Category: Alajuela

Posted on

Fern Haiku & My Simple Life

-o-
CATCH UP ON MY SIMPLE LIFE
Today I took the bus to Alajuela, getting off before downtown to get a few items at PriceSmart (our warehouse store like Costco). Then a taxi to Walmart for some other items they have no one else does, and then walked three blocks to the big City Mall where I finally found some thicker short socks, looked at some kitchen items in the expensive but nice Cemaco Store and ate a burger in the food court. Then taxi to bus station for bus trip back to Atenas by 3. That was my day. I watched the 30 minute ABC World News which is as much TV news as I can handle now. But even that makes me continue to thank God I live in Costa Rica! 
Rainy season is good and normal this year with late afternoon showers with some into the night and the rest of the day beautiful. Everything is green and attractive this time of year. My favorite. 
For my angiogram June 2, my young friend Jason Quesada is going with me and will stay with me since I will be put to sleep. I’m also using Walter Ramirez for my transportation to and from the hospital in San Jose. So I feel good about it even with my bad Spanish, I will have someone who is truly bilingual! And they don’t speak much Ingles in Hospital Mexico!
No more trips until July. I love my simple life!
Posted on

Coffee at the Cathedral

When in Alajuela I often start at McDonald’s for the restroom
and then coffee and sometimes pancakes, eating upstairs
overlooking the Cathedral of Alajuela – all cellphone photos
Alajuela, Costa Rica

And Central Park Alajuela 
 Alajuela, Costa Rica

Pigeons & Grackles often join me on the balcony
Alajuela, Costa Rica

And as I board my bus back to Atenas
A guitar-pickin’ & singing preacher.
Alajuela is interesting!

My Photo Gallery of Alajuela

Posted on

Cardiólogo hoy

Cardiologist today (cardiólogo hoy) for the appointment (1 pm) I started making 4 months ago.

10:15 – Left the house walking to bus station
11:00 – Bus to Alajuela then taxi to Hospital Alajuela
12:15 – In line to check in on 4th floor Cardiology Department (cardiólogia)
12:30 – Behind the gray screen for weight and blood pressure
12:35 – Wait in front of Door 8
1:00 – Called into Door 8 where she asked questions in español of course. Then created an EKG (ecg) and then sent me to Door 4
2:00 – Dr. Hernandez calls me in behind Door 4. My first and only person of the day who spoke English. We mixed it up, Spanish/English, as he created a little heart-related medical history of me to begin my cardiology file. At one point he had me both sit and lay down on the examining table where he listened to my chest and back and then felt around in my abdomen. He read and wrote notes on the reports I brought from the private cardiologist I had seen earlier and the medication she had prescribed. He told me he would have be back for an ecocardiogram along with blood and urine workup to give him a total picture of my health to help him better monitor my heart. I feel very good about making this young (30-something) cardiologist my primary heart doctor with the government healthcare program generally called CAJA here.
2:50 – I go back to the front desk with really nice young adults who only speak Spanish to make my appointments (citas). The young man had to use his phone to translate to tell me I must first go to the first floor to a desk and have them make a file on me, mi experiencia, which took a while to find the right desk where I took a number and waited.
3:20 – I took my beautifully created large folder for all my medical records there back to 4th floor where the young man called me past the line and put everything in the folder except my two appointments for March 24 & 25 and multiple copies of my prescription for a different but similar treatment of my arrhythmia.
3:30 – Got a taxi to bus station
4:00 – Bus to Atenas
5:15 – I’m eating one of Chef Dan’s Meatloaf Dinners before watching ABC news.

Now all of this cost me exactly $0. The prescription is good until my March visit and it too is FREE! While the prescription from the private doctor even in generic form costs me between $40 and $50 per month.

Yeah, this first visit cost me most of the day and I had to wait a few months for it, but my heart will be monitored and cared for until I die at no other cost than the required $100 a month CAJA cost which is required if I live in Costa Rica, use it or not. I’m going to use it! Save money! And I like most of it even if rather slow! 🙂 Later I will explain how I plan to work the free government system with some limited private system healthcare and a great little local insurance for a private hospital if or when ever needed for just $12 USD per month! Later!

