Costa Rica Medical Care

During the last couple of weeks we had the need to visit a doctor here in Atenas.  My 82 year old dad wanted to get a general checkup so we made an appointment with a local doctor.  We arrived just a few minutes before our scheduled time.  We were promptly seen by a very nice bilingual doctor named Candy.  She spent approximately 30 minutes with us, performed and EKG on my dad, and then gave us some orders to get some lab work and a sonogram done within the next week.  We paid cash for the visit since we do not have private nor CAJA (national insurance we should have once approved for full time residency).  The total cost was $70.00 US.  We were very impressed with the service and price of the visit.  

We went to get the lab work done and a sonogram.  The cost of the lab work was around $175.00 and sonogram on the stomach and neck was $100.00.  We went back yesterday for a follow up visit with the doctor...no charge.  Overall, this far, we have been very impressed with the level of care and professionalism in the healthcare industry.  Sure beats sitting in a doctor's office for 2-3 hours at some of the doctor's offices we frequented in Texas.  We did not have to wait over 5 minutes at any of the appointments.

The doctor prescribed an ointment for my dad's feet since he seems to have some toe fungus issues.  I picked up the ointment at the local drugstore.  Later that evening my dad asks me if I had looked at the ointment before I gave it to him to use.  "Why?" I asked...he replied, "you won't believe what she prescribed for me to use."  I had presumed it was foot ointment...wrong...the box clearly stated, "vaginal cream!"  What?  Dad said he couldn't figure out what the applicator in the box was for so upon closer inspection he discoverd that the applicator was not in fact to stuff up your big toenail.  I quickly dialed the doctor's office to find out if the pharmacy had dispensed the wrong medicine.  The doctor actually answered the phone herself and started laughing when she heard me nervously ask about the potential mixup.  She informed me that the topical cream was in fact "multipurpose."  I only wished she had forewarned us!  Anyway, after the "duche" incident with dad, I had decided it was best to be sure.

From Old Home to New Home

I made my first trip back to the USA since moving to Costa Rica.  Flew into Houston to visit my brother and his family.  The day before I left was pretty hectic as we had an Internet technician here at the house enhancing our connectivity, the carpenter repairing the door, the gardener, and the roofers!  

As I left the airport in Houston with my brother for the short drive to his house, I realized what a different world I live in now.  The roads in Houston are big and wide, restaurants are full of people wearing the latest fashions and everyone driving the latest model of vehicle.  I don't miss any of it, except for the selection of great restaurants and goods in the grocery stores.  I spent one morning buying all the stuff I have not managed to find in Costa Rica such as cornmeal, pinto beans, clover honey, "Slap Ya Mama" Cajun spice, Krusteaz Belgian waffle mix and a few other odds and ends.  

I ended up with way too much luggage, but since I was flying back first class, thanks to airline miles, I figured I might as well take advantage of the luggage allowance.

I really enjoyed seeing my brother and spending fun times with my niece and nephew, but I confess that when I got on the plane to fly home, I could not wait to be back in Costa Rica.  The peaceful area and sheer natural beauty of Atenas are hard not to miss.  Besides, where else can you indulge in an outdoor  shower with Toucans in the trees right behind you?

A couple of mornings after arriving home I was walking my Chihuahua and met our neighbor from the other side of the hill.  I just love her because she is down to earth and has no filter on what she has to say.  My kind of person!  

This morning my doggie decided he had extra energy so he wanted to walk down to the bottom of our neighborhood, which was fine, until I had to hike bak up the hill with him in my arms because his little old legs were too tired to carry his fat butt back up to the house.  I must find the pupoose (doggy backpack, but worn on the front)  I brought from Texas to use next time!  

New extreme sport...dumpster diving ins CR

Whew it has been one busy, but productive week.  We finally moved into our home almost a week ago.  A couple of days before the big move we went to a wonderful orchid garden in La Garita just about 20 minutes from here.  We were the only guests there and thoroughly enjoyed seeing all the beautiful orchids in bloom.

The move has brought a whole new sense of peace and quiet, except for the roof repairmen who will be working diligently for a week to repair our roof before the rainy season is upon us.

Of course, our move would not be complete without a "water" event on our first night!  At 3:00 am  woke up to the sound of heavy winds and the sound of water gushing somewhere.  I knew by the sound that it was not raining so I got my flashlight and headed outdoors to explore the origin of the sound.  I quickly discovered that one of the faucets had a blown pipe.  Of course, none of us had a clue where the main water shutoff was located so we improvised and guessed that the shutoff might be down by the pool.  As I turned one of the valves, the water pressure dissipated at the faucet allowing my dad and hubby to employ some makeshift engineering and tie the broken tube back on with my newly purchased clothesline.  We all went back to bed.  An hour later my dad woke up to hear the swimming pool running over...guess we figured out where the water valve I turned diverted the pressure.

The next morning we headed to town and got the necessary stuff to fix up the leak and even managed to locate the main water valve for future reference.

Today was our first faux paux with the neighbors.  Apparently, we failed to adhere to the trash disposal guidelines and dumped a couple of big boxes in the dumpster without breaking them down correctly which resulted in the trash not being picked up by the city.  We were not the only violators so someone from our neighborhood had to volunteer to go through the container and make sure all the trash was properly bagged.  Nothing like volunteering to dumpster dive on our first week.  My husband joked that he thought  new members of a neighborhood were typically  welcomed with a party, not a summons and reprimand for improper trash disposal!  Fortunately, the project was not nearly as messy as we had expected.  We had hiked to the dumpster since our vehicle was in the shop getting prepped for annual inspection.  Just as we started to hike up the hill back to the house, our HOA president and his wife drove by and asked what we were doing.  Once we explained, he kindly offered to give us a ride back to our home....in his new car!  I assured him the experience had been maggot free and none of the trash bags had leaked nasty garbage juice on us so we would not contaminate his nice new car.  At least the chlorinated swimming pool awaited us to rinse off after experiencing our new extreme sport.