Well a few a days ago I got AC!!! I am also  officially alone with no translation help as Jorge has returned to Argentina. So Friday morning I waited outside for the AC  installers as my buzzer still doesn’t work. . No truck pulled up, just two men a  box and some rolls of wires on a dolly walking up the street. They stopped, stared up at my 2nd floor, and decided something. I waved at them as well it was obvious it was them…they spoke no English. So.. they were able to understand “put it here” in sign language to direct them where to  place on the wall. I then watched the  young man and an the older one lean out my window and somehow place a big box compressor on two metal shelf like brackets outside two stories up afterr they drilled through the wall and brick. One hung out my kitchen window, the other my living room. I prayed they would not drop it on the Brits below at the tavern,  but good thing it was 10 am not 11 when festivities begin, so early enough not to kill anyone. They got it all done in two hours…. Whoopee!!!!!  Now it’s like  walk-in freezer from Braums in my living room. It does cool part of the hallway from the living room, but not all the way to  my bedroom or kitchen. I’m still entertaining the idea of moving one of the single beds into my living room in the near future. But Ill take what I can get.

I had Thursday and Friday off as of some holiday here, so canons and fireworks keep going off with church bells intermittently out my window conveniently keeping me up all night. But at least I’m no longer sweating. And the Brits are happily drinking away two flights down. So anyway, I felt a little sick Thursday with a sore throat…. It went away kind of on Friday. So after doing some shopping,  at 7 pm I went downstairs to say hello to the Brits whilst I waited for Glen another language assistant from Madrid. He’s from Canada and a retired engineer. He has gone to a few countries teaching English, but his wife has no interest and stays home in Canada while he visits other countries. I told him he could borrow a bed at my place on his way to sightseeing the country. He took me up on it.

So I went to sit with Brits, that all sit outside every night, I figured can’t beat em, join em….so  I grabbed a chair, which was plastic and somehow I sat crooked, lost my balance, and fell right  on my ass in front of god and all the Brits. I jumped up and said I haven’t had my first drink, so I’m glad it’s out of the way now! One of the Brits a retired nurse named Sue came up and hugged my neck and said my performance was brilliant. Then promptly ordered me a drink on the house. Ok then I guess I’m in like Flynn.I also got to know the owner and her husband who have family here and have lived here for last 2 years.. super nice people. Linda offered to let me use her bar as a delivery drop off for anything as needed. That was cool.
Glenn arrived that evening and we went for a drive to find dinner. It was 10 pm but no problem as everyone eats that late here… We stopped at one roadside place “pipos” that turned out to be for certain patrons only, according to the girl out front…. let your imagination wander…The next place was in a another small town. We found a restaurant/tavern with tables out front and plastch chairs and a sign: “braserías” on the front. Well that’ means meat according to Glenn a die hard meat eater. We got a table and glen with his wild overgrown grey hair that looks like Einstein’s brother, attracted everyone’s attention. The waiter came and offered up a menu by pen and pencil, verbal only. With Glenn’s broken Spanish we ordered costillas (ribs) patatas fritas (fries) and calamari. The waiter was so happy to talk to us, turns, out he is a math teacher, waiter and something else. The food was fabulous. The ribs were tiny, delicately grilled lamb chops, over fries with dollops of sauce scattered about, all served on a black slate.   Like something out of a 5 star place in NYC… We were stunned at the presentation from this  restaurant in the middle of no where in Spain..with youngsters hanging at the next table having beers… The moral of the story: you can’t trust anything by it’s cover here. 3 beers, calamari and a huge slate of lamb ribs was a whole €30. Take that to the bank. And we made friends with a math teacher / waiter to boot. So the next day; Saturday we drove to several gorgeous towns, one with a castle… Ended the day in Benidorm a very big city where we found the boardwalk with 100s of people , which btw, you can drive on, ppl just move out of your way.

So Sunday here I am feeling sicker by the minute. Monday morning I was coughing up flem so I called in to the school. I could see it now; language aux brings covid to school and she’s a nurse! No way am I gonna be accused of that. Anyway. I went online and found an English doctor near me and via chat they gave me an appt today at 4:30 pm. I’m wondering about the cost as I still have not received proof of private insurance here yet as we are to have it as of October 1st… however no one seems to know who the companies are or anything. I took it upon myself and called two of the bigger health insurance companies here to see if I am registered  with one yet. Nope. They never heard of me or the program paying for it. However supposedly the school will get my insurance card at some point from the education department so at the moment I’m insured but no one knows with whom. So rather than showing up at the only tiny hospital where socialized medicine is and locals folks go, I opted for a Dr. with English out of minimizing anymore frustrations in my immediate life and opted to just pay for it.