Posted on

My almost wasted Friday!

It was the first week of July when the CAJA set up my next appointment with my assigned doctor who was not there then for my initial physical. They scheduled it for September 12 with lab work on September 2 and for me to go to Alajuela for a EKG in that larger clinic, which I put off.

I had two different prescriptions for these two free testings, but filed them away and forgot about them. Last week I went to the clinic in Alajuela and told them I was supposed to get an EKG. They can’t do it without a prescription from a CAJA doctor. Well, I’ll tell Doc on the 12th, figuring I didn’t have one.

This morning at 7 was my appointment at the clinic lab for my blood work. I’m there by 6:30 (walking) and wait an hour to get to front of line where they tell me they can’t do it without a prescription. I walk back home and dig through my CAJA folder and sure enough, there it is AND the prescription for the EKG! I’ve become a FORGETFUL OLD MAN! Tired and sweaty by now after the two mile round trip walk, I call a taxi and take both prescription (I’m going to Alajuela after the lab and finish this stuff today!)

I’m back at lab by 8 and with my blood given and out by 8:30. Walk to bus station and in Alajuela’s Clinica Marcea Rodriquez with my prescription for a EKG by 10:00. I’ve about got this testing licked I thought! I’m escorted to the cardiology waiting room of musical chairs where I’m only 3rd in line. Good prescription they tell me but you must have a cita, an appointment! So after several minutes on her computer she tells me my appointment is 26 December at 11! My helper who walked me over there said, “Oh! You’re lucky! It’s this year!”  🙂   Well, I have an earlier EKG from a private doctor, so I’m not worried and it is no skin off my new doc’s back! Go with the flow and learn the system!

Part of the Pura Vida spirit of Costa Rica is having a “What? Me worry?” attitude. All of this kind of stuff is seen by so many people here as God’s will and you just take it as it comes! But it would have helped a whole lot if I had remembered that I had prescriptions and where I put them!

I ate lunch at Taco Bell in Alajuela (we have no fast food in Atenas) and bus had me home by 1:00 – very tired! 

Posted on

Why did you doubt?

When in Alajuela Wednesday we walked through the Alajuela Cathedral at Central Park.
I am always struct by the ceiling art! There is beauty and love and gospel everywhere!
And my faith is strengthened!

31 Immediately Jesus reached out His hand, caught hold of him, and said to him,“You of little faith, why did you doubt?”    Matthew 14:31 HCSB

Posted on

Bus to Alajuela Today

Catedral de Alajuela seen from
Juan Santamaria Park

Even though I have rental car, I really don’t like to drive in the big cities and wanted Reagan to experience how I get to town and walk around in the old, simple city of Alajuela – more crowded and dirty than Atenas and with more old buildings. So we rode bus to town where we walked and took taxis to and from the mall. He did not particularly like it until we got to the modern City Mall

Juan Santamaria Statue
Alajuela, Costa Rica

Main entrance to City Mall, Alajuela, Costa Rica

Reagan in the City Mall Food Court
Where he finally got to eat at McDonald’s!

Follow Reagan’s Blog for his view of his visit here!

Posted on

VIP Star Wars in Costa Rica!

 A STAR WARS Christmas Present . . .

Me and Jason with BB-8 at theater.

One of my Spanish language helpers, Jason Quesada in Atenas, has so far not accepted payment by the hour, just lunches, etc. So for his Christmas gift, regalo de Navidad, I took him with me by bus to Alajuela to see his first ever Star Wars movie. Hard to imagine not having the background of 6 previous movies, but he enjoyed it and I guess the plot kind of stands alone with me giving him a little background on who some of the characters are and a little of what happened in the past.

The new theater is nicer than any I have been to in the States! I bought our tickets electronically with a credit card at kiosk out front not knowing what “Premier” meant, but I chose it because the sound tract was in English with Spanish subtitles. I’m not yet ready for the one with Spanish voices dubbed in.

VIP TREATMENT IN LUXURY!
Well we were both shocked! When we gave the ticket taker our tickets he did not point or give directions to our theater but personally escorted us to the Premier door and introduced us to a hostess.

