The Wheezer

 I should bet money against myself: stick me in an airplane and know that I will get sick. Every single time. Layne and I have talked about this and I think we’re going to try using Covid type masks on planes. They are a dreadful pain but if I can get off a commercial airliner without getting a fever and wracking cough it would be worth it.

I need to take lessons in self portraiture obviously but before I became symptomatic Rusty was hovering more closely than usual and then as I sat up at night hacking and coughing and trying to clear my blocked sinuses I could hear him switch from deep regular breaths to long drawn out sighs. Layne had earbuds in and her back turned so so it was me and Dusty suffering through the hours of darkness, oh and then at 2am she’d appear clutching Tylenol and solicitude and a nasal spray and I’d seek relief.

In the ordinary course of things old retiree gets sick is not headline material but what has me supremely pissed off is I’ve had to conceal my flight (there it is again) to Machu Picchu. I haven’t been at 12,000 feet for a year so I am no longer acclimated to the Andes, which would be bad enough but to try to tour the ruins in my condition might actually be hazardous. We discussed it at some great length and I have to admit maybes arguments were compelling. Don’t you love those idiot manly statements “It’ll be fine” when the patient is sitting up in bed barely able to catch his breath. “A mere flesh wound…”

Team Lost is, when Layne gets the upper hand Team Commonsense as well so the cancellations have been made  and I’m still browned off about it. 

But there’s good news. Rusty’s bloodwork results came back early and when the vet called I was still able to drive and blow my nose at the same time like act good multi tasker so we drove into town.

The cool young English speaking vet at Vetrix assembled the paperwork for us including Rusty’s leishmaniasis test specific to Uruguay which is the only country to require a negative test for that mysterious disease and then we took the package ten minutes away to the secondary little airport on the waterfront of Buenos Aires where there is an agriculture office that requires no appointment, the vet said. Finding parking was hell.

Parking on the yellow is prohibited so everyone does it in a city with not enough real estate to park cars on.  Layne said action truck cane by and took the car behind us but promised not to come back till after lunch to give me time to finish the paperwork dance in the airport. Thank you Argentina.  

I had my doubts we could get it done in a day but I took my $150 worth of bet papers into the SENASA (agriculture) office where they had me fill out a form with our details. 

While they processed the form I had to go to the bank which was conveniently located next door  and pay 55,000 pesos (about $36) into SENASA’s account so the clerks don’t handle money. It’s protocol in Latin America to keep payments separate to prevent corruption. There was a line.

They were travelers changing money so the line moved fast but by the time I was back in the agriculture office Rusty’s International Veterinary Certificate was ready when I presented them with the several receipts generated by me standing in line at the bank. 

What a lot of paperwork.  Rusty got a walk way home when we stopped to pick up sausage sandwiches, Argentina’s national sandwich called choripan (chorizo and pan) for lunch.

The old dog had some walk in him in the lovely industrial zone behind the airport. 

Truck and bus drivers and warehouse workers come out for lunch at these stalls set up along the street. This is not the tourist area. On the way home there is a dude by the park who sells doughnuts and bread from his van. 

She buys his round fry bread to make bruschetta and it is really quite good. 

At this stage I’m hoping I’ll be fit to drive by Wednesday at the latest when we will get on the road back to Uruguay and a replacement Victron battery. Our mechanic in Paraguay has received our coolant parts from Rock Auto so when we show up there in a couple of weeks we’ll get a new pump thermostat crossover pipe and coolant reservoir. Which invite will seal the leaks. For now, as nothing seems to be permanent. EVs look pretty good right now.