It happened in Carrión!

Pat had been experiencing an irritating itch for a couple of days, and we thought we pop into Centros de Salud in Carrión. We were told in the hotel that pilgrims were catered for between 6 and 7 o’clock in the evening.

We turned up at the medical center just after 6. As we went in there were two treatment rooms in use, one had a male doctor, one had a female nurse tending to a foot of a pilgrim. As we sat down outside I could see the look on Pat’s face, It basically said I hope the female nurse finishes first! But of course, she didn’t.

The male doctor came out and unfortunately did not speak any English, so I had to fall back to my extensive Spanish course of all of 6 hours.

I tried to explain to him that Pat had a pain kind of “down below.” He then passed me a urine sample bottle indicating that she should pop into the bathroom. I said “No, no, no, it’s not like that kind of problem.” And then in terrible Spanish said, “is it possible to see the lady in the other treatment room?”

At this point, the nurse was free and came out to join the conversation. And with much pointing and just speculating, we tried to point out the problem, and had to resort to a pen and paper.

Thankfully then the nurse ushered us into the treatment room and Pat popped up onto the examination table. Much to her horror the male doctor then came and stood in the back of the room to observe proceedings.

All was resolved very quickly, and it seems the itch was an in-growing hair! Easily sorted with antibiotics.

These country’s medical centers are quite amusing. As you can imagine the medical staff sees pilgrims day in day out, as well of course their local patients. And nothing seems to faze them. And they weren’t too bothered about having discreet conversations about the ailment!

But again fantastic service from Spanish medical staff, and no charge at all.

See Full Gallery: A Day Off in Carrión