What To Do When the Taxi Goes "Boom!"

Winston and I had a little adventure today as we returned home by taxi from his vet appointment. Even the vet appointment was something of an adventure, or perhaps more of a nightmare for poor Winnie. This was a re-check on his skin problem, trying to rid him of mites causing mange, resulting in spots of hair loss. And if the hair loss itself wasn't bad enough I took a friend's advice and tried hydrogen peroxide on the spots, resulting in a spotty bleach job! Poor Winnie!

Winston is muy guapo perro - very handsome dog

For a doggie as beautiful as Winston with his luxuriant dark chocolate coat of fur, having mange is really quite humiliating for him. So we have diligently followed the vet's instructions: prednisone pills for the itching (given in a lump of peanut butter, which he loves!), twice-weekly baths with a special soap which must be left on him for twenty minutes (which we both hate!) and shots of ivermectin. It's these shots that are so awful. For some reason, the ivermectin must be very painful when it goes into the skin because poor Winston started yelping and squirming and trying to lick the spot on his back where the shot went. Last time he had to have three different shots - the ivermectin, an antibiotic and something else - and he had jumped around and yelped so much that I assumed it was just a carelessly rough technique on the part of the vet. So today I asked the doctor to be very meticulous not to hurt Winnie. But apparently it's not the vet's technique but just the intense quality of the medicine. But like the trooper he is, Winston came through like a champ.

Hair is finally growing back!

We were then off to the grocery store, practicing "heeling" along the way, and since Layne was not with us today (that's another story involving a friend with a medical problem), I put Winston in a "sit - stay" outside (and tied his leash to a door just to be sure) while I went in for our few items. In the store I ran into our friend Stephen and we chatted a few minutes about our mutual friend's medical condition. But soon my shopping was done and I went out to collect Winston - what a good boy! - and head for the taxi stand. I was pleased to see our friend and favorite taxista Nelson waiting in the taxi line so we hopped in for the ten-minute ride home.

But about halfway up a hill along the way, Boom! went the engine and suddenly smoke was pouring out from under the hood. Nelson and I simultaneously exclaimed: Uh-oh! As luck would have it we were along the route leading to the Palmares turnoff and the traffic was heavy due to the big 10-day fiesta starting today in that cowboy town up and over the mountain. But we had no choice. We had to pull over, raise the hood, put out the triangle warning stands and watch the traffic crawl by. Looking in the engine, we could quickly see that the radiator had burst. 

Winston and I wait in the car with the hood up

Maybe Nelson gets a new car out of the deal

So Nelson called his brother Jorge to come pick up me and Winston and take us the rest of the way home. Nelson says his boss will buy a new car - or perhaps just a new radiator. But he's hoping for a new car since this one has been giving him considerable problems even before today. In the midst of all this drama, however, Nelson still had a smile on his face. Now that's Pura Vida!

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Perils in Costa Rican Paradise

Most of the time Layne and I are singing the praises of Costa Rica but today I am compelled to point out a couple of negatives, since I was almost knocked down by one of them on our walk this morning and the other issue may be causing me a health problem.

Not much of a shoulder

Getting back into our routine of taking leisurely walks in our Santa Eulalia neighborhood, today we headed down the main road on the route we sometimes take toward the next town up the mountain from us. We laughingly say, as we head out, "let's go to Palmares," knowing that in fact the pueblo is some ten miles away, far too distant for a hike. The first part of our walk of necessity is along the main road to Grecia, a reasonably busy asphalt thoroughfare that runs through Santa Eulalia. The street is wide enough for two cars or trucks but with little leeway beyond that. Some parts of the roadway have sidewalk but most of the way we must stay to the edge of the road, often just a sloping concrete gutter, and watch out for traffic.

Now let's talk traffic. In Costa Rica, pedestrians do NOT have the right of way; cars do. And Ticos in general are horrendous drivers, weaving through traffic, passing on blind curves and speeding as a way of life. Reckless is the only way to describe most drivers here, sad to say. So it definitely pays to keep your eyes open when strolling along a roadway. Layne and I wisely walk facing the traffic so that some crazy driver does not overtake us from behind.

Today as we took a breather under the shade of a tree just off the road in a driveway, we looked back to see a truck and with two cars behind heading our way but on the other side of the road, of course, so no problem, right? Just as they were almost alongside us, I chose that moment to step out from the driveway and start walking again, not realizing that one of the cars had chosen that same moment to pass the truck. Suddenly I was aware of a white metal monster only a foot or two away from me, whizzing by at probably fifty miles an hour as he sped around the truck. Holy Moly! To say I was shocked is an understatement. It all happened too quickly for me to be scared but we certainly considered it still another cautionary note in staying safe on the streets of Costa Rica.

The other issue we are dealing with is pesticide use here in this beautiful country that prides itself on being "green." Last summer after living about a year in Costa Rica, I developed a very persistent case of eczema. The itchy red rash covers most of my arms and is in patches on my hands, legs and shoulders. I've seen dermatologists here and in the U.S., had a biopsy and numerous other tests done including allergy blood work, used different creams and have taken several rounds of steroids, which do cure the symptoms but not the disease. Plus, steroids have some very negative side effects with long-term use.

Giving up on Western medicine's reliance on pills, I began to do my own research and learned that, although no one knows what triggers it, eczema is the body's way of ridding itself of contaminants that are too much for the normal mode of dispersing toxins, namely, the liver, kidneys and other parts of the digestive system. When those organs become overloaded, excess pollutants will exit the body through the skin.

Toxins, eh? Well, with further research we have learned that unfortunately Costa Rica has the highest use of pesticides per hectare IN THE WORLD. That's a lot of pesticides. Take a look at the graph below (sorry it's so small) and you can see that Costa Rica stands head and shoulders above everyone else -- not a place you really want to be in this case! Not only that, but Costa Rica uses pesticides that have been banned in many other countries.

For instance, when we first encountered leafcutter ants, we were advised to buy Mirex insecticide to deal with them. After making the purchase but before opening the package, we decided to research the product and found that it had been banned by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency way back in 1976. Without delay we returned the package to the store and just left the leafcutters to do their thing.

Our concerns are not just for our own health but also for that of farm workers here, who typically use no protective gear when spraying. 

According to one report, Costa Rican pesticide use has led to the poisoning of some 400,000 people, or about 2% of the population. Effects can include sterility, hormone dependency and liver and skin cancers. Costa Rican crops using the most dangerous chemicals are pineapple, bananas and coffee, most of which are grown on large plantations. Some people assert that smaller farms, which sell their wares at the local ferias, do not use chemical pesticides and indeed we have one vendor at the Atenas feria that claims to grow his crops organically.

We don't really know, of course, whether my eczema is related to exposure to these poisons but it is cause for concern. Our solution is buy almost exclusively organic fruits and vegetables and I've given up alcohol, coffee, dairy (other than goat's milk) and most meat in an effort to reduce the toxins I'm taking into my system.

Despite these problems, we still enjoy our life here in the land of Pura Vida. Our walk this morning reaffirmed one thing about Costa Rica that we love: the friendliness of Ticos. As we hiked by a construction site, the workers called out a loud "Hola!" to us and waved when we turned to respond. And as I snapped a shot of cars going by, the driver of a rather antique tractor stopped and smiled for my camera, happily posing for the picture. Now if the country will just go more organic, Pura Vida will mean "pure life" indeed. 

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