Merida

So Merida didn’t quite turn out as planned. Yesterday Peter had twisted his knee on some steps which caused obvious pain. During the night his leg was causing a lot of discomfort and by morning had swollen up.

As we have insurance included in our walk package we duly followed the instructions for medical assistance. First stumbling block. The person we spoke to seemed unable to locate the policy or any of our details and basically told us to go away. Next up we tried a call to the customer services line of our walk organiser. 2nd fail - long recorded message in Spanish. We then resorted to a long email asking for help. We waited, and waited. At this point we basically said sod it. Booked a return flight home for Wednesday, then a train to Seville for Tuesday plus hotel and taxi for the airport.

Peter popped some painkillers and with his leg strapped up and his walking poles we slowly ventured out.

We managed to take in some of the main sites, resting when necessary. We finally got a call from the tour organiser around 4pm (by which time I had already emailed to say we were going home). She commiserated with us and said she would get the insurance company to call us, and she would cancel all forward accommodations. About 20 minute later I got a call from the insurance company. They basically said that we needed to get Peter seen at the hospital and get a report before they could agree to paying out any repatriation fees. To be honest we were going to bear the costs ourselves, but then what’s the point of insurance if you don’t use it. Reluctantly we got a taxi for the hospital, dreading the outcome of trying to negotiate in a language not your own. Anyhow, as it turned out the experience wasn’t too bad. The check in lady spoke a small bit of English and only required our passport, healthcard and address details. We then went to the waiting room, it was busy. Suddenly a gentleman came over and said in English I believe they are calling you! He then offered to help us during the triage process and told us where to go next. We then saw a Dr and with a combination of gestures and Google translate we understood we had to go for x rays. Those done, we were sent back to the waiting room, then shortly back with the Dr. Nothing broken, severe sprain of the knee, strapped from thigh to ankle, anti inflammatory drugs and paracetamol prescribed. No more walking. Written report issued for insurance purposes.

There you have it. Our Via is done. We will return home to the UK for nowRead more