Guatemala and Disaster

Disaster

The Day started very good with a big breakfast in San Cristobal and then on to the Guatemalan border . We had wanted to be at the border by 9am , by the time we buggered around it was not until about 1pm that we arrived . Well it was like stepping back in time and entering a Medieval Village , it started about 1km before that border and went for about 2km after . There were people every where all just doing business on the side of the road and only leaving enough room for 1 vehicle to pass through at a time .

The border was very easy and we had no trouble at all (after all the stories you tend to hear , it some times makes you wonder if they are just that stories ).

With the bikes all cleared, off we go heading to Quetzaltenango , it would be very hard to get lost as there is only one road out of town and the border . All was good and them it all turned to shit and a new unexpected adventure .

About 20kms from the border I got side swiped by a pickup and went down , not that hard but somehow I landed wrong on my Left Leg so the new Adventure begins

After about 5 mins on the ground and about 30 people all looking at me and wondering what planet I came from, Damon and Jaime got me into a taxi and off to the local clinic for an X Ray .

Well I think that the Xray machine was the first one ever built and took ages to do its job . With that done and about 20 Mosquito Bits (as the clinic was full of Mosies) the doctor arrives and says that my knee is only dislocated and that I should get to the next Town( Huehueitenango) 1 hr away to have it put back in . When the taxi driver heard that my knee was only dislocated he says his brother can put that back in , we quietly refuse .

An ambulance is called and it was not quite what you would expect , it was a Toyota Station Wagon (I would say about 20yrs old ) and they put me in the back with all my gear and strapped me down with car tiedowns onto a mattress , then off we go flatout on a very windie road Huehueitenango .

On the way my thoughts are of a nice hospital and no Mossies (wrong) . We arrive and they backed me in and get me into bed in my cell with a steel door with a string to open it . Then it is to the Xray Room (cockroach's and mosies everywhere) well this is no2 Xray machine that was ever built, with this done the doctor comes and tells us it is badly broken. Also that I need surgery and that no worry he can do it tonight , because it needs to be done within 24hrs to stop any complications . Again we quietly refuse without trying to offend the guy because the last thing we want was for him to through us out in the nite . We had no cell phone coverage or Enet and me with a broke leg that needs to operated on within the next 24hrs . Lucky for me Jaime was on the job and found a girl with a Cell Phone that worked and borrowed it from her .

He then arranged a plane for the morning to fly me to Guatemala and Hospital , we all spent the night in the cell block (lucky I had a can of fly spray) and were up early to go . Jaime checked the plane in the morning and with that arranged another one to come earlier and a $1000us cheaper to pick me up a 7am ( it cost $1500us to fly me out .

We had by now been in touch with the Travel Insurance Company and they were doing all they could to help .

Jaime and Damon had to leave early because it was an 8 hrs ride to Guatemala City , so I was left in my cell to wait for the plane and it was pretty scary . The plane was 3 hrs late due to weather , I was in a panic thinking shit the plane is not coming , Jaime and Damon are going to be 8 hrs away and to top that, I have a Doctor who wants to have a go at my leg in his garden shed and shit nobody speaks English . But all was good and the plane arrived and I was airlifted out ,and arrived in Guatemala about 1hr later , into a beautiful Hospital (what a relief ) . I had the operation that night (it took 4hrs, including a bone graft to my knee).

The guys stayed and helped for a week and arranged to get the bike shipped to the Hospital, then they were on there way , Damon and Jaime were fantastic and I wonder where I would be without them. They fussed around me like a couple of old women (and I loved it )

In the mean time through Horizons Unlimited (a biker web site) I got in touch with Julio Hartmann , he has been fantastic and has arranged every thing about the bike . He has arranged for it to be sold rather then sending it home (it was just to expensive to send home ) . He has been in touch every day and has taken me out to his house for dinner with his family and a day trip to Antigua and tomorrow we are off for breakfast somewhere .How is that for hospitality !!

I am so very lucky to have meet so many nice people on this trip . Especially people like Julio ,Damon, Jaime who even though I have only known them for such a short time , they really put in the time to help me and it very much appreciated . I really feel that I have made alot of new friends for life on this trip .

I have been in Hospital now for about 2 1/2 weeks and have been treated like a king and have been lapping it up .

Wednesday the 3rd I fly back to NZ and to Ruth and the family and I can't wait it will fantastic.

THE NEW ADVENTURE

This is not the end only an interlude , I often think that maybe in am luck to have broken my leg , because if I had not, I would not have meet all the fantastic people in Guatemala.

I will be back next year to finish the trip , if I didn't it would leave a big whole in my life . To have planned the trip for so long and not to finish it, would just not be right .

So thank you very much to all those people who I have meet on the way and all those people that have followed my blog and to all those that have helped along the way with there kindness .

I will be in touch

I THANK YOU VERY VERY MUCH

I will update the blog as to my progress with my new adventure, every month or so .

Photos

1. 2 .3 Me a village and Damon and Jaime on the way back from Palneque

4 . 5 The Border Mexico / Guatemala

6. Me being air lifted to Guatemala City and Hospital