Category: Spanish

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Friday of Healthcare Tour

Old Man Tree in Breakfast Room

A stop by CPI Spanish Immersion School in Heredia for one short lesson.

Visited the smaller public hospital in San Ramon.
Public hospitals aren’t as fancy and pretty as private,
but very clean and functional inside.

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Paul & Gloria’s view with a Poro Tree blooming. Now is time for Poro.
Lunch at home of Paul & Gloria Yeatman with guest speakers.

Visiting the San Ramon Feria or Farmers’ Market Friday afternoon.
Paul & Gloria emphasize this as a part of healthcare!

We also visited a small neighborhood clinic, farmacia, bank, community center, Red Cross which does all the emergency ambulances, a museum, and talked about insurance, the CAJA government healthcare, homecare provided by CAJA, and even a presentation by a volunteer organization encouraging us to volunteer. Whew! A full day! But very helpful. They were showing us what it is really like for medical care in a local community, in this case San Ramon. I will do a separate post on San Ramon and give my comparison to Atenas. This ended the Healthcare Tour at dinner time in San Ramon. I spent the night there and tried to post these photos but the little La Posada Hotel had very slow internet, so I saved them for today, Saturday and will purposefully do two posts. The next one with a few shots of San Ramon sans-healthcare!

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Spanish Homework with an Oropéndola

Photograph on the Yorkin River, Costa Rica, by Charlie Doggett
La fotografía en el río Yorkin, Costa Rica, por Charlie Doggett

I will not copy it all here or translate it all to English, but you can see what I said on my Spanish Learning Blog, ¡Aprendo español en Atenas!


Some of the data was copied from Spanish language websites, but I do write simple sentences on my own now. I’m still a slow, slow learner! Yet it is fun! ¡Pero es divertido!


❝If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head.

If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart.❞

‒Nelson Mandela

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Doctor & Dentist in 2 Days

Well, I keep meaning to ask Dr. Candy (my primary care doctor) to recommend one of the many

Oficina de Dra. Karina Valerio Rodriguez

local dentists or dental clinics. How do I choose? Some have shiny new offices, speak English and most of their patients are expats and dental tourists – yes, that is what they are called. Americans and Canadians come here to get dental work done at a fraction of the cost in the states even with insurance. And do a little tourism while they are at it! There are many more in San Jose but there are some here. The English-speaking clinics charge a lot more than the local Spanish language dentists. So how do I choose?

I finally got another excuse to see Dr. Candy since I seemed to have bruised my right heel walking around town in sandals. I just walked in without an appointment thinking her assistant could probably help me with both needs, but she was there and I walked right into her office. They check my vitals, feel of my heel and she says I have some inflammation and gives me 7 anti-inflammatory capsules to take one a day for a week then come back in to see her. In two days my heel quit hurting, but I’m taking all the med and will see her next Wednesday. No charge for anything because I am a member of her clinic now at $42 a month. I have unlimited visits with all meds and supplies included and ambulance service. Her assistants are both EMTs and they have their own ambulance. 🙂 I’ll have to get photos and show her office later.

Then I told her that it was time for a dental check up and teeth cleaning. Would she recommend someone? She said, “Sure!” (She treats me like she’s my mother and is quite direct about some things.) “I think you should see Dr. Karinna just around the corner.” That dental clinic is just a half block from Su Espacio where I have my main Spanish lessons and David, my Spanish teacher, was delighted when he learned this. Dr. Karinna is a dentist the locals use and she speaks only Spanish. “And,” he said, “She charges half what the English speakers charge.” David is not only very price-conscious, but is always trying to put me in situations where I have to speak Spanish (like the barber he sent me to). And that might have been part of Dr. Candy’s motivation for the choice. Candy speaks good English but knows I’m studying Spanish and need to learn and use it.

So, I walk down to the dental clinic and walk in, ask for an appointment and get it for the next day at 1:00. It was a delightful experience with only essential communication needed in Spanish, but then one can’t talk much at the dentist anyway!  🙂  A complete checkup (no x-rays) and a very thorough teeth cleaning by the dentist herself in maybe 45 minutes at a total cost of 18,000 colones which at today’s conversion rate is $33.97 USD. Not bad!  🙂  I told her I would return in six months, Retorno en seis meses. So, one more routine is now transferred to my new country and culture!  I’m settling in!  🙂  And I got her email address for my Nashville dentist to email her my records. Pretty cool!

