Jenn comes for a visit

The past couple of weeks have been pretty quiet… again.  My foot is still giving me a lot of problems, so a lot of our days are just spent lounging at the pool and basking in the sun.

The rainy season is quickly approaching; so we’re trying to soak up as much sun as possible.  The locals that we’ve talked to, are expecting the rains to start any time now; hope that we get a few good thunder/lightning storms while were still here.

Last week our friend Jenn confirmed that she was coming to Costa Rica for a weeks visit.  We started to look for a way to get her from San Jose to Jaco. 

While in a shop looking for souvenirs, we got talking to one of the shop owners.  Joey has lived in Costa Rica for 22 years and is a wealth of information.  He offered to drive us to San Jose to pick up Jenn; and it was the cheapest and most direct offer that we had so far… so we accepted.

We got to the airport with plenty of time; picked up Jenn and started heading back to Jaco.  Along the way, Joey stopped at a bridge that is known for the crocodiles that hang around there.  We stopped and got a few pictures.  We then stopped at a local fishing village and took a look at a fish market. 

When we arrived back in Jaco, we were all pretty hungry, so off to Rustico’s we went.  We then headed over to Joey’s house; and we were all impressed with his little piece of heaven, right downtown Jaco.   While having dinner, we made plans to get together on the beach for a fire.  Joey and his wife Eida gathered a few friends and we had ourselves a nice beach party.

Sunday, was spent at the pool and a trip to the grocery store for supplies.  And yesterday, the 3 of us booked a Tranopy tour through Joey.  He’s just started doing tours again; and it turned out that we were his first tour customers.

Off we went, and the 3 of us, along with our guide Nathan, headed up through the rain forest.  Since we were the last group of the day, we were able to stop our cable car whenever we saw something of interest.  

We saw lots of interesting wildlife; including a kuwati (relative of the racoon); a turkey vulture; a iguana and a tucan.  You could hear the tucan better than you could see it.

Once off the tranopy, we were toured around the grounds and saw lots of beautiful plants and flowers.  Also stopped in to see some snakes.

The whole tour was about 2 hours, and we all enjoyed ourselves.

A few weeks ago, we discovered a new restaurant.  Papas & burgers and their sign said that they had the best burgers in Jaco.  So we gave them a try; and their food was great.  We’ve been back one other time since.  This is where we took Jenn for dinner after the tranopy.

Chris, the owner, was quite happy to see us again so soon; and once again, the food was great.

Not sure what were doing today; as the sky isn’t sure if it wants to rain or not.  

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A quiet couple of weeks and then a scare

It’s been a couple of pretty quiet weeks around here.

Some of you will remember that I hurt my foot a while back on the boat for Mike’s birthday.  Well 3 weeks later, and my foot is finally on the mend.

I somehow pulled a tendon (or something) in my right heel.  It was pretty sore; and I couldn’t put any pressure on my foot.  Walking was a real challenge.  You don’t realize how much you use your feet until one of them gets hurts.

Even going to the pool was a challenge.  We have 3 flights of stairs to go up just to get to the road.  The pool across the street has a steep ramp to go up to get to it; and the other pool is 65 steps down a switchback staircase.

I was able to develop a “walk” that managed to get me around a bit.  Turned my foot to the right; and took a step with the whole foot moving, instead of having to move it up and down.  Seemed to work; but it still made it interesting to get around.

Finally started to feel better and we headed down to the beach last Saturday.  Watched the sunset for a bit and then went for dinner.  Tried a new place this time.  We shared a pizza; and it was just okay.  We then headed to the grocery store and took a cab back.

My foot was a little sore the next day, but much better than I thought it would be.  And now that another week has passed, it’s that much better again.

Yesterday, I had quite the scare.  We decided to move the couch and sweep underneath it; and I must have pulled a muscle.  About an hour later, I was having pretty sharp pains in my chest and was having troubles getting a proper breath. 

I thought I was having a heart attack.  But thankfully I wasn’t.  I didn’t want to alarm Mike, but with each breath becoming harder to get; I knew I had to do something.  After looking on-line for some information about a heart attack, I knew it was time to call for help.  Because my family has a history of heart problems, I didn’t want to mess around.

Mike went up the road and found Michael, who called a cab… which was faster than an ambulance.  He also was able to tell the cab where we needed to go.

We arrived at the walk-in clinic.  I went directly in to the front desk.  There were 3 people behind, and I asked the first person if she spoke English.  A little was her response.  I then told her that I had been having severe chest pains and was having troubles breathing.

Before I knew it, the other 2 people (one the doctor and the other an orderly) from the desk were leading me down a hall.  Helped me onto a bed; and had an EKG hooked up to me before Mike had even finished paying the cab driver.

Thankfully, I wasn’t having a heart attack.  Turns out that I had a muscle spam in my left chest cavity.  Within a few minutes I had 2 shots in my hip, one to relax the muscles and the other to open my air waves.  I began to instantly feel better. 

The doctor kept me hooked up to the EKG for about an hour; and commented that she felt like she was looking at the heart of a 15 year old and that I had 99% oxygen replacement in my lungs.  Boy was that good news!


The doctor, Brenda, that took care of me did an excellent job.  The clinic was small but very clean and well organized.  Turns out that I was the only patient, and she gave me care above and beyond.  Once I was stabilized, she asked me my name and then asked where I was from.  When I responded that I was from Canada, a big smile came upon her face and I quote “I love Canadians, you guys are all so friendly and polite”.  Made me feel good to hear that. 

My blood pressure did drop a bit while there; but an IV solution soon changed it back to normal.  110 over 60.  The total bill was $250 US and after talking to the insurance people last night;  a full refund will be issued upon filling out the forms after we get home.

Needless to say, I was pretty scared and had lots of horrible thoughts going through my head.  But I am thankful that it wasn’t anything serious.

On another note of health, Mike’s aunt Marie is in the hospital right now and could sure use some prayers, good thoughts and good energy to be sent her way. 

And from the time we got home late yesterday afternoon until we went to bed, mother nature entertained us with an amazing lighting show.  We even went up to the road at one point to watch it.

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