Quito

 Rachel ended up in hospital in San Gabriel on IV antibiotics for 7 days. This was tough for both of us. Rachel was in hospital surrounded by other patients who only spoke Spanish. I was in a hostel and only able to see Rachel for 2 hours each day. This was a heck of a shock for us after having been together 24/7 since the start of the trip.

Towards the end of Rachel's stay in hospital the medical team swapped one of her antibiotics to an oral form. What this meant was that I got presented with a 'prescription' to take to the farmacia opposite the hospital to buy that day's tablets which I then handed over to the nurses for them to administer at the appropriate intervals. 

After seven days Rachel was deemed fit and well and released. She was mighty glad to be able to walk out of this door. However, the specialist back in Tulcán was not available for a month so we needed a different plan. 

We considered our options while having a strawberries and cream in a cool little cafe I had discovered. We decided that we would aim for Quito as there are specialist hospitals there and (if the worst came to the worst) there is an international airport. 

We set off riding to see how things went bouyed up by a route profile for the day that was mainly downhill. However the poor hospital food, the stress and the effects of the antibiotics had left Rachel very weak. We made it as far as the paleontology museum 15km out of town then realised that continuing by bike was not going to work.

We waved down a passing bus and asked if we could get on with the bike. They opened up a cavernous boot space at the bike that swallowed the tandem and we bought a ticket for Quito. 

The road was beautiful: up and down into huge valleys. We were both in awe of the scenery, slightly disappointed not to be riding such amazing roads, unsure of our emotions about 'skipping' part of the way by bus and uncertain about what would happen next. 

We found a nice hostel in Quito and booked in for several days. We followed a recommendation from a contact in Quito and made an appointment with a doctor who is a hand trauma specialist. 

We had a day before the appointment and used that to explore the area around the hostel. We find this great bike themed cafe where we whiled away a couple of hours. 

Beer pumps mounted on the front of a bike.

Pedals for lampshades.

We also found a vegan cafe with this wonderful chaise longue made from an old cast iron bath. Rachel was appreciating the chance to eat at every opportunity to get her strength back up. 

The area has some great murals. Some areas seem to have lots of them and they really brighten places up. I'm wondering if there is scope to start a trend in Staveley ...

The day of the appointment with the specialist arrived. We went via a park which had this curious feature of a brass phone mounted on a rock.

The specialist was amazing. He had good English and it was incredibly reassuring for Rachel to be able to discuss her thumb in detail in the knowledge that nothing was being lost in translation. He assured her that the infection had cleared up, that the new nail is already growing and visible and that the bone has healed. He explained that some pain is to be expected and that Rachel can expect the thumb to look dreadful for another 2 to 3 months but that is nothing to worry about. It was quite a lot to take in after 8 weeks of ongoing issues. He requested an MRI to rule out any infection in the bone. We are waiting for the results of this.

We walked back to the hostel discussing what he had said and what it means for the remaining weeks of our trip. We were distracted from our conversations when we spotted this street and just had to stop and take our photo under it.