Wheres Punky & Lew now?
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Date: Tue Dec 4, 2001 3:29 pm
Subject: Punky & Lew in Quito, Ecuador
Hi everyone: Sorry for the lapse in reports. I think most of you know from Mariola's report that we went down in slippery gravel/mud on a curve on the Pan Am Highway in Colombia. This was after sighting a burned bus, the result of guerrila activity. After going down, I opted to continue riding a number of hours to reach the border with Ecuador and stop in Tulcan. While doing so we came to a huge blockage in the Pan Am. A huge number of trucks were stalled with flat tires, courtesy of the guerrilas. We managed to worm our way around and in between the trucks and hundreds of people and police in about an hour. Mariola had been riding ahead of us and was informed by a driver to turn back. Mariola was a big help to me after the injury and helped in many ways. She has continued on south to meet her husband in Cuzco, Peru. She should have already done so on Dec. 1. X-rays in Tulcan showed the outside bone of my right ankle to be shattered in 4 pieces. A titanium plate would have to be screwed on to hold things together. It's been longer than I care to admit since I've been screwed, but if I had my druthers ....? I opted for a second opinion and flew to Quito (only 1/2 hour away), where the hospital and Dr.s, I figured, were better and I'm glad I did. I had my surgery on Saturday, Nov. 24 and was released from Vozandes Hospital, a missionary hospital in Quito, the following day. I had a epidural anesthesia, which deadened the lower half of my body. Didn't feel a thing and talked to the anesthesiologist throughout the operation. I told the surgeon, before he started operating that a nurse ordered me to remove my undershorts prior to being moved to the OR. I asked the surgeon if everybody was sure about which part of my anotomy they were operating on? I told him, "If you do operate on my penis, please make it bigger and stronger." The surgery was performed by a Traumatologist, Yale graduate, who was then trained in Switzerland fixing skiers broken bones. He consulted with a orthopedic surgeon about my injury. The post-operative x-rays indicated a successful surgery. Punky was cared for by an Evangelist for 4 days, while I was hospitalized. They allowed Punky to stay with me in the emergency room for 5 hours, but refused to let him stay in the private room with me, despite all my pleas and tricks. I am recovering and being well cared for in the home of Christian Evangelists, an Ecuadoran attorney, Eduardo, and his wife Angelita. $14/day in a private room w/bath, including 3 meals a day and waiting on me and Punky. I expect to be laid up for 30 days, at least, which will make being at Ushuaia for Christmas impossible. The main concern now is to be there before the Patagonian summer ends. I'm feeling well under the circumstances and am going to get the stitches out tomorrow. The hospital is an excellent modern equipped facility. The bill, so far, is at $1k, a fraction of what it would have cost in the U.S. Punky was not injured in the mishap. We have another new friend in the person of Ricardo Rocco Paz, of Quito and a regular on horizonsunlimited.com. He offers assistance to international adventure tourers coming through his area. Ricardo flew from Quito to Tulcan and retrieved Critter, which had been left in the care of a taxi driver in his house, for me and rendered numerous other helpful and friendly services. Critter, which has no damage worth mentioning, is now safely parked inside missionary Joe Baxter's print shop in Quito, only a block away from where I am staying. Joe and his wife Ruth have been a big help to us. It's their laptop computer, which Joe brought me today, I am using to send this E-mail. Ricardo has visited me many times and brought things I needed. Ricardo has invited me to ride with him in his car to his home in Santo Domingo, Ecuador, Thursday. He owns a lover,s motel there. Tiberio Jaramillo, of Cali, Colombia, and a regular on horizonsunlimited.com, was also very friendly and helpful to us in Colombia and helped put me in contact with Ricardo in Quito. All things considered, our luck is still holding out pretty good. I am trying to figure out if I can afford to go across the Andes to Ecuador's Oriente Province, where we can see some real Amazon Jungle Indians and culture. The Galapagos Islands, 600 miles offshore, would be a nice trip to, but that is about $1k and out of the question. We are on the Equator, but Quito is at about 9,300 ft. and pretty cool. Can't wait to see how cool it is in La Paz, Bolivia, at about 14,000 ft. Thanks to my best friend, Robyn, for her help and support, as well as Mark Wilson's concern and offer of assistance. Enough for now. I still need to read recent E-mails.
All is well -- almost.
Later.
Punky & Lew
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