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| The clinic has an ambulance, ready to go in an emergency. |
“Sightings from the Veranda in Costa Rica”
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| Once back at the villa, the clouds started rolling in from the mountains. |
Yesterday afternoon, with a bit of trepidation, we took a taxi for our appointment with Dr. Candy Midence Noguera, Medico Cirijano Cod, 7620, Consulta Medica – Ninos – Adultos (for children and adults). Phone: 2446-7440 or 2727-6868.
We’re posting the above information if any of our readers visit Atenas and its surrounding areas in the Alajuela Valley, Costa Rica, and need to see a physician. The delightful, bi-lingual Dr. Candy was the perfect choice for our needs.
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| The reception desk at Dr. Candy’s office, Linea Vital de CR. |
We couldn’t have been more pleased with the quality of service we received from Dr. Candy. She brought both of us (on time) into her office, conducting an exam, and walked through each question on the detailed forms with us.
The cruise line, Ponant, requires the exam and accompanying documents to be completed anywhere between 40 and 90 days before the cruise date. This worked out perfectly for us when we’re leaving Costa Rica in 19 days.
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| The waiting room at the doctor’s office. A patient came out of an appointment with the doctor with an IV bag attached to her arm. She sat on this sofa while the IV bag was hung on a small hook attached to the bulletin board. |
As of today, we’ll sail on the Antarctica cruise in 82 days. (The upcoming 30-night cruise to South America sails in 21 days, for which we needed no such documentation).
Fortunately, we passed the exams without any issues. Neither of us has any conditions that might prevent a traveler from embarking on such a cruise that travels well outside the scope of air ambulance service while in one of the most remote areas in the world, Antarctica.
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| As usual, the afternoon sky was cloudy, and rain had begun to fall when we arrived by taxi from the villa. The round trip taxi fare with tip was US $7.03 (CRC 4,000). |
Our total doctor bill for both of us was US $120 (CRC 68,297), not covered by our major medical insurance. Had we been in many other countries, the bill could have been considerably higher. We paid with a credit card and were on our way after big hugs from Dr. Candy.
We now have all the completed documents in hand. Today, we’ll scan and email the medical forms and other forms we had to complete in this time frame, including passport and additional general information. It will be a relief to have this out of the way today, along with all the other “paperwork” we mentioned in yesterday’s post.
Now, during these remaining 20 days in Costa Rica, we only have to scan a pile of receipts, make one more dental appointment for me (something’s wrong with another crown), grocery shop on two more occasions, and of course, pack.
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| View across the street from the doctor’s office. |
We’ve accessed the food on hand and what we’ll need to purchase as we’ve scheduled meals on our calendar for each of the remaining days. After I make tomorrow’s pizza (enough for three nights), we’ll only cook dinners for two more weeks.
This morning it dawned on me that we won’t be cooking for another long stretch, this time from November 23, 2017 (sail away date) until we arrive in South Africa (on or about February 10, 2018), for a total of 80 days.
This won’t be the most extended period we haven’t cook. When we left New Zealand on April 15, 2016, and eventually ended in Phuket, Thailand, on July 23, 2016, we didn’t cook a single meal for a total of 100 days.
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| Cows grazing in our gated neighborhood on the return drive from the doctor. |
These long stretches seem to trigger my enthusiasm for cooking once we’re settled in a new location and have begun thinking about some of our favorite meals. Years ago, I loved to cook, but once we left the US, my interest seemed to wane due to the difficulty in finding ingredients we use for our cooking style.
Photo from one year ago today, November 3, 2016:
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| View one of the 70 islands in the Cumberland group as we sailed by early in the morning. This is one of the main reasons we prefer a balcony cabin. For more photos, please click here. |