Last Friday we took our first trip to a hospital in Costa Rica for a small taste of what we’ll encounter next month. Of course, the hospitals and healthcare in Costa Rica, while not what you would find in Europe or the US, are much better off than what we’ll probably encounter in Honduras and Nicaragua.
In the morning, the hospital director gave a presentation to the group to share a little about the hospital and healthcare system of Costa Rica. While the slides were in English, the full speech was in Spanish, so my understanding was limited to the occasional word, phrase, or number. I was able to learn more talking to a hospital engineer, or “ingeniero médico” as they are called. Ultimately, I gathered Costa Rica relies on a system of universal healthcare, with a few private hospitals available at a greater expense. It seems more or less similar to other universal plans in which all citizens—wealthy and poor alike—pay a fixed portion of their income, around 9% in C.R., for full access to healthcare. Most citizens and employees of the hospital really seem to take pride in the Costa Rican system and its effectiveness.
From a student’s perspective, I was surprised to learn that there is little distinction between an engineer and a technician in the country. While in the U.S., an engineer might complete a bachelors or masters degree and a technician might learn from a technical college and work in a hospital, Costa Rica primarily has an engineering program, and these graduates are the ones repairing and maintaining equipment on a regular basis. The distinction doesn't seem to exist, or at least not to the same extent. The real content of the engineering programs and whether there are many industrial or academic opportunities is something I have yet to learn.
Later we divided into pairs, each pair troubleshooting a particular device. Ours was an older ultrasound machine, probably much older than me, that was functional but not producing reliable or regular sounds. We spent a little time looking at a damaged circuit board, and attempted to resolder a couple components, but unfortunately weren’t able to get it back to full working order. Some of the other groups looked at a pulse oximeter and a suction pump, with varied success.
Also, classes are moving along . . . flying really. The language barrier is continuously frustrating, as in the hospital presentation, but when I consider what we’ve learned, it is no small accomplishment for only one and a half weeks. We are also continuing with the troubleshooting labs and lectures in the afternoons, and the picture here depicts a few of us working on our labs. In this particular lab, we are building an LED flashlight from basic components. Both the Spanish and technical classes are held at the language school here in San José.
Like I touched on before, we’re traveling around town almost exclusively by bus, and deciphering the Costa Rican bus system has been an adventure in and of itself! On the day of our orientation the six of us at our homestay were taken to the bus stop by our host mother, the grandmother of the family, who also showed us which stop we needed on the route. However, when leaving the house, we didn’t take note of the exact stop where we boarded. This would seem straightforward until you realize so many of the streets look identical. Homes seem to blend together in the characteristic light blues, pinks, and greens of the architecture here, and only the main roads have true names, so there are zero street signs!
Needless to say, coming home, we got lost…..in the pouring rain. After getting off at what we thought was the right stop, we ducked into several side stores and bars to ask for help, without much luck. Fortunately, we managed to find a Costa Rican who spoke English fluently. She was able to call our host mother, who sent her son to pick us up, drenched from head to toe. We were a little embarrassed to realize we were only one block away from the original bus stop. Sometimes we have to learn the hard way, but we haven’t missed our stop since.
We’re finding ways to enjoy the afternoons too, outside the homework lessons. The city mall, although similar to any mall in the U.S., falls along our bus route, and the main part of the city is within walking distance of the school. In the picture below, a few of us are at a local tea shop, a common tradition here.
Over the past weekend, we took a trip to a rain forest near the Nicaraguan border, known as Monte Verde, or “Green Mountain.” The park is a hot spot for tourists, with hiking, zip-lining, night-tours, etc. The mountains in the picture below say it for me, but the scenery is truly gorgeous. As a link between North and South America, Costa Rica is home to some of the greatest biodiversity and mountainous regions of the Americas. Hummingbirds, stick-insects, and tarantulas, among others, are all common in the rainforests, although I didn’t see as much wildlife as I had hoped on our hike Saturday. However, Sunday we were lucky enough to do some zip-lining and see the forest from above. The steel cables used for zip-lining are suspended high in the air, strung across trees at high points throughout the forest. A roller allows you to glide down the cable from tree to tree, over a total of about 3 kilometers. This was a blast, and definitely the highlight of the trip.
