My days are a little less hectic now with four hours of class in the mornings and three hours in the clinic in the afternoons. I am learning some good phrases to use with patients while in the clinic. My professor thought it was a great idea that I have a little notebook with me in the clinic to jot them down. It is a private clinic that just recently opened and treats self pay patients. The therapists are open to my being there and are very helpful. One speaks English, but I told her that I wanted to only speak in Spanish. Their approach is a bit different but they are very interested to hear how we treat patients in the United States. Their caseload is primarily orthopedic problems so is very similar to the patients that I treat in Charlotte. They use a lot of modalities and manual techniques. We had a near 7 foot patient from Sweden yesterday and he looked like a giant. You have to understand, at 5´5" I am taller than most of the men in San Jose. I walk past the President of Costa Rica's house every day on my way from the bus stop to the clinic. The armed guards out front make it rather obvious that someone important lives there. He hasn't invited me in for coffee yet but who knows, I still have about 2 weeks left here.
Last weekend my classmate and I had planned to go to Tortuguero, Costa Rica on the Caribbean side of the country. I was less then thrilled on Saturday morning that after rushing to be at the bus stop at the 6:25 AM pickup time the bus never showed. After having been stood up we decided to go to Tortuga Island in the Gulf of Nicoya on the Pacific side. We took a bus to Puntarenas and a huge Catamaran to the island. In a word it was fantastic! The beach was pristine and the employees of the tour were great. We had fresh fruit served to us the whole cruise to the island as well as the return to Puntarenas. The meal on the island was incredible. I would definitely recommend it to anyone visiting Costa Rica.
My studies are going well with my focus the last two weeks being exclusively conversational Spanish, with of course pauses to correct my grammar. I have met a lot of nice fellow students here and of course my professors get the highest recommendations. My time here has gone so fast. It's been good to be busy as it makes it easier to be away from family and friends. I hope everybody has a good week. ¡Pura Vida! Mary