The overlanders come and go. The latest is a solo Swiss man in Toyota four wheel drive but his English is not too strong and our German is nil so all we got so far is that he is going north so we probably shan’t see him again.
A French couple in a van have a rescue along with them. She speaks English, he doesn’t much and my French got swept aside. We talked to her a bit, a traveler in her own right and she is actually Swiss, but they are going north so…they had little Chico go soon. Rusty actually got along with Chico which surprised me.
Layne visits her surgeon every other day and he seems okay with progress. Her skin cancer sound has shown some redness but he says it’s not infected and she can start walking a little so that’s good. We’re still coughing but we’re on antibiotics do we should both be breathing easily in a few days.
I’ve had a check up too and the news isn’t great. I need some pills and I need to lose weight, no worries but altitude isn’t doing my ticker any good. The cardiologist said wait till you’ve lost twenty pounds so there’s the incentive. We’ll have to wait till we come back up on the way home to visit the mountains of southern Peru. It’s a drag but after Giovanni’s sudden heart attack I don’t want to annoy Layne by dying suddenly the same way. My age is catching up to me. Time to listen.
I didn’t a couple of days walking around with various battery powered heart monitors. Dr Bermitt is very though and she hasn’t finished with me yet but pills are in my future. The cool thing is my time in the hospital makes all the machines needles and noises don’t upset me. I’m resigned to the results so they won’t upset me either. It’s a call to action.
He needs me around for a bit longer:
Giovanni the cardiologist is to blame for all this. A decade ago we were riding motorcycles together in Amalfi and now he’s dead. The cardiologist who died of a heart attack. I have trouble accepting he’s gone.
The plan now is to go south after I get back from Florida, no Cusco, no Machu Picchu, no Lake Titicaca. Pass go and drive straight to Chile which is the richest country in South America with good quality roads, high prices and wilderness to camp in they say. I’m looking forward to it and Argentina. And aside from half a day crossing mountain passes from one country to the other most of it is flatlands. Cold windy and desolate but flat near sea level. Public dog water fountain, Arequipa:
I mention this by way of explanation. Life has a capacity to get in the way of travel plans. But on we go, more to see and places to go.
Our campground has been sold by the old owners who said nothing is going to change before December. However as of Monday they are no longer the owners. We’ve paid our bill through their ownership and next week they retire. Their family members wanted to sell the hotel and they had no choice.
Life changes and the earth abides.
On we go.
