Health Care in Costa Rica

I recently needed to see a doctor for vertigo and wasn’t sure where to go for private treatment. Our good friend Minor recommended Clinica Medica Sanchez. He even made the appointment for me. 

Over the past almost two years, I have been treated by an excellent orthopaedic doctor for an injury to my left knee. You can read about the experience here. X-rays, ultrasounds, and blood tests showed inflammation in my joints and he thought it might be rheumatoid arthritis.

Since rheumatoid arthritis can affect more than joints - lungs and heart for instance - I decided to see a cardiologist at Clinica Médica Sanchez. Using Whatsapp, I was able to get an appointment quickly with Dr. Brenes. I’m always prepared with copies of recent blood work, x-rays, ultrasounds, diagnoses, etc. 

His office was fully equipped. There was a treadmill for stress tests. He did an ultrasound and an echocardiogram. This is a cool test where you can see your heart live on the monitor beating away. My ticker is in good shape. He recommended that I see a rheumatologist. Total cost: 85,000 CRC or $247.37 CAD.

I obtained a next day appointment with Dra. Romero. She was really nice and spent an hour with me - looking at all my test results, x-rays, etc., physical exam. Also an ultrasound of my joints. Three anti-inflammatory shots (I think that is what they were) - in left knee and both shoulders. Wasn’t as painful as it sounds. Today I could walk without left knee pain. Total cost: 65,000 CRC or $189.17 CAD.

She gave me a prescription for anti-inflammatory pills and a cream to rub on painful joints. She also ordered blood work - hemograma VES PCR, factor rheumatoid and anti-CCP. These tests are to determine if I do have rheumatoid arthritis. Clinica Sanchez has its own laboratory. Cost: 49,560 CRC or about $143.00 CAD.

By the way, this clinic is a member of MediSmart, a discount medical program that we belong to. We can see specialists quickly for reasonable prices.

So my next appointment with Dra. Romero is in one month. She stressed that I continue with physiotherapy, the exercises they have taught me, the anti-inflammatory diet and, of course, the gym for weights and strength training.

We feel that we receive excellent medical care here in Costa Rica - with both the private system and the public system. All the procedures outlined above could have been obtained in the public system at no cost. But, while the public system can be superb when dealing with emergency situations, it can be slow to deal with non-emergency situations. Bottom line: wherever you may reside, I think you should have the option to rely upon public medical care or private medical care. Neither Canada nor the USA  appears to provide that option in a balanced manner.

Off Topic:

ARCR (Association of Residents of Costa Rica) has recently published the 2025 March - April issue of its EL RESIDENTE magazine. Lance and I are members of ARCR.

The magazine contains many articles and references which may be of general interest or to those planning a visit or move to Costa Rica.

Eyes on Costa Rica and Weather Records - February 2025

Click on images to enlarge.

During February, visits to this blog were received from the following 13 countries:

Each country is followed in brackets by the total number of visits received since records first started to be kept in November 2012.

From the time I started to keep track, the total number of countries and non-independent jurisdictions from which visits have been received remains at 137. Of this number, 13 are non-independent jurisdictions - for example, Guernsey which is a self-governing British Crown Dependency and from which 1 visit has been received.

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The following is a summary of the weather for February in the area where we live:

Similar to January, there was an unusual amount of cloud cover on many days in February. Generally, the result was lower daytime high temperatures and higher overnight low temperatures.

Again similar to January, there were many days when the cloud cover did not produce any rain. The total amount of rain which was produced during the 5 days when it did rain was minimal and characteristic of the "dry season" in our part of Costa Rica.

Information on current and recent weather conditions, climate change and more in various parts of Costa Rica can be obtained from the website of IMN: Instituto Meteorológico Nacional de Costa Rica (Spanish) or National Institute of Meteorology (English). IMN also has a Facebook page which may be of interest.

Breakfast and Lunch

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We recently discovered a new (to us) restaurant that serves breakfast on Sundays - Arje Restaurante y Cafe.

