Tuesday 6/4- About a month ago Ramie had reached out to Laura, a lawyer that helped us finish our residency process, and asked if she could help fix a small problem that we had with part of our residency. It was nothing major, but just something that we wanted to look into getting changed that would save us some money every month. Well, to fix this little issue we had to wait until today, as the office that handles it only allows these fixes at the beginning of the month. Ramie would have to go to the office in Palmar Norte, about 1 hour from Uvita, to handle this in-person, but Laura would not be able to join him. She helped align the paperwork that he would need, and would be available by phone for questions, but he’d be on his own for this (I was working, otherwise I probably would have gone with him as well). How good is Ramie’s Spanish? I guess he’ll find out! Laura strongly recommended that he be there when they opened at 7:30am, but since he’d have to print out the paperwork and we don’t have a printer, he had to wait for the local printing place here in Uvita to open. Once he had the paperwork in hand, he hit the road and drove South to the office.
When he arrived Ramie was pleased to see that he was next in line. As he was waiting for his turn, he said he heard an extremely loud noise like a leaf blower but bigger and louder. It kept getting louder and louder, and that's when he noticed a guy walking in through the back door of the office building wearing a respirator. WTH?!? This guy just walked into the building where everyone was working and started fumigating with a gas-powered fumigator. Literally like this GIF below.
The staff quickly got up and exited the building, but they really did not direct anyone else to leave. Ramie wasn't about to sit in that nastiness, so he went back outside to wait until everything cleared out and the staff went back to their desks. He had to wait about 20-30 minutes while they aired out the building before he was allowed to go back in. While he was waiting for his turn, he was in contact with Laura who was on standby in case he needed some help. Laura directed him what to say, and to say it exactly like she did, so in his mind he was practicing saying it the whole time while he was waiting. Once they were cleared to go back inside, he was called up to the window right away. He sat down in the chair but had no idea how to say what he needed to say. It was just too complicated to say and way too long to remember it all. He apologized and proceeded to call Laura who spoke to the person for a few minutes to explain what needed explaining. After Laura was finished talking to the worker, she went back to talking to Ramie and told him that the guy knows what he needs to do and will take care of it. It took about more 5 minutes and the guy told Ramie he was good to go. Ramie then asked about my CAJA (Costa Rica socialized healthcare that is part of our residency) to make sure that it was active. It was at this moment that Ramie found out that my healthcare has not been active at all since we signed up, and I haven’t been covered this entire time that we’ve been residents. It turns out that we were supposed to go back for another step to finish signing up for it back after we received our DIMEX, but no one told us about that. Thankfully I haven’t needed to use the CAJA, but it is frustrating to find out almost 2 years later.
When Ramie left the office, he called Laura back once again to tell her that the original small issue was fixed, but what should he do about my CAJA!? Laura advised him to drive to the office in Palmar Sur, just a little bit further south down the highway, to see if he could sign me up. Since he was already on his way north, he turned around and headed straight to the 2nd government office of the day. Fortunately, there was no line and they helped him right away. They started the process to get me signed up for the healthcare, but before they could finish it, they told Ramie that I needed to sign the document. UGH, of course, there was one signature that I wasn’t there to make! They gave Ramie the paper and asked him if he would be able to get it signed and bring it back today. He told them no since it was an hour drive one-way. They insisted that if he couldn’t return today that he come back right away tomorrow morning. When he got home and told me about all of what had happened today up to this point, I was at a good stopping point for the work day, so I decided that we might as well get it taken care of this afternoon, and it was back in the car for Ramie for another hour drive down and another hour drive back. When we arrived back at the office it only took maybe 5-10 minutes, and I was now finally registered for the CAJA healthcare for the next 5 years.
I have been meaning to make a doctor's appointment with a doctor down in Ojochal who I have heard great things about. I wanted to talk to about a few things, and on the drive down to the office I reached out to see if I could get in for a last-minute appointment this afternoon. I was able to set up an appointment for 3pm, but since the paperwork at the office went so quickly, it was only about 1:30 when we were back to Ojochal, which is on the way home. Even though we were early, we decided to just drive to the strip-mall type area that doctors office was located, as there are also some other stores and restaurants, including an ice cream shop.
Even though I typically don’t eat stuff like this, we decided to go get some ice cream drinks, sit outside, and enjoy the beautiful afternoon while we waited until closer to the time of my appointment.
That night we had a good old-fashioned MN style thunder & lightning rainstorm. Even though we’ve been getting quite a bit of rain, it’s been a while since we had a good one with thunder and lightning like that! Truly, the storms here dwarf the MN storms, and this would have been quite severe for MN, but we don’t get the tornadoes and wind, just super intense rain, thunder so loud that it shakes the house, and the lighting literally lights up the whole sky and makes your hair stand up.
