Getting a car and a pacemaker

Last week we decided to trade in our 12 year old car for a 10 year old Honda CRV.  Vehicles are very expensive in Costa Rica so we have opted to own a used vehicle instead of incurring the expense of a new vehicle.  With the limited driving we do, the pot holes and cost of insurance, it just makes more sense to go with a reliable, used SUV.

Some interesting highlights of the process included visiting the small town of Grecia, where seemingly the majority of used car dealerships  in Costa Rica are located.  

Once we selected a vehicle, we provided the information to our lawyer to complete the transaction for us.  Yes, the lawyer handles the paperwork for you when you buy a car.  Fortunately, we have a great inexpensive attorney (sounds like an oxymoron, but true).

In addition to getting a "new, used vehicle" we have had to really test the Costa Rica medical care system as my dad was advised by a cardiologist here that he would require a pacemaker.  We were very impressed with all of the doctors and nurses that attended to my dad at the CIMA hospital in Escazu.

Costa Rica is considered a top medical destination which helped us easily get approval from my dad's U.S. based federal insurance.  Presumably, the lack of malpratice lawsuit awards the size of lottery winnings helps to contribute to the reasonable cost and access to wonderful medical care here.

Wind, fire and rain

The dry season is almost behind us, but that does not mean that showers do not prevail around the area.  The showers, however, do not consist of raindrops, but rather different colored flowers.  There are so many beautiful trees that get covered with a variety of flowers of different colors that eventually "shower" us with the flowers...yellow, red, pink and orange.

The wind the last week has been fierce.  Since we hang our laundry out to dry and live on the side of a mountain, drying laundry can be a tricky proposition.  It would be awfully embarrassing to have our drawers flying across the valley and landing on a neighbor's house below or even worse on a tree limb that we could not reach to retrieve them.  We are told that the windy months should be behind us for now.

There was a bad fire in the adjacent neighborhood, but thankfully, we only saw smoke and ashes in our area and the fire was extinguished.  A couple of hours later, we received our first downpour of rain of the season.  It was so nice to see the rain clouds rolling in over the valley.  

We read that President Obama will be visiting Costa Rica on May 3-4.  The planes en route to San Jose fly by at eye level from our home so we may actually be able to see Air Force One flying into the airport.  One Englsih newspaper here published a story on April 1st that the trip had been cancelled by the secret service due to concerns about the infamous potholes and dilapitated  bridges on Costa Rican roads.  There was concern that the roads would not be able to handle the president's motorcade.  Naturally, we all found the article amusing, but also rather surprising.  The next day, the newspaper printed and article stating that the entire cancellation story was an April fool's day joke!  So the president's trip is still on for May.