This October has been relatively dry. Normally October can be the rainiest month of the year. That doesn't mean it pours rain non-stop day and night though. What usually happens is the morning will be sunny and clouds start to build up early in the afternoon. Then we experience an hour or so of refreshing rain and that's it - at least where we live. The weather patterns will be different in other areas of Costa Rica and at different elevations.
Being here in the green season is very nice. Everything is so lush, the beaches and resorts aren't crowded and hotels and vacation rentals offer lower rates.
We have learned to do our laundry early in the morning so it can line dry before the clouds shuffle in. Having a nice, breezy day speeds things up too. We had torrential rain most of last night but it's nice being cosy in bed and listening to the rain. We have a tile roof so the sound is not bad but I've heard that, with a tin roof, you can't hear a thing inside the house.
I walked to the Coopatenas mercado this morning when it was still clear, picked up a few groceries, taxied back with Diego and the rain started again as soon as I stepped into the house. It's been pretty much non-stop since then. The temperature inside the house is 73.2F/22.9C. Coming from living in the Pacific Northwest, rain doesn't bother us at all.
Found out that the activities celebrating San Rafael Parish actually start today in the centre of Atenas and continue on until Sunday. I guess the parade we saw last Sunday was an early start.
Our 12 year old cat, Genny, is having health challenges. Two weeks ago she became very ill, stopped eating and drinking and could hardly walk. We initially took her in to see Dr. Olman Solano in Atenas, he took blood samples and injected her with an antibiotic. We highly recommend Dr. Solano. He and his staff are very kind and caring towards animals. His office is located 100 m. east of the ICE office, central Atenas, or 100 m. south of Su Espacio. Phone number 2446-6646, emergency 8995-8585. English spoken. Office hours after 5:00 pm.
By morning, Genny was worse. Since Dr. Solano is at the vet college during the day and only has office hours in the evening, we decided to take Genny to her vet hospital in Santa Ana - Hospital Veterinarios Asociados. I've highly recommended this practice in previous posts. Genny boarded here for a week when we first arrived in Costa Rica.
Dr. Solano's blood results had shown Genny was severely anemic and Dr. Carlos Loria at Hospital Veterinarios Asociados took x-rays and did an ultrasound right away. We knew Genny only had one kidney really working well, the right one. But the ultrasound showed a tumor on that kidney and cysts on the left.
They admitted her and we were able to bring her home three days later. During the three days, we were constantly kept informed via e-mails of results of blood work, etc., diagnosis and recommendations. There is no treatment and no operation available for her. The results of her hospitalization have been wonderful. Since returning home, her appetite has improved greatly, she is very active and alert, still hunting for lizards. Since this is an issue of quality of life, not quantity, she is really living the pura vida! She will still be monitored via blood work though. Barney comes and visits every day or so and they sniff noses and exchange the latest news.
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