Wednesday 6/5- Geoff was in some need of company, so he and Ramie went out to lunch today just to to catch up, and for something to do. Later on this afternoon, Dusti had an appointment at Dekra for the annual inspection. Ramie had to pick up Randall at about 4:00, and when they left home it was sprinkling, which stinks because Dusti doesn't have a windshield. Ramie was sure to wear long sleeves since it can get cool in the mountains, and he packed a dry bag with the goggles, just in case they hit heavy rain while they were driving.
They would take the back-roads to San Isidro instead of the regular roads that we take when we go in the truck because it’s faster, at least for an ATV, but the roads can be pretty rough. Randall's son, who lives with his mom full-time in the US, was down here visiting, so he also went with the guys and rode in the back. It pretty much sprinkled the whole way, and he was not dressed for the cooler mountain air, so when he said that he was cold just before we got to San Isidro, Randall stopped at a small store to see if he could help his son out. When he came back out with some garbage bags, his son asked what that was for, and that's when Randall broke out the knife and made a “Tico-poncho” for him.
The inspection went fairly quickly and Dusti passed with no problems. Afterwards, they stopped at a small restaurant for dinner before heading back home. Before they left the restaurant, though, they all made ponchos out of garbage bags for the ride home. Ramie admitted that it made a big difference. It turns out, if you cut head and arm holes in a garbage bag and wear it like a poncho, it keeps you dry and even warm, and definitely blocks the chill from the wind. They ended up getting home at a little after 8pm.
Saturday 6/8- Even though it was Saturday and we try to get out for our beach walks in the morning, no one reached out to each other to set up a walk for today. I don't think any of us were really feeling it, and everyone else was ok with it. Sometimes, silence can be concurrence, right?
There are some new residents in the neighborhood that are renting the house a couple doors down, right on the other side of Adam & Katie’s house. It turns out that these new neighbors have chickens that they let roam around the neighborhood. I guess it could be considered a good thing because chickens help keep the ticks and bugs down and can keep snakes away, but they are also very curious and like to wander into the other neighbor’s yards when they can get in. Today Ramie had to rescue one from Adam & Katie’s yard after a guest left the gate open and one snuck in as they were leaving, closed the gate, and trapped it inside.
 |
| Thankfully these chickens are friendly and didn't try to peck Ramie's eyes out. |
 |
| Going to check for any more that may have gotten in |
 |
| Checking the progress |
Ramie was also informed by the current guest that the roof at Adam and Katie's house was leaking… again. Unfortunately, this isn't the first guest that has mentioned a leak, and the rainy season has only just begun, so this is not good! Ramie reached out to Adam and Katie to discuss the leak and what to do about it. They decided that they’d like to start by getting a quote from Ivan to replace the entire roof and discussing what other options there might be. Ramie called Ivan right away to set up a time to come check out the problem.
Monday 6/10- Why does it seem like we can never catch a break when it comes to water being where it shouldn’t be? We have made it through so many water problems together throughout the years starting as early as 2012 when Ramie first moved in with me at my townhome back in MN. I swear the water and leaks just don’t stop for us! This time it was in our master bathroom again, but thankfully it was only the P-trap for the sink drain this time and not the roof. The quality of the parts that they sell here are not very good, very often all you can find is the cheap Chinese stuff and total junk, but it’s what we have been (and still are) learning to work with. Ramie ran around town to look for the best quality crap he could find to replace the existing P-trap and managed to find something that would work for now, but we have made the decision that we will be buying new quality P-traps from the US when we are back there again.
Ivan also came out this afternoon to look into the roof leak at Adam & Katie's and discuss a resolution plan. It turns out that the issue with the roof probably stems from the fact that it is flat and recessed below the walls of the house. There is very little pitch to it, so it doesn’t drain off appropriately and the water tends to pool instead of running towards the canoas (gutters). After an hour or so of discussion about a possible resolution, it was decided that the best fix would be to remove that entire section of roof and rebuild the structure under it to create a slightly pitched roof, add larger and deeper canoa’s, all new flashing, and new metal. Ivan took a bunch of measurements and will work on pricing to propose to Adam and Katie for their final decision.
As you can see, living in the tropics, there are very different building styles due to the different conditions that we live in. Things here just aren’t the same as they are in the US, and it’s a learning curve, but fortunately we have people that we can trust to help us make good decisions that will work in this climate and part of the world.
Pura Vida!
Comments
Post a Comment