I am very blessed with the opportunity to travel. And I believe that past experiences allow for future opportunities. This recent trip to Costa Rica brought together many connections from different times in my life and I believe as a result of this trip, there will be many more adventures to be had.
Some of the connections…
Felipe and Yader were medical students from la Universidad de Ciencias Medicas (UCIMED), who I met while rotating at Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC) in 2009. Felipe is now a physician in San Jose and picked me at the airport. His family (Roberto, Iliana, Luis, Nati) graciously hosted me in their home in Santa Ana the first 5 days of my trip. They fed me continuously, drove me around, and also brought me to their farmhouse near Orotina for the weekend. Yader is now an Internal Medicine resident at HCMC and we went out for dinner the night before I left where he provided me ideas of things to do in CR and phone numbers of his family, girlfriend, and best friend.
"Los Hermanos Herrera"
Luis and Felipe
Angie is Yader’s girlfriend with whom I went out to lunch and shopping on my last day in San Jose. David is Yader’s best friend who will hopefully be an intern at HCMC next year. He had me over to his family’s house where we had a great time laughing, eating great food, and drinking wine. Then we went out to some live music and later a club until the wee hours of the morning. His dad was impressed with some of the hikes I have done, and him and his wife invited me on a hike over the weekend. I took them up on it and spent my Sunday hiking 7+ hours up a mountain on the outskirts of the city.
"La Cima"
Xinia and Enaldo, at the top of La Ventolera
This trip was not work-related, but I did manage to spend a couple days observing in the dermatology department of one of the public hospitals in San Jose – San Juan de Dios. I was invited there by two dermatologists, whom I met in Minneapolis over 2 years ago. Dr. Osvaldo Monge and Dr. Jorge Sanchez came to lecture at the University of Minnesota Global Health Course and Dr. Monge attended a party I had at my house for participants and visitors in the course. It took me a couple years, but I eventually made it and saw some great cases in addition to being able to observe yet another health care system.
"Primos"
Kembly, Marcelo, Jonathan
La familia Villacis, my host family in Quito, Ecuador has family in Costa Rica. Berthie, the sister of my host mother, Maria Eugenia, has a son that moved to Costa Rica and now lives in San Jose (San Francisco, actually) with his wife and son. When my host brother, Rolo, saw (via Facebook) that I was in Costa Rica, he sent me his cousin’s contact information and I was able to visit them in their home while I was in town.
"Zipliners"
Part of the wedding crew in Arenal
Katie is a great friend who took the scenic route through medical school with me and I met her amazing husband Seth when they started dating. I am so grateful that Katie and Seth decided on a destination wedding in Tamarindo, Costa Rica...and invited me! It was an interesting group of guests from all over the world and I had a great time meeting, partying, and traveling with their friends and family. After picking up her brother at the airport, fresh from Lima, and meeting the group near Volcan Arenal, we explored the canopy and relaxed in the hot springs before traveling out to Guanacaste for an amazing array of wedding activities. I found some travel buddies within the group and continued the adventure with them after saying goodbye to the newlyweds.
"Travel buddies"
Beto and Annie with Omutepe and Lake Nicaragua in the background
Between the wedding crew, renewed friendships, new connections, and fellow travelers, I have no doubt more adventures will spring from this great trip!
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