HinA: My trip to an Argentine hospital

Earlier this week, I spent about six hours in an Argentine hospital. Fortunately for me, I wasn't there to receive medical care. I was there to help translate for the unfortunate girl who had sustained one of the more gruesome injuries I've seen. That said, it wasn't grave, and considering the circumstances of the accident, the outcome was lucky (I'm sure she's feeling far from that as she recuperates, but "gracias a dios" it could have been a lot worse).

A group of us went to Maipu, fertile wine country just south of Mendoza, to do a bike and wine tour. We had just begun heading down the main strip to the bodegas (not a sip of wine in any of us) when a large, two-trailer mack truck passed by the group. Though there was a bike lane, our friend was uneasy on a bike, especially between the raised medians of the narrow lane, and she was riding alongside the road. As the truck passed, she began to swerve and clipped the back trailer, falling to the ground safely away from the gigantic double wheels, but the torque of the fall or something appears to have sent the pedal decisively through the skin of her foot from the back of the heel to the base of her toes. Another girl and I were a bit behind her, and I didn't see the fall but heard her screams, and we were the first two to get to her and see the injury. It looked like the bottom of her foot was about to fall off -- muscles, tendons and bones visible through the gaping separation of skin.

Locals who saw the accident called an ambulance, gave us pillows, and provided a blockade around us from the traffic. The other girl held her up as the shock of the scene brought her in and out of fainting, as I asked the locals if an ambulance was on the way and translated questions and answers for a passing doctor who arrived at the scene before the ambulance. The doctor assessed that despite the look of it, no serious damage had happened to her foot. It looked to him like a nasty cut, and the dangling heel was just the effect of the skin not holding everything compactly together.

When the ambulance arrived, the paramedics transported her to a local hospital, and only one from the group was allowed to accompany her in the ambulance, so two of us asked for a ride to the hospital. By the time we arrived, the wound had been cleaned and initial x-rays supported the doctor's assessment that no serious damage had been done. But they had to transport her to a hospital in Mendoza to have the sutures done. This time we were all able to ride in the ambulance with her.

When we arrived in Mendoza, we had to go through the whole litany of questions again, because the hospitals were on strike, and, staffed at bare minimum, there wasn't communication happening between hospitals. Fortunately the doctors that were there were attentive and kind, and though the facilities weren't top notch, the care was. And also free it turns out (which may explain why the hospitals are striking for better pay).

Though she will require follow up care for a few more weeks at least to make sure the wound doesn't become infected and heals properly, she should be just fine.

And though it may seem a bit like tempting fate, two of us who weren't able to complete the wine tour that day went the next day. The company that rented us bikes the previous day gave them to us for free the second go round. They also shared a few other stories about bike accidents along the wine tour road, and it made me wonder how on earth it's legal to rent bikes to people who are braving narrow roads and fast cars to drink glass after glass of wine. The "tastings" here are not a couple sips, but rather almost full pours. And yet, no waiver, no helmets.

But I can understand why, despite the risk, wine tours by bike are a hallmark of Mendoza's economy. We tasted some incredible wines, toured immaculate facilities housed in beautiful old buildings, enjoyed the guidance of how to properly taste wine. The day was sunny, the air crisp and dry, and between the trunks of the tree-lined roads, the mountains and infinite rows of vines made even dreamier the effect of red wine.