Telling more briefly about my new dentist in Spanish on Aprendo Español en Atenas.

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New Blog in Español Added: Aprender Español en Atenas

No blog here yesterday. I am setting up another blog in Español because as my September 2 blog said, I really need to be using what I am learning with multiple Spanish learning efforts. Since I live alone and write a lot, it makes sense to write more in Spanish since I am not talking with people all day every day. It will be difficult and short for awhile, but hopefully will help my language learning! The title is Aprender Español en Atenas, linked here for your language experience. At least I won’t be so long-winded in a language I’m learning!  🙂

In my second post there I refers to a local book some university students put together on culture and language as the first in a series. This one on music, Dances of the Sun and Moon. I just reviewed it for Goodreads and basically a good idea for teens and young adults, but I will not be continuing the series. See my review for why.

My “Target Audience” for this English blog has been and will continue to be mainly friends and family in the United States, though stats show it is being read all over the world by about 150-200 persons a post!  🙂  It is about my retirement in Costa Rica and the other main audience is people who are thinking about retiring here which is a growing audience and by people already retired here!  🙂

The new Spanish blog is for Spanish-speakers, particularly in Costa Rica, whom I hope will help me in my journey to learn the language. It will NOT be a translation of this blog or visa-verso!

This English blog will continue to be what used to be my “Adventures” blog and “Nature” blog all in one. I’m including some “Spiritual” in this blog but may still restart or continue my old Spiritual Blog, “His Spirit Blog” since it is a more targeted subject and thus maybe audience. Not sure yet.

Pura Vida!

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A People Day

And not a single photo of all the neat people I related to today!

I waved goodbye to my neighbors Don & Judy and the landlord’s gardener Javier as I walked out our compound gate for my Spanish Class at Su Espacio. Then “Buenas Dias” to Luis, the guard at our Roca Verde gate.  It is my habit to say just “Buenos” (the new, younger greeting) to everyone I meet on the sidewalk walking to town. If someone refuses to make eye contact, then they don’t want to be spoken to, so I don’t force them!  🙂

I greet the shop keepers around the Su Espacio Community Center and whoever is already in the center, except the exercise class which is very busy! Everyone here is so nice and friendly and we all greet and visit at first. The two hours of Spanish with an hour and a half just talking in Spanish which is what I need the most to learn the language! After class I visit with another student a bit and then head for the post office to wait in line to get postage on a letter to the states.

I mailed my request for U.S. Voter Registration to Nashville as a citizen living out of the country. I’m only allowed to vote in national elections, which is mainly the presidential election every 4 years. To vote for mayor or governor you have to actually live in the city or state. Makes sense! My national election vote is counted among the “Absentee Voting” and I read somewhere that they only count those if the election is very close and it could make a difference. But I like doing my duty!

While waiting in line at the “Correos” (Post Office) I see the business associate from my old apartments, Hacienda La Jacaranda with the new manager. We talk for 5 to 7 minutes in Spanish no less! I’m so proud of myself! The new manager wants some of my photos to possibly use in promotion or marketing of the apartments. I will gladly provide them gratis. I really want that place to succeed! It has so much potential. Then after talking to the two ladies I got acquainted with a nice guy behind me in line who speaks fluent Spanish and English and he chose to use English mostly with me.

From there to Coopeatenas, my supermercado, for about 4 items and a visit in the produce section with Carol, a former Spanish student who may come back. She is from Inglaterra (England) and just got back from a business trip back there.  We talked in Spanglish!  🙂

By then it was late enough for lunch and as I was headed toward La Carreta I bumped into Jason, a local Tico young man who helps in Su Espacio Spanish and English classes, for conversation and tutoring. I offered to treat him to lunch for some Spanish practice (meaning we only talk in Spanish) and we did, mostly! Soon after we sat down Corinna and Nicole came in for lunch but they did not sit with us because they were using this time for Nicole to work on a jigsaw puzzle (he’s the 6 year old son). So they were at the next table. Then one of my first Tica friends in Costa Rica, Anna, came in with an American friend and tenant in one of her houses and did sit with us. The 80 year old friend just moved here from the states and speaks no Spanish, so English took over again with a few exceptions with Jason and Anna. Wow! A big day already and then it started raining (Hallelujah!). After lunch I walked Jason home under my sombrilla (umbrella) and then on home myself. We are going to start getting together more to just talk in Spanish. His cousin sells good wood fire oven pizza and I’ll have him over for pizza one night and talk in Spanish. Whew! Hey! It is really hard work for me to carry on a conversation in Spanish!  🙂

I’ve been home the rest of the day and still greatly enjoy being “Home Alone” but also enjoyed the many encounters with friends today and much of it in Spanish! The best Spanish Class is talking with live people in Spanish! It is one of my goals!  Pura Vida!

