Well as you might have noticed I'm not having much luck at all with downloading photos from my recent trip to the Orosi Valley. One per day isn't going to cut it so I've decided to wait with the rest until I get to my sister's house in Maryland next week. There should be a stronger connection that I think will help. After some off and on rain yesterday today was partly to mostly cloudy with some cooler breezes. Probably in the low to mid 70's instead of the upper 70's to low 80's. So I walked into town this morning to go to the bank and the store. One interesting observation I don't believe I've yet shared....the young Ticas all wear very very tight pants! Now before all you male types book the next flight ... read more

Buenos dias, I've decided to separate my trip into two parts, Heredia which is where Maria Elena lives and drove us around in the first part and the Orosi Valley will be in the second part. The taxi picked up around 6:30 on Sat. morning to take both Barb & I to the Atenas bus station. We were dropped off at the bus station at the airport bus station just 35 minutes after the bus left. After a short wait Maria Elana cam in her car to pick us up and take us to her house. There we briefly met her son as he was leaving and then went inside to a warm welcome by her two dogs Mimi, a tiny black chihuahua and her scotty, who's name I can't remember. They also have two cats ... read more

A busy day indeed it was! Busy and good. As always I bought a lot at the Feria even with limiting myself to the bland/soft diet on on. Everything looks so tasty and fresh! Probably because it is! I bought quite a bit of watermelon since that's high on my "can eat" list. I've already eaten most of it;) It was a pretty hot day here today. I mostly noticed it when I walked to my follow up doctor's appointment. The person I saw reminded that recovering from MR is a process and doesn't happen overnight. I'm definitely doing better just not 100% yet. I expect it to be somewhat challenging to stay on the bland diet while traveling but I'll do my best. Certainly don't want a reappearance of MR...especially when traveling;(. So far I've ... read more

I was pretty ambitious this morning as I walked to the bank and store before taking a taxi up to Barb's lovely casita. I was feeling slightly better before lunch but then started feeling lousy right afterwards. So she encouraged me to schedule an appointment with a doctor she went to see a few weeks earlier. I was able to get an appointment for 4pm today. So we took a taxi there. As I had suspected I had the common stomach upset that often happens to Gringos.....otherwise known as Montezuma's Revenge! I guess there's a first time for everything! Before the female doctor came in the male paramedic took my vitals and they were all normal. Then Dr. Candy Midence Noquera entered and asked many questions about my health in general. She seemed familiar with scleroderma ... read more

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