Spanish hospitals...

It looks like Cartajima is under a spell! So many of our "vecinos" have been admitted to Ronda Hospital lately! When Ian hurt his back badly last year and had to be taken in an ambulance to Ronda's emergencies, where he spent 24 hours being administered painkillers and anti-inflammatories in drips, we realised that in this area everyone who knows you, comes and visits you if you are poorly, be it hospital, your home or even the emergencies if you stay there long enough! Bless, 2 of our "vecinos", Antonio and Juan Martin, came to the emergencies when they heard Ian had been taken there! Unfortunately, they missed us as they arrived when Ian was being taken back home in an ambulance and I was following him in our truck!

So now, in turn, we go and visit people we know in the village who are ill. And this year, it seems that's all we've been doing! Barbarita, a delightful little lady so full of energy and still showering in her backyard in cold water with a hose, Winter or Summer, had a bad do and was taken to Ronda Hospital. We went to see her, and it was so great seeing her comfortably sat upright (at 90 degrees without any pillows to support her!) on her bed and her wrinkled little face radiating with a big grin - she won't say her age but she must be in her 80s and she still walks up and down the hills to go to tend her land! What a bundle of energy! A great relief to see she was fine and eating with gusto the afternoon snack the patients are given (a cake and a glass of milk).

Paco, a lovely man who lived away from Cartajima all his working life, came back to retire and kept saying that the village had been asleep for all these years, had also been taken to the hospital on the same day. But, unfortunately, he wasn't well at all and he has since been transferred to a residential home for stroke victims in Malaga. It was so strange and sad seeing such a fun loving man, drifting between sleep and waking confusion. And worse was that in this hospital, a lot of the care relies on the family, which means if you haven't got any, you are quite neglected! Paco having never married, his sister living on the coast, he was left on his own and it was the family of the patient on the next bed, who was looking after him (shaving his growing beard, asking the nurse to change his bedding, clean his eyes, etc...). During our visit, more Cartajimenos came and went, making the whole scene very surreal, as if it were a village meeting place, going from one door to another! Barbarita, Paco and Pepa, our next visit, were on the same hospital floor, not far from each other!

We left Paco to go and see Pepa, the proprietor of the village only grocery shop. She had been admitted because of a very badly infected toe due to diabetes. Many villagers have got diabetes... Pepa was quite moved to see us. She is another lovely lady, probably in her 70s, but difficult to say, very kind and generous (so many times I come home from her shop with cucumbers, courgettes, etc. from her garden she has deposited into my bag!). She looked OK, apart from having been very worried about her toe being amputated. Thankfully, her toe was healing well so it was saved. Bless her, she was on her own in the usual hospital twin rooms and complained about it as it was rather lonely and boring for her. The rooms are all twinned room and have all a television, a telephone per bed and of course a bathroom. But as we found out, no vases!

We had purchased a bunch of flowers for both ladies from a kiosk just outside the hospital, but nowhere could we find a vase for them! The nurses seem to be totally puzzled we should be asking them for such an item and obviously couldn't care less! Barbarita's son, Juan Macho, deposited the bouquet in a Coca-Cola cardboard cup. "Macho" is his nickname - they all have one which is just as well as there are so many Juans, Pacos, etc., you would never know who is being refered to otherwise - and why "Macho" I don't know as he is round and extremely small, with probably the shortest legs ever, so much so that the 3/4 length shorts fit him as normal trousers... Bless him! And he is the most generous person I have ever met! A friend of ours put it brilliantly that way: "you will never go hungry if you live near or know Juan Macho!" So true... But, terribly difficult to get away once he starts talking...

To go back to the flowers, Pepa rung her daughter-in-law from her mobile to ask her to bring a vase! Sorted! A week or so later, we took more flowers to Amalia this time, who badly broke her leg in 2 parts and dislocated her left shoulder, but this time we were prepared! Spanish style, we took with us a cut plastic bottle! Not very aesthetic but at least practical! Amalia (looking lovely in the above photo), a gentle, hardworking and quiet lady, is the proprietor of Cartajima bar/restaurant "Casa Amalia", and she never ceases to amaze us how she can prepare fresh delicious meals, at the drop of the hat, for a full restaurant (probably sometimes amounting to 100 or more people in busy Summer evenings!), in her tiny kitchen! With orders being served at the same time per table by her husband, Baltazar, walking briskly with his chest puffed out like a cockerel, laden with mouthwatering plates.

We found out later, while talking to Amalia's Venezuelan daughter-in-law, Gabi, who just got married (see photos in earlier blogs, further down) and just gave birth to a lovely boy, and Gabi's Mother, that they were surprised that everyone brought her chocolates and sweets at the hospital when she had the baby! The custom in Venezuela is to bring flowers or fruits. I realised then that bringing flowers to hospital patients is obviously not the custom here, in this part of Andalucia!!! You just live and learn!