Here is their location:

Here’s what I ordered:

It was excellent - two eggs, bacon, avocado and toast. My drink was a lemonado with herbs.

Lance ordered a breakfast burrito:

The interior of this restaurant is really interesting - all murals, funky decorations and the cashier stand is the front end of a Volkswagen. 

For lunch, we ate at Rejn Asian Fusion Restaurant and it is located here:

We hadn’t been to this restaurant in quite a while. Their menu now includes a lot more dishes, including Filipino choices. We shared steamed gyozas and dashi tofu. The drink I ordered was called a “bobalicious”, a kind of cold “bubble tea” concoction - very rich,

Eyes on Costa Rica and Weather Records - January 2025

Click on images to enlarge.

During January, visits to this blog were received from the following 13 countries:

Each country is followed in brackets by the total number of visits received since records first started to be kept in November 2012.

From the time I started to keep track, the total number of countries and non-independent jurisdictions from which visits have been received remains at 137. Of this number, 13 are non-independent jurisdictions - for example, Guam which is an unincorporated territory of the United States and from which 2 visits have been received.

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The following is a summary of the weather for January in the area where we live:

January was the second month of our so-called "dry season". However, there was an unusual amount of cloud cover on many days resulting in lower daytime high temperatures and slightly higher overnight low temperatures (the clouds tending to keep heat in during the night).

On many days, the cloud cover did not produce any rain but on the 7 days that it did it produced more than three times the amount we encountered in any previous January during our time in San Roque de Grecia.

Information on current and recent weather conditions, climate change and more in various parts of Costa Rica can be obtained from the website of IMN: Instituto Meteorológico Nacional de Costa Rica (Spanish) or National Institute of Meteorology (English). IMN also has a Facebook page which may be of interest.

Atenas Art Show 2024

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On December 6,7 and 8, 2024, the annual Just in Time for Christmas art show and sale was held at Colinas del Sol, Atenas, Costa Rica.

I had a number of my art works on display:

The “Madam Justice Bovina” series.

We stayed at Colinas del Sol for a couple of nights and had a really nice room close to the swimming pool:

Of course Kermit came with us.

Leading up to the restaurant.

It was a fun weekend. We met up for lunch with friends that we had made when we lived in Atenas. The resort had live music each night in the restaurant area. 

We made dash cam videos of our drives to Atenas from Grecia and back home to Grecia. Some may find it interesting to see what the roads, towns and scenery are like in this part of Costa Rica.

The first video is from Grecia to Atenas:

Here is a map of this route:

The next video is from Atenas to Grecia:

Map of the route:

Here is a shorter route to Atenas that we might have taken. We have done so in the past but it is not currently recommended because of land falls:

Off Topic:

ARCR (Association of Residents of Costa Rica) has recently published the 2025 January-February issue of its EL RESIDENTE magazine. Lance and I are members of ARCR.

The magazine contains many articles and references which may be of general interest or to those planning a visit or move to Costa Rica.

Still Learning After Fourteen Years

As I have mentioned in previous posts, we have and use the public health care system in Costa Rica (Caja). We also have the choice to use private health care and so we use a mix of the two as needed.

Every six months, Lance and I have routine (control) medical appointments at our assigned Ebais. These appointments include seeing a doctor, requisitions for blood work and prescription refills.

Last month (December 2024) we were due to make appointments for the bloodwork. At the same time, our Subaru was with our mechanic for some needed repairs. So we called our friend and driver Alex (506-8752-3311) to take us for groceries, etc.

On one of these trips, I asked him to stop at our Ebais so I could make the appointments. He looked at the requisitions, stopped his vehicle and talked to someone he knew who apparently said the appointments were actually to be made at our Grecia hospital (San Francisco de Asis). Alex took us there right away, navigated me to the laboratory appointment window and dealt with  everything. He came away with two appointments for us (January 20, 2025) and an empty gallon jug for me to be filled with 24 hours worth of urine before my appointment. This jug is so embarrassing because everyone knows what it is for.

