Chapter Eight

EARLY test results showed that, contrary to earlier assumptions, Tony did not have dengue fever or malaria, but instead was suffering from a kidney infection, based on his urea count and creatinine level. His condition was not helped by his reluctance to eat the food offered or consume the highly flavoured tea. His drinking water came in an open jug; it was not bottled.

His bed was highly uncomfortable and hospital staff professional standards left a lot to be desired. Tony was put in a two bedded room and I occupied the second bed. I watched as one nurse gave Tony his medication for his cough using a little plastic measure, rinsed this container in his glass of drinking water, stuck her finger in the water and swished it (the finger) around, before handing him the glass of water to drink. I could not believe what I had just witnessed.

When Tony pointed out his cough was getting worse, the air conditioning was switched off on the basis that this was making his condition worse rather than better. He was given an anti-biotic but when he went to take a shower, the water in the pipes heavily stank of stagnant water.

We were told there was something not quite right with his blood; his urea count was 11.8 when it should be about 2.5. When it came down to between 3 and 4, he would able to leave hospital, I was told.

On day 4 in hospital, the kidney doctor who had taken over Tony's care announced this urea count had come down to 8.6 and, on this basis, he could leave hospital. This conflicted with earlier advices but we were glad for any good news,and there had been precious little of it in the last 10 or 11 days. Come back in a few days, they told us, and we'll see how he is getting on.

We found a giant-size apartment with panoramic views of the Amazon in a quiet part of Iquitos where we thought Tony could gradually recover his strength and energy. But on a visit to the hospital two days later, it was found his urea count had climbed back up to 9. Tony was now drinking over 2 liters of water a day but was still having difficulty with the local food. It was as if his body was telling him 'no'. A trip to the local zoo, by motocarro, turned out to be a disaster - Tony was unable to get around without great difficulty and had to pause for breath many times. In fact, we only stayed half an hour or so. The occasion had been planned as part of what was a slow recuperation

Throughout all this time, our good friend Maria Elena kept in touch by phone and advised it might be best in Tony's best interest to return to Lima to get a different medical opinion on his condition. Her invitation was gratefully and readily accepted. Within 48 hours we were on the plane back to Lima, Tony exhausted and sleeping for much of the one and a half hour journey.

Let me say a little about Iquitos (Population 430,000). This is a land-locked city, that is to say there are no roads into or out of it. It is the largest land-locked city in the world. They only way of getting in or out is either by boat or plane. Cars are scarce on the streets here ;the sheer noise from the thousands of motorcarros is deafening and a serious pollutant. It has few redeeming features.

During the 19th century it was a rubber boom-town with one of its heroes being swash-buckling adventurer and businessman Brian Sweeney Fitzgerald, the son of an Irish navvy, and known as Fitzcaraldo in Peru. His life story was loosely made into a dramatic movie in 1982, also called Fitzcaraldo. The Irishman earned admiration and fame for having a 30 tonne steamship dismantled and towed piece by piece between two rivers by the brute strength of the indigenous peoples whom he hired for the task. Today in Iquitos a street has been named after him as has a local restaurant.

In Lima, Maria Elena was surprised by how pale and gaunt Tony had become. Over the past three weeks, he had lost 9 kilos in weight,, much-too-quick shedding of what was admittedly surplus weight. Within an hour of touching down, he was asleep and resting in the Salazar's home. That evening we brought him to a doctor friend of the family who ordered further blood and urine tests. The results were not good. Tony's blood was toxic, his kidneys were not functioning properly, he might need dialysis.

Tony was referred to a kidney specialist who told us our sick man had come alarmingly close to kidney failure. The urea and createnine measurements indicated his kidneys had only been functioning at 15% of normal. The situation was serious. Very serious. He ordered Tony not leave Peru and scheduled further tests and examinations for a week's time. These latest results showed his kidneys had recovered to a 50% functioning level.

On this basis, he said, we could continue with our trip but Tony's situation would have to be carefully monitored with further tests ordered for Uruguay and Argentina in the weeks to come and the results sent back to Lima for examination. Straight away we resolved to resume our journey and two tickets from Lima to Rio de Janeiro, with an interim touch down in Sao Paulo, were quickly organised over the Internet.

It has taken two weeks of slow rehabilitation in Lima before getting authorisation to proceed. Tony was still not better but was improving, if slowly.

Murphy's Law quickly kicked in, however, and despite assurances by Lan Peru staff in Lima that our luggage would be automatically transferred in Sao Paulo for the second leg to Rio, no such transfer took place. Consequently, we missed our connecting flight but obtained a later one the same day.

Arrived in Rio (population, 6.2 milllion) on a damp, wet Saturday afternoon and straight away took a taxi to our hotel in Ipanema, (Remember: 'The Girl from Ipanema' ?), one of two parts of this city made famous in music (The other being, Copacabana).

For many years, in the second half of the 20th century, Rio was home to former Great Train Robber, Ronnie Biggs who after fleeing the long arm of the law in Britain lived in a luxury penthouse apartment in the equally fashionable Butofogo area of the city. Many of you will remember he escaped extradition to Britain by having a relationship with a Brazilian woman with whom he fathered a little boy. That boy was a Brazilian citizen and as the father of a Brazilian citizen , the Courts in Rio ruled that Biggs could not be sent back to the UK to face justice there. Eventually, Biggs became seriousy ill in Rio and returned voluntarily to Britain, where he was promptly incarcerated, only to die behind bars.

The irony is that the son whose existence once saved Biggs from being legally extradited to Britain has since applied for, but been refused permission to settle in the UK and become a British citizen, on the basis of the nationality of his now deceased father. The last word may not yet have been spoken on this matter.

Anyway, we had arrived in Biggs' footsteps, not quite fugitives from justice, but certainly fleeing from the consequences of bad health. Even getting here had been an achievement in itself. Things were beginning to look better. We were ready to taste some of the pleasures this famous city has to offer.

Stay tuned.