So at 4:15 pm I went, and it was 5 min from my apartment on foot. I walked in to a tiny waiting room, a girl behind a desk. A Marilyn Monroe poster behind her, and a metal rendition of a VW van over the bathroom was the only decoration. It seemed a tad less.. than as we say.
I told her no insurance and before she could say no to free care,  go to the local hospital, I said do you take visa? She smiled “of course. “Five minutes later a Brit comes out a door and I go in… I scan a small non descript office with an eye chart, a desk and a black telephone booth thing in the corner that takes up part of the room. Hmm what’s the telephone booth for? I’m thinking. Then I see earphones hanging off it little door knob. Ah maybe a hearing machine test booth? And behind the desk is Dr. Delicious… My my to be 20 again! …In his crisp white coat, behind an old wood  desk there he sat. Slender, with thick hair and kind eyes, tan skin ….How can I help you today? He says in a low voice from under his face mask… I’m wondering what his lips look like…I quickly sat up straighter at his question wondering if he would be examining me somewhere. Then I wanted to touch his hair, but I digress…

I notice it’s an office not a clinic room yet it seems to be both…I gave him my list of symptoms and he asked me my history…Great now I get to let him know I have a million diagnosis; glaucoma, Rheumatoid arthritis, cancer 8 years ago….

I divert from my train wreck of a medical history and try to make small talk…I asked why was he in a little town. He said “good question”  and was he from there. He said no “Columbia.” Then he took my BP with a feeble little automatic machine you would buy at Walmart or a dollar store after it was returned….I was surprised. First, no nurse to pre-check me now he is doing the blood pressure himself and not using a manual blood pressure cuff…ok go with it. It read a little high he said… I wanted to say because he was standing too close to me, but my real brain said its that shitty automatic Walmart thing your using and its probably not accurate. But I held my tongue.

He then listened to me and checked my ears and throat, but not my neck lymph nodes or temperature .. he found nothing of consequence, rendering me a diagnosis of a cold, from a “change in weather.” He wrote three scripts: one with powdered codeine in it, yes I said powdered codeine, with vitamin C and Tylenol. Wow a narcotic with some vitamins… Then nasal spray, and liquid antihistamine. He and I then talked a bit about the US and Spain…. Docs here make 25-40k a year he offered.. Wow …he asked about US costs. He was shocked but amazed a Dr. would make several 100k a year depending on his specialty, or he could just be a model I thought with my inside voice. …oops I digress again.

He looked wistful for a moment when I said what he could make in US. He then offered to write me anything I needed for the future of whatever I needed. Interestingly for a Spaniard I thought his affect was too flat… No animation or gestures like I see normally. I felt like maybe he was sad or bored out of his mind…he may be the only English speaking doc in the town. He probably gets little stimulation of exciting diagnosis to figure out… just a revolving door of Brits most I assume may be in the geriatric age group needing his English skills to manage their blood pressure…. That is unless being Columbian was part of it but somehow I don’t thing that was all of it.

But out I went. I paid €30 for my visit with Dr. Delicious then €12 for my 3 meds at a local pharmacy. I looked at the meds and each was in its own box, no printed label with your name, date, the docs name and instruction on it like in the US. Instead I was handed back my scripts and was told to read the instructions on how to take the meds from his scribble on the scripts… Um isn’t that risky? like if I can’t read his writing then what if I read 1 times a day as 3 times? Well its not the US that’s why! Well being a nurse comes in handy now. I can read crap handwriting from a doctor…

Interestingly, I noticed each box had its name in brail on it… that was cool. The blind can feel the name of the medication on it, but wait, the doctors script is not in brail…. I wonder if the blind have more medication errors than others…

I then stopped at a local cafeteria/tavern for the plate the of the day as I was starving and needed to eat anything warm as I hadn’t eaten in 24 hours….. I was served a bowl of hearty garbanzo beans, and stomach lining from a cow? with bread. Good thing I could not taste it it or smell it. I paid my 4 bucks and came home. Now I write to y’all and wait for my powdered codeine to kick in. Tomorrow is another holiday, so I can rest another day, and I’m taking the car back to Alicante. Then I’ll be alone with only my feet…and my google translate app.

Till next time,

Somewhere in Spain