Alex even WhatApp’d me yesterday to find out if we managed everything at the hospital on Monday. He is a good friend. But wait! There’s more! He has a beautiful voice and sings karaoke. On one of our drives, I was sitting in the front seat. He had karaoke lyrics up on his phone and I was serenaded! Now I have a singing barber and a singing taxi driver.

Here is a short video of Alex of him singing in his taxi:

Blood work at the hospital is done between 0600 and 0700. We were there around 0600. It is a chaotic place, lineups everywhere. I knew where the lab appointment window was so we went and stood in that lineup. As usual Costa Ricans are very helpful and one patient directed us to the correct line. Eventually we got to the receptionist window. She takes the requisitions and gives them to someone else who calls your name for the next available blood technician. 

I had three requisitions, one of which required my height and weight. My listed height was incorrect so she indicated I needed to go somewhere “down the hall” with the requisition and get measured. Had no idea where that might be. I was misdirected a couple of times but finally cornered a nice fellow who understood what was needed. Off to the nurse’s office, he put me at the front of the (long) line and the nurse measured me right away. Back to the lab waiting room, gave the receptionist the corrected requisition and stood in the area where you wait for your name to be called. At least I was able to be rid of the by then heavy gallon jug my first time at the window.

While doing this, a lovely lady in the “wait until it’s your turn” lineup spoke to me in English and said I was in the right area. I apologized for my babyish Spanish and she said her English wasn’t much better and we had a laugh. I didn’t have long to wait for my turn. Meanwhile Lance sailed through the whole process and waited for me in the hallway. All in all, it didn’t take longer than an hour.

I have an app called EDUS (https://www.issa.int/gp/197720) and today I was able to see the blood test results which I WhatsApp’d to my ortho doctor (who is in the private system) for his info. I have already heard back from him and he is comparing the results with previous tests that he ordered.

Eyes on Costa Rica and Weather Records - December 2024 & Year End Review

Click on images to enlarge.

During November, visits to this blog were received from Hong Kong and the following 13 countries:

Each country and Hong Kong is followed in brackets by the total number of visits received since records first started to be kept in November 2012.

From the time I started, the total number of countries and non-independent jurisdictions from which visits have been received rose to 137 in December. Of this number, 13 are non-independent jurisdictions such as Hong Kong. The latest country was Iran. The location indicated by the visitor's IP address was Tehran which is Iran's capital city.

For 2024 as a whole, visits were received from 48 identifiable countries and non-independent jurisdictions. Also, the number of viewers of my YouTube video showing our landing back in 2017 at the Juan Santamaría International Airport (SJO) in Costa Rica surpassed 10,000 in 2024. 

So far as I can tell, the video is somewhat unique - especially as it was taken while aboard a relatively large aircraft (a Boeing 757-200). There are many YouTube videos taken while a large aircraft descends from a distance to the SJO runway along a straight line flight path. In our case, the aircraft first flew from west to east slowly descending until over San José. Then it did a 180° turn ending with a low altitude steeply banked portion before straightening out and heading westward to land.

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The following is a summary of the weather for December in the area where we live:

Compared to November which saw an uncharacteristic surge in rainfall, the amount in December was characteristically low and signaled the beginning of the dry season. As shown in the following chart, the amount of rain in December 2024 was about the same as December 2023.

However, all was not normal. On many days, there was a substantial amount of cloud cover throughout the day.  Often the cloud cover did not produce any rain but it shielded the sun and kept temperatures down. The average daytime high in December 2024 was 3.5°F (2.0°C) less than that in December 2023.

Information on current and recent weather conditions, climate change and more in various parts of Costa Rica can be obtained from the website of IMN: Instituto Meteorológico Nacional de Costa Rica (Spanish) or National Institute of Meteorology (English). IMN also has a Facebook page which may be of interest.