From Anchorage to Ushuaia by Bike

We were supposed to leave yesterday to start tackling the 4800 m mountain, and we had postponed our departure until today.

But then, this morning when I got up, I was not feeling well at all. I felt feverish and had the chills, and also had a sore throat – worse than the little cold that we had been battling earlier and that we were treating with aspirin. So we decided to go to the doctor – but we didn’t know where. The French Consulate website for Peru suggested two or three places, and we ended up at the Anglo-American clinic in the Miraflores Quarter, thinking that at least if they needed to order extra tests, it wouldn’t be far to go.

When we arrived, the receptionist told us that the first available appointment wasn’t until 6pm that night. She recommended that we go to the emergency room if we wanted to be seen earlier. There, they set me up in an examination room. Sébastien came with me and translated a few sentences here and there when I had trouble understanding the doctor. The GP came in with a med student, and after a quick consultation, the verdict was throat infection. But we’d already figured that out!

After they left, a nurse came in to check my blood pressure and take my temperature. No fever apparently, although I had been sweating buckets earlier and now I was freezing. A third doctor arrived to get us to fill out an anonymous questionnaire about where we were going and what we were doing. He was impressed by our trip! Then the first doctor came back and gave me a prescription for antibiotics. We went back to the reception to pay: 215 soles (US $72) for the consultation and another 30 soles (US$10) as a “location fee.” We made a face, thinking (fondly) of the $30 (22€) all-!!include!!d doctor’s fee in France.

We decided to get the prescription filled somewhere else, so as not to be overcharged. We paid 70 soles ($24) for three tablets (one per day), and that didn’t !!include!! the cough syrup or the pain killers. We thought (again, fondly) of how social security in France usually covers the costs of prescriptions up front.

I guess the French system really isn’t so bad, huh?

PS. DON’T WORRY! I will be back on my bike again soon. I was “lucky” to get sick in Lima where health care and access to medication was relatively easy to find and where our hostel is clean, warm and dry. So we’ve pushed back our departure until Sunday morning, when it’s quieter in Lima. We arrived last Sunday, and since the traffic was so light and the drivers so relaxed, we joked about how nice it would be to leave again on a Sunday!

Sara