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Fork-tailed Emerald Hummingbird

Back to my garden . . .

Fork-tailed Emerald Hummingbird
In my garden, Roca Verde house, Atenas, Costa Rica

This is my second time to photograph this species in my garden. Both times the light is not good for a clear and colorful photo. He/she is an iridescent green all over except for the dark, forked tail. The first time was no better.  What I need is sunlight shining directly on the bird!  🙂

SPANISH LANGUAGE UPDATE
My progress has been so very slow. ¡Aprendo poco a poco español! (I learn Spanish little by little.) Is what I say to some people. So I have joined a second class that meets only once a week at the little evangelical church I have attended some, Iglesia Biblical. It provides a text book and workbook for homework and it is too early to see if it will help me learn faster, though every effort is of some value! What I need most is to just talk more in Spanish, ignoring the embarrassment of doing it wrong. That is what David Castillo at Su Espacio is trying to get me to do. We are down to just two in his class right now, so it is almost like tutoring. I also try to do one little activity each day on duolingo.com which is a great free language learning site! And I just ordered another CD-based course. So I’m trying! ¡Pero es difícil! (But it is difficult!) Or slow! David suggested I do this blog in Spanish, but that would leave too many of you out, so I won’t. Maybe a separate blog in Spanish?
DROUGHT
This has been one of the driest “Rainy Seasons” on record for the Central Valley and I have to water my garden and new trees every other day. Everyone says the rain should really come in September and October. We’ll see! It is cloudy and thundering right now, but that often means little or nothing!

The only exception to the drought has been the Caribbean side of the country and a few places in the north. It rained every day we were at Yorkin. The northwest or Guanacaste  area is always the driest part of the country and it is even drier this year. It is really hard on farmers!

 Time flies, but not backwards, like a hummingbird can.
(-:


Good night from Atenas, Costa Rica! The little bit of rain passed fast and gave us fog. Pura Vida!
View from my balcony of course!


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Church Bingo, Stuffed Grapefruit, and Indian Village!

David invited estudiantes del español to the church bingo Sunday afternoon.
Not many of us showed up to practice our números in a fun way. Our table.
We were given corn kernels with our cards to lay on the numbers.
A card cost 1 mil colones ($2) as fundraiser for the church.
None on our table won a prize, though Corinna had a winning card.
Plus food was for sale! We shared tortillas with cream cheese.
Ticos use cream cheese instead of butter for lots of things.
Bingo & Lunch for sale was right after 11 AM Mass.
That is not when this older photo was made.
That Mass is a packed house!
–
Stuffed Grapefruit!
copied from web
I forgot to report the other day my experience eating a stuffed grapefruit, a Costa Rican specialty! The whole grapefruit is cooked and somehow candied and mine was stuffed with cream cheese, a dearly beloved by-product of milk or the cream here, which is why it is hard to find local butter. They use most of the cream for cream cheese! I told you that Ticos have more of a sweet tooth than me!  🙂

Here is one online recipe that doesn’t use cream cheese but a condensed milk and sugar filling. That is all I could find online. I guess it is just too local!”The place where I bought it used the name “Ronja Rellenos” for them, which I can’t find on the web. Another new experience!

copied from Google images

SERENDIPITY TRIP TOMORROW! Caribbean Coast and 3 nights in BriBri Indian Village.

The birding club had this trip planned for awhile with limited space in the humble lodging. I was on the waiting list. Well, last night there was a last minute cancellation and I decided to take it without any of my usual long range planning! Am I getting impulsive?

I have a 4W Drive vehicle reserved for in the morning. I’ll drive to the coast and to a hotel in Puerto Viejo de Talamanca called Cariblue, very nice and on the beach! Meeting some club members for dinner there.

copied from Casa de Las Mujeres site

Then friday morning we caravan drive through the jungle through Bribri to Bambu on dirt and gravel roads, fording streams. At Bambu we pay someone to watch our cars and we take our “pack light” bags on a small boat for an hour floating trip to the village on Yorkin River in the Bribri Yorkin Reservation where we will stay 3 nights with no electricity at night (limited in day).

