Lair Davis (Our Man in Costa Rica)

I’ve Found My First Costa Rican Home!

Things are going well here. School is tough but interesting and fun. I like my teachers a lot but they give us a lot of homework. Last night I dreamed in Spanish, so I guess it is working.
 
I’ve found an apartment — 2 bedrooms, living room, a large, fully equipped kitchen and a laundry/storage room that is bigger than one of the bedrooms. It costs $250 a month, fully furnished. The price includes phone (for in-country calls, but I’ll have to pay for international calls), cable for TV and Internet, electric water and garbage pick-up. I don’t particularly like some of the furniture, and it is fun shopping for stuff here, but it takes a long time to find what you are looking for. When they see a gringo coming, the price goes up unless you make it clear that you know what the price SHOULD be. I’m turning into a good negotiator and bargainer already!
 
The apartment is located in a very quiet “residencial” on the outskirts of Grecia, a small town (population around 15,000) about 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the capital of San Jose (population 1.5 million).

Towns really have a center here. There is a park in the middle of every town with a big Catholic church on one side, a post office and the town hall on another side and businesses on the other two sides. Every church in every town faces west and they are tall, so you can see them from anywhere and always know which direction is which. It’s good that it’s that way, because there are no street signs or numbers on the buildings or houses. Everything is done by landmarks, not addresses.
 
I’m still going out to eat a lot although the apartment in the hotel where I am currently staying has a kitchen. I cook a little and buy lots of fruits and vegetables from the open-air markets, so I am eating healthy most of the time.
 
I went to see a doctor just so I would have one if it became necessary. Dr. Slon speaks perfect English, was educated at Harvard, is a surgeon as well as a regular doctor and teaches at the University of Costa Rica. He met with me for more than an hour and did all the usual tests (blood pressure, look right and cough, etc.) and told me to go to a laboratorio to get my cholesterol checked, along with my prostate and all sorts of other stuff. The exams were the most thorough I have ever been given. All the doctors have been very interested and friendly and have even asked me whether I was depressed or missing my family, etc. Can you imagine a doctor in the United States who would inquire about your mental health as well as your physical health? Most of them will not remember your name, much less you health issues, when you are rushed into their office for your five minutes (which is all the time that the insurance companies will permit them to spend with a single patient).
 
And here’s the amazing part. The doctor visit cost me a total of $18. That’s it, and I am not even enrolled in the nationalized medical system yet. This is what they would charge a tourist who comes to Costa Rica and needs to see a doctor.
 
My doctor also makes house calls for the same price. My cholesterol medicine (Lipitor) costs about half what it costs in the United States — the same amount as my co-pay had been with insurance. After I am enrolled in the medical system, all my health costs and medicine will be free.
 
On Friday, I am meeting my attorney to go and pick up my cedula, which is the national identification card that indicates that I am a legal resident. Then I can enroll in the health system. It will cost me $37 a month. For citizens of Costa Rica, healthcare is free.
 
The doctors are trained in the United States and hospitals and clinics have the best equipment, made in Sweden or the U.S.
 
Pretty amazing. Just goes to show what a country can do when they get rid of their military and spend the money instead on providing education and healthcare to their people. What a concept!
 
Well, I’ve got to finish my homework. I have to interview a Costa Rican in Spanish about how they raise children, and the nightwatchman in the hotel lobby is going to let me interview him.