Lost time in Peru

Lima, Peru
6 - 14 August 2010

   I lost an extra week in Lima that I just realised I never mentioned here. After visiting Cuzco I returned to Lima for what was to be a 2 night stay, an opportunity to say goodbye and do some last minute shopping before taking a flight to New York. As you can see from the dates above, an extra week was added to the 2 days.
   In Lima, before and after Cuzco, I was privelged enough to be able to stay with friends in their house in Miraflores. Just 2 hours prior to my scheduled taxi pickup for the airport I returned to the house from souvenier shopping and had a terrible accident. I tripped over on concrete in the street outside the house and hit the front of my left leg. This leg had just about recovered from the bruising of the mototaxi accident in Iquitos and the same parts of the left leg were now hurting again, only it was incredibly more intensely painful this time. I couldn't stop crying. My pain was intense, I couldn't walk, an I had a flight to catch.
   My friend came home and I was still crying and still stubbornly trying to prepare myself to fly (I really wanted to leave South America). She stubbornly told me I couldn't fly, that I needed to go to hospital. She was right. I had to admit it, there was no way I could fly. In leiu of my imminent flight, I called my travel insurance company first.
   At the hospital they gave me a needle for the pain and took x-rays. The first doctor told us that I had cracked the cap of the bone, but that I would need to talk to a traumatoligist and that he was on his way. The traumatoligist didn't mention any crack (and I didn't think to ask) but just the contusion and gave me a prescription for more needles, painkiller tablets, and only to walk to go to the bathroom for 4 days. After 4
days I returned to get the all clear to fly and the traumatoligist (a different one), when I asked, said he couldn't see any crack in the x-rays, but that I had been in such pain because of where I had hit the
leg in the front. He said I could now fly, to walk but sit regularly for extended periods.
   My travel insurance organized my replacement flight, and lucky for me it was direct.
   I do want to make a comment about my wanting to leave South America. I was so disappointed that I couldn't fly that first Saturday, I had become what I didn't want to be.... Jaded. Often long term backpackers become this. So I wanted a change to a completely different place ... Somewhere that spoke English, had food I knew, had salad on the menu and safe salad, and toilet seats on toilets. My pain from the injury was intense, but I was also shedding tears because I wanted so much to go.
   My friends and hosts in Lima made my staying so much easier of course ... I don't know how I could have coped alone in a hostel.
   I am writing this 3.5 weeks later. Last night I still needed to take anti-inflamatories so it's not over yet. I guess I walked too much yesterday, and I tried swimming yesterday too. I hope that it's good in 4 weeks time, because plan A is to take tango classes in Buenas Aires.

Notes
My travel insurance is with World Nomads. They are definately worth considering if you are travelling long term, and maybe even for short term too. They have great prices and they will help on a lot of things via email... which is really useful while travelling. I just wish they had a Skype ID to call them on. They are international, not just for Aussies. www.worldnomads.com