just feel stiff. It hurt.

The doctor also told me that I needed 10 sessions of physical therapy and that I needed to stay in Bariloche for 15 days more. WHAT? I said. WHAT?!

Of course, the bright side is that I am a free agent, and I don´t have to listen to the doctor if I don´t want to. And in this case, I don´t want to. I am not paying for 10 sessions of someone telling me to move my arm up and down and around, and I am not staying in Bariloche for 2 more weeks. Lo siento! I have been abnormally patient with all of this roto brazo business, but it´s time to hit the road (not with my arm, of course).

Before anyone (father, mother) gets worried, I should say that after much fretting, I woke up yesterday with much less pain in my arm, and less again this morning. I think it´s just a matter of working the kinks out. My arm has been stuck in a 90 degree angle for two weeks, so I shouldn´t expect it to want to do much for a few days. So I am listening to my inner voice on this one and not to the doctor. Let´s just hope my inner voice is not just speaking out of frustration and stubborness (though I know that it is). In all seriousness, there are doctors all over Argentina, so it just doesn´t seem necessary to stay here.

So. I am going to take it easy on the arm. Not do any heavy lifting or anything. But I am heading on down the road.


Tomorrow morning, I am going on a three day trek with a few friends to Mount Tronador, which is an old volcano about 50 miles west of here, close to the border of Chile. We take a short bus tomorrow to Pampa Linda, and then have about four hours worth of hiking tomorrow, up to Refugio Otto Meiling, where we will spend the night. Then Sunday morning, we have about 7 hours of hiking to Mount Tronador, where we will camp out. Monday, afternoon, we come back to Bariloche, via a combination of boat and bus. I will then have Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday to do whatever else I want to do in and around Bariloche, before heading off to Chalten on Friday.

Today was my last day of classes. I actually ended up having to switch classes mid-week because my first class was a bit miserable. I had been stuck in the only afternoon class because there were 8 of us to be in 2A, and there´s a limit of 6 people per class. The mornings are far more desirable, but since me and my arm couldn´t really do anything with our afternoons anyway, I guess the school staff thought it would be easiest for me to make the sacrifice. So we were divided, 6 in the morning and 2 in the afternoon. Not exactly even.

Normally, being in a class with just one other person would be great, because you get so much more attention from the teacher and so much more practice speaking. But I was stuck with my friend Eric, who, well, is quite the defeatist when it comes to Spanish. Perhaps he is a defeatist about all things, I don´t know. But he was MISERABLE to be in class with. He a) puts forth no effort b) slumps in his chair c) mumbles things under his breath d) speaks in English at all times or e) when attempting Spanish sounds completely like a gringo - no attempt at an accent whatsoever. Our teacher didn´t speak English, but he kept speaking English to her like an idiot. Ugh. It made me so mad! Try! No one is forcing you to be here.

Anyway, luckily, it was obvious to the teachers that Eric and I were not at the same level, and there was a girl in the morning class who was far behind the others, so we made a nice little switch, and the rest of the week was great.

It has been raining here today - actually the first time since I have been here that it´s rained during the day. Two thunderstorms at night, but otherwise, blue skies. Anyway, feels like a perfect opportunity for a long siesta! We are having a party tonight at a profesor´s house, so I need to rest up! Have a great weekend, everyone. Will be back on Monday or Tuesday to tell you about Mount Tronador!