We entered the VIP private lounge area with restaurant as well as usual movie snacks and luxurious seats around little tables and a bar with bar stools. We were given a menu with a great selection including alcoholic drinks and told we could take the menu to our seats and they would come take our order. Shucks! We had already gotten popcorn and cokes at the regular people snack stand in main lobby. So we decided we might eat lunch in the lounge after the movie.

Then our hostess led us up a short flight of stairs to the Premier Balcony with giant lounge chairs with electronic controls to lift the foot rest or lean back and a little fold out table for food in addition to the built-in drink holder. Wide aisles and lots of space for the recliners! She checked on us twice during the movie to see if we needed anything. Wow! I can’t wait to go back and order from my seat or eat lunch during a movie! But lunch in the lounge after the movie was great too! This is livin!

One little corner of the mall just outside the theater with one of about 6 3-story Christmas Trees. No shopping for me today.
They have finished widening the street out front which helps traffic! The snow park is open outside and
an amusement park is on the roof with a giant Ferris Wheel seen as you drive up. Amazing!
It is the largest mall in Costa Rica and second largest in Central America. (One in Panama a tad larger.)
On the bus ride home I told Jason I really meant to get all 6 of the previous Star Wars movies and watch before seeing this latest sequel. But Netflix does not have and the down-streaming ones on Amazon.com are $16 each (if you order all 6) plus their site said they would not work on my browser if I understood the crazy information right. So I gave up. Jason asked, “Did you try our video store across from the ball fields?” I hadn’t, so we walked by it on our way home from the bus station.  This young man has everything! He had all 6 at about the equivalent of $1.15 each but it would be a few minutes because he had to make copies of number 5 & 6. We waited and I expect to enjoy on my computer the whole Star War series now! Legal? Well. . . just a friend giving me a copy of his DVD.  🙂  Reminds me of the video stores in The Gambia! And we will see what the quality is like.

See also Christianity Today’s online article titled: Why We Get Religious About ‘Star Wars’

Posted on

Why I don’t ride a bicycle here!

Me 2014 in TN

It is ¡Muy pelagrosa!  That is “Very dangerous!” Just see the 30 second video in this Tico Times article (WARNING: It is graphic pain!) Scroll down to 2nd photo with video arrow to click:

http://www.ticotimes.net/2015/12/14/watch-taxi-crashes-first-day-tour-costa-rica-cycling-race

That was in nearby Alajuela to which I ride the big safe bus! Right here in Atenas one day I walked across the Central Park and watched a pickup plow into a motorcycle, which is even more dangerous. I get my exercise walking as long as my feet are working alright. I miss biking, but common sense safety on exceptionally narrow roads and streets make it not practical for me here. “Driver Education” is just now being introduced here, so most adults driving here have no training and that includes the taxi drivers! This guy in the video is in BIG TROUBLE! He will lose his taxista job, possibly his driver license, and possibly have to pay medical bills for the three that slammed into him.

Happier Photos of the Festival de Luz in San Jose  –   I reported earlier that I missed the one here in Atenas and haven’t seen any photos online of the Atenas parade, but here are a few pix from the same parade in San Jose.  Most towns have one as the beginning of Christmas celebrations. I won’t miss it next year!

 

Posted on

Finger Prints for Residency

I am one step closer to my residency in Costa Rica. Immigration informed my attorney that it was time to be fingerprinted at the San Jose Police Station. I made no photos, so here is a verbal report of Thursday, 3 December 2015:

4:30 AM – Up for shower, breakfast and walk to the bus station
6:15 AM – Bus to San Jose
7:45 AM – I exit bus at northeast corner of Parque Sabana, 4 blocks from lawyer
                  Appointment is at 8:30 AM, so second breakfast at Soda Tapia (famous!)
8:30 AM – Meet attorney Jose Pablo Carter at his office 150 meters east of Soda Tapia
9:00 AM – We arrive in his car at Police Station with maybe 15 people ahead of us
                  We complete paper work and then I do the musical chair thing like at bank
                  This was just one long row of chairs. As a person is served we all move up
                       the chair line until I was next to be served. About a 25 minute wait.
                  Maybe 15 minutes of a guy two-finger typing all my info in a computer
                  He glues the three photos made back in February to 3 different forms
                  Then gives me all my paperwork and sends me to the fingerprint girl
                  I learned later she was new. She did 3 fingers then new form, start over
                        because she did one of my fingers twice  🙂
                  Then she gave me two of the photo/thumb print cards to take to my attorney
                  He gave one back to her and explained to her where it went (Wow!) Learner!
10:30 AM – We drive away from police station and he says no one knows how much longer
                     I will have to wait, maybe 2 months. But we have made some progress!
10:45 AM – He is taking me to a taxi stand to go to bus station because he has a meeting.
                    Then he sees a taxi, flags him down and I move to the taxi headed for the
                    Parada de Autobus de TUASA – there are about a dozen bus stations depending
                           on where you are going. I go to Coca Cola Station for Atenas bus but I need
                           to go to Alajuela to pick up a package at Aerocasillas. So I go to the
                           Parada de TUASA for the next bus to Alajuela. 5 minute wait!

By noon I’m in Alajuela with my package ordered from Amazon of  a Hypoallergenic & Bedbug proof mattress cover and pillow covers which I have not found here. Then a quick quesadilla and I have only a 5 minute wait for bus to Atenas (Lucky? God’s will?). Near the bus station in Atenas is my primary hardware store where I find they have only 1 soaker hose left, so I get it and try Coope Hardware and they have none (I need 2). I call a taxi and tell him what I want and he takes me to a third hardware store (ferreteria) and they have one left. Great! I just bought all (both) the soaker hoses available in Atenas!  🙂

I go home and install them in two gardens and water the gardens. My front yard and trees had a sprinkler system installed yesterday by my gardeners at a really good price, about what I paid for the two soaker hoses! Now my yard, trees and gardens are ready for the dry season without me spending two hours every two days holding a hose to them. Bear in mind that it may not rain again here until May!

When finished, it was 5:30 and I suddenly remembered I had a 5:00 Spanish class! Oh well! I am exhausted and will catch up next week. 🙂

Today is Friday and I got more cash for Angel Tree expenses (trying 3 ATMs before one worked!), paid one Angel Tree bill, got groceries, and I’m staying at home the rest of today! Susan picks me up at 6:50 tomorrow morning for Angel Tree party preparation. She and I are in charge of moving 300 wrapped gifts from Su Espacio to the church salon. Other volunteers will help. Then a fast-moving party and I’m on bus back to Alajuela for a rent car. I like to get a car the day before needed to get used to the car and make sure everything works! 🙂 I’m excited about experiencing another new birding place starting Sunday!  Rancho Naturalista. My happy feet are busy feet!  🙂  And when the bone spur in my heel hurts, I take an anti-inflammatory Rx the doctor prescribed and do great! The heel cushion in a real shoe helps also!  🙂  Wear my sandals only around the house now.

        

Posted on

Visited New Mall Yesterday

While on business in Alajuela yesterday, I met a Tico friend there and we looked around the new mall. Some photos:

They claim it is 80% finished or maybe occupied, but did not look it to me.

You cannot drive up to front entrance yet because road is not finished! 
The entrance road coming soon!?
The street in front is bumper to bumper cars!
But they are widening it, in time. 🙂

Some Chinese tourists get photos
in front of one of many Christmas trees!

Once I got past this entrance tree I somehow forgot to make any more photos. So I will show the inside the mall another time! It is very large with stores for about anything you could possibly want. The prices were not as bad as I expected, but still expensive. The food court is large and has a good variety, but my friend wanted Taco Bell, so we did! (Somehow it seems wrong eating American Fast Food in another country!) But it was good, even though they serve french fries with every combo! ???

Today, Friday, I spent 4 hours from 7-11 at the Feria (Farmers’ Market) trying to get people to take an angel from our Su Espacio Angel Tree. We gave out 24 and still have nearly 50 left with only one week left to get sponsors. David thinks they will go fast this week. If some are not taken, we have plenty of money to buy gifts for them, BUT someone has to go shopping for them! We’ll see what happens. I may get another job.