Intercultural Negotiations

I dislocated my shoulder rough-housing with one of my classmates while we were staying at this hostel in Corcovado (southern Costa Rica) which wasn't really close to any hospitals. I could have asked to be taken to a hospital there but it would have been a huge hassel and it honestly wasn't so bad. One of my TA's relocated the shoulder and the pain was bearable enough that I still went on all the hikes and to all the lectures so it was cool. Anyway it was six days before we went to the hospital which was in Liberia, a small city in northern Costa Rica, which was near Santa Rosa National Park, our next campsite after the hostel in Corcovado.

The trip into the city was a pretty memorable experience. For two reasons the traffic in and around the city and the hospital itself in Liberia. I went with one of the cooking staff (Geyvin), my program co-director/coordinator (Kathy), and myself. We drove in this really small old Honda Civic. It was Greyvin's car, and the spedometer didn't work and the engine light was blinking, but the car drove smoothly regardless. One thing I noted was that all the highways we've driven on in CR have been only one-laned and rarely will you find a line dividing the two lanes. This means that these highways can be very very hectic. Since there wasn't more than one lane going in each direction it meant lots of passing. Sometimes Greyvin would pass up to 4 cars including a large semi-truck! This was usually because the truck would have a caravan of cars waiting behind it and the trucks here go really slow. I don't think it's possible to drive here without getting caught up behind a big sugar cane or livestock truck at least several times. Anyway, we had a couple near-death experiences (or a least I though so) on the way into Liberia but it was even worse once were got into the city. In CR, there is universal healthcare so the doctor's here have to spend some time working as a doctor for the government before they can have their own private practice. In CR, doctors typically work for the public hospitals in the morning and afternoon and then at 3-4 start working at their private practices. I went to a private hospital because otherwise I would have been waiting in-line for weeks, but this meant that my appointment wasn't until 5:30pm so that meant we arrived in Liberia right in the middle of rush hour. Not to mention that the main road through Liberia was all screwed up due to construction and re-modeling. Bikes whiz by you, pedestrians just walk in front of your car, and sometimes you turn onto a road that is cordoned off by big barrels that are covered in "flammable stickers". A couple times we had to drive in the opposite direction straight into oncoming traffic just to get into the correct lane of traffic. It was a mess! I've always heard about traffic in developing countries but this was my first first-hand experience of it.

My time at the hospital wasn't all that different than what it would have been here but the real kicker was that I got an X-ray from a radiologist, prescription drugs, an arm-brace, and a visit with an orthopedic surgeon and in total it cost approximately 87,000 colones which is the equivalent of $162! That is so cheap! Plus the healthcare was pretty much the exact same quality as I would get back home. Now I know why people travel down here to get expensive cosmetic surgeries done. So that's one memorable experience I've had, but that's not to say it's the only one, everyday I learn new things, and I already feel like this trip has been life-changing for me.