Day 21 / 22 - Chulacanos to hospital - DISASTER

Distance Cycled:16km
Total Cycled to date: 818km

It was all going so well...aaagghhh!!
Up at sunrise and we are now pros at managing the tent business. Then to a shack where we were offered eggs inglesa - they came out fried - and finally some clarity on the bus situation, from the shack keeper in that there aren't any along this road!! Instead we negotiated a taxi ride with bikes on the roof along to Olmos, we missed out on a very easy but boring cycle and caught up some time. We then grabbed a quick lunch and the woman doling out the soup pinched a berocca and squealed when we put it in water for her and it fizzed - she thought it was some magic potion, well we think it is too ;) Just wish it could have helped me a couple of hours later....
With hills (Andes foothills) looming, the scenery got more interesting and we were pedalling along nicely until a freak gust of wind blew Wills stupid straw hat off right into my face as I was nicely drafting behind him. Brakes were slammed, bikes crashed and poor Amanda bounced onto the tarmac. I say bounced because somehow I landed only on my left hand with my full weight, plus bike, plus panniers and left hand didn't like it, so I was on my feet in a second with hardly a scratch on me. Ouch!! Will rushed over in horror and got everything to the roadside - we were so lucky the road was remote and nothing else hit us. But remote meant a long wait for passing aide and I kinda went into shock at the sight of my hand which Dr Will diagnosed as dislocated fingers which could be fixed quickly. Eventually a combi (taxi van) agreed to take us 10km to the nearest town - while I was dying in the back, the radiator overheated and we had to stop every 10 mins for the driver to pour water on it. The doctor at Motupe hospital was very nice and wrapped my hand up in cardboard - the best available splint and sent us off in an ambulance (another combi van with a red cross on it) to Chiclayo just a couple of hours away where there was a rumour of an xray machine. Looking back the whole set up was hilarious, they put our bikes in the back next to a trolley bed with a heavily pregnant lady moaning on it and her husband nestled between the handlebars whilst me & Will rode up front, bracing for every bump in the road which was pretty much constantly. We dropped the lady off at one hospital and the driver took us gringos to a private clinic via the best hotel there to check-in the bikes.
At the clinic I was injected with painkiller in each arm and xrayed to establish a couple of broken fingers. A traumatologist appeared from nowhere, like Mr Ben, and said I had to stay in hospital, not eat or drink and have an operation at 6am. Well that was the gist of my understanding and poor Will had to manage a mountain of admin over the next few days without speaking a word of spanish - instead he thought speaking in bad french would help...unfortunately not ;)
Anyway, we managed to stay in a room together with 2 hospital beds whilst our bikes enjoyed 4 star luxury up the road. Morning came after a sleepless night and I was walked upstairs to a hideous room with a brutal and unfunny man in it who turned out to be the anaesthetist. Then the surgeon arrived of the same ilk and oh it was all so horrible I can't go into the details but eventually I had local anaesthetic and a shot of tranquiliser to calm me and then I remember being left in a corridor for a while after it was all over.
I had to stay in another day whilst they drip fed me medicine and Will smuggled in edible food whilst I got used to having a new pin in my finger and a semi cast, which going forwards will be known as The Claw :(

Ax