We were in the Museo de Bellas Artes, gawking at the incredible art, when we heard a crash. Turned in time to see another visitor, intent on crossing the room to see a painting more closely, flying over the low bench in the middle of the room.

(R here: I turned the corner into that room just in time to hear a crash and see a woman suspended improbably in mid-air above a stone bench, face towards the ceiling. It looked a bit like an action shot from a rugby match.)

Joan (whose name we later learned), hit the marble floor hard. Fortunately, she did not land either head first or with wrists extended. Not so fortunately, she gashed her shin and landed with all her body weight on her right shoulder.

Using our best school Spanish, we were able to translate between Joan and the security guards. Ultimately the guards called an ambulance, but because Joan and her husband Eric didn’t have their travel insurance documents on them, I rode with Joan in the ambulance while R and Eric went back to their hotel to collect the papers.

The driver/medic spoke limited English, but between her English and my Spanish, we worked it all out. She was very patient and introduced me to a new Spanish phrase–con dos, somos uno.  Roughly, with two, we make one. The local version of “it takes a village.”

Joan and I arrived at the very crowded local hospital and got her checked in–super easy process. Eric and R arrived shortly thereafter, and we said our goodbyes after connecting them to the triage nurse who spoke English.

Joan later sent a picture of herself back at her hotel, sporting a spiffy new sling. Turns out she fractured her humeral head (top bit of the arm bone) and is not thrilled about losing her golf game for a while.

All in all, we were impressed with the system; the ambulance driver even made sure to pick a hospital that would be easy for R and Eric to get to from the hotel given the road closures for Las Fallas.

(R here again. Joan had managed to get within one room of the painting she really wanted to see, Juan Bautista by El Greco. K made sure later to go back and take a picture of it for her.)