It's not all just waterfalls and sandy beaches

Lying on a beautiful perfect white sanded beach is obviously not enough for us...so as our catamaran trip got cancelled first thing in the morning by our captain...alex and i decided to go on a little adventure and check out the mexican health care...

10 Days ago I managed to stumble in a very clumsy way off my surfboard, in very shallow water. A very sharp pain went through my heel and it took me a good minute to be able to answer alex worried question "if I'm alright?!" "yes erm no erm i hope so"being hard as nails, as you all know me, I got back on the board for a while and thought oh well just a bruise or something like that..it will wear off.

Or not

Rest , Icepacks, compression and elevation later...nothing really has changed...pain is still there (Alex will argue this point and probably say I didn't rest...but I did ,in a Nerpel way )

Anyway back to the Mexican Health Care or Red Cross. Imagine a white concrete bungalow right next to the police station/bungalow, on a long wide road, covered in speed bumps of all sizes. We arrived and Alex had to park on the side of the road, because police cars were blocking the entrance to the hospital parking area! limping inside I wasn't sure what to expect, it looked like a family was hanging out on a few couches. Immediately I thought we would have to wait for ages. A friendly faced quite chubby Local in a perfectly crisp white uniform asked how he could help and what happened. With pointing at my foot and making a very pain driven face I got the message across.
He smiled and said something about specialist here but no x-ray and pointed to granddad reading the papers on the couch. Hugo was his name and he was just lovely.

poor me

He listened very carefully to my story, probably only understanding 20%, checked out my feet and first of all told me that my arches are too high and joked with alex that he could put a pencil through them when I stood up. He was a little annoyed hearing that the accident happened 10 days ago and I hadn't seen a doctor before, it made Me, as a self-diagnosing traveller who clearly knows everything, a tiny bit upset getting told off, all I wanted is just a confirmation that there is no fracture and with a little patience it will be just fine in a week or two. Well after asking questions he threw some latin words    
(Plantar Fasciitis)
at me ,which sounded scary, and told me,that he doesn't think it is a fracture but just to be sure to come back, in the afternoon when MR.X-ray would be in. With a list of medication, the strict order to rest, no sport for at least 2 weeks and if possible no walking or no putting weight on that foot for the same period of time I left, sulking. One of his last words were " You will remember this accident for a long time." great!

luckily I didn't need an operation

After a couple of hours of sun bathing and a snack for lunch we were back. The same smily young man  in his crisp uniform expected us and pointed us to another youngish lad ,who made him look skinny and introduced him as the X-Ray specialist. Back in the curtained room with 2 beds he read the little note Doctor Hugo had written him and asked me to sit down and take off my shoes. He left the room and sceptically I asked alex how he thinks they are going to x-ray, here, in this one room with clearly no x-raying facilities. Alex just shrugged it off and said we'll see. 

no this is not a photo apparat 

And we did see... imagine a cross between an oversized polaroid camera and a small strobe, THAT was the x-ray machine.

 The best of all was it took a total team effort to get the best shot. First try was me lying on the bed foot to the side.  Which might work perfectly, if you don't have over pronounced arches. We waited, me shoe on all ready to leave when Dr. X-ray came back mumbling something in spanish not looking very happy and trying to explain we have to do another shot.

construction number 1

 Off he went and returned with 2 chairs !!! The idea being, me standing on the chairs whilst alex had to hold the X-ray film between the chairs so that the Dr. could take his Photo..so we did, he took it..he left, came back, not happy...the wooden chair had some nails in them which radiated through the photograph and made it useless...

you are not bored are you?

Dr turning into MacGyver here took a big medicine book and had me balancing on it on top of the chair. So that he could be sure I wouldn't fall off he got his colleague, crisp white uniform man, to hold the film and alex had to hold me whilst he tried again his magic....he left, came back, not happy...still the issue with the nails..
so I turned the chairs around back to back so the nails were to the side...alex held me and friendly guy in uniform took this photo as proof....

tadaah the winning shot

An hour and a half from entering the Red Cross bungalow, £50 and an experience no one can take from us, later...we left with 2 beautiful X-rays in my hands.

So what did I learn today apart from, if your foot hurts so badly that you can't walk go to the doctor earlier? with smiles and kindness health care can be so much more enjoyable !!!

A mexican" X-ray specialist" got me balancing on one foot on a book on a chair (I just realised maybe he was taking the mickey) to do his work

And last lesson of the day....don't get X-rays done if the Doctor who can assess them won't be back in for the next two weeks !!! Oh well I got a souvenir.

Though it might sound funny I actually felt very well taken care of and trusted Dr.Hugo and friends. So if you ever need medical care around Tulum come to the Red Cross, they'll look after you.