The Bribri are our hosts and will serve all meals, take us birding in the mornings and evenings with free time in the village and surrounding area with a waterfall and a hot springs. It will of course be a cultural experience with some of the few indigenous peoples left in Costa Rica. It is intentionally not promoted as a tourist destination. There’s only a half page in the Lonely Planet Costa Rica travel guide book about Yorkin. It is where people live and work and not equipped to handle tourists. Birders are different of course!  🙂

copied from Google images

The only websites on the village are by the various tour companies who take small groups there. I’m linking to Casa de Las Mujeres Yorkin because they have this good map. We are not using any tour company. Our birding guide has worked directly with the village elders and they are providing our boat transportation, meals, housing and guides into the forest in search of birds. So we are totally supporting the indigenous community.

A dream trip for me! How often do you have indigenous people taking you into an ancient forest looking for birds?

copied from Google images
“The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” 
― Augustine of Hippo
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Don Quixote

I finally finished one of the more difficult books to read for me yet, but glad I did. Don Quixote by
Miguel de Cervantes. I read the Edith Grossman English translation which many reviewers say is the best translation ever for this Spanish classic. It is actually two books now published together at nearly 1,000 pages.

More than once I nearly put it down to not finish, especially in book 1, which is just too crazy to really like, yet the plot slowly develops and by book 2 Cervantes is actually making sense of the mixed up world in which he lived and the silly escapades of a crazy Don Quixote, as Knight Errant, and his simpleton helper, Sancho Panza. It has all the tricks and gimmicks of novels today with a little bit of history, probably some of Cervantes biography, and is a parody of the romance novels of the 1500’s which is of everything that is gentle, forlorn, pure, unselfish, and gallant. It is in some ways many novels within one and for awhile a new story in nearly every chapter, that often had little, if anything, to do with the story of Don Quixote and Sancho Panza. Its a morality play, a political novel, a touch of history, and multiple takes on the religious, spiritual, power, class, and money controlling life in the 1500’s. Whew!

It was heavy at times, funny at times, and sometimes just plain boring. Do I recommend it? Only if you like a challenge! And no, I don’t think it represents my adventure in Costa Rica. (Though there might be some parallels!)   🙂

See also my Goodreads Review

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Felt Like Driving in Africa Again!

Just a gravel road you say? Well rainy season has made it a pot-holed rub board!
Driving a rent car on this to my hotel reminded me of driving in The Gambia.
Only we have mountains here!  los bosques en las montañas

From the road I snapped this view on cell phone of Tarcoles River dumping into the Pacific Ocean on a cloudy day.
But no views like this from Hotel Villa Lapas which is deep in the forest on the edge of Parque Nacional Carara.
Part of this little simple mountain lodge is made into a Spanish Colonial Village.
I’m sleeping in a tile-roofed hacienda with plaster walls and a musty smell.
Español colonial hotel de estilo

To make the colonial village complete, they have a little church (for weddings they say).
Old and simple but just right for a birder with the forest up against the backs of buildings.
The food was okay for dinner. You go to the beach town of Jaco for modern hotels.
con la iglesia

I’ve heard birds and seen a bat but the only wildlife I’ve photographed on the arrival afternoon are the leaf-cutter ants at right.

I did drive 6 km up the dirt road to Pura Vida Gardens which are simply beautiful in a hard to get to place with beautiful vistas and flowers and a view of what they call the tallest waterfall in Costa Rica. They also call it “Pura Vida Waterfalls,” but it is better know by “Bijagual Waterfalls” (name of nearby town) and “Manantial de Agua Viva Waterfalls.” I’m going with this last name.

I will do a separate post on the gardens tomorrow. Then tomorrow’s tour in the park is when I hope to collect a lot of bird photos. We’ll see! I trusted the hotel to get me a guide, so “proof’s in the pudding!”

I’m still reading Don Quiote and picking up Sancho’s habit of quoting truisms! 🙂  And I would love to hear from someone who has read it with your opinions, feelings, or meaning of the book. I’ve nearly quit reading it several times, saying “This is stupid!” But know how historically significant it is, so I keep trudging on through it at about 70% now.

Expect several more days of blogging from this trip. 🙂

“Blogging is like work, but without coworkers thwarting you at every turn.”

~Scott Adams  (Dilbert creator)