[Itinerary Page]The Daily Diary of a Wandering Restaurateur
December 13 - Escazu
I am a bit late getting this posted. For some reason I wasn't able to get an Internet connection this morning. The computer said I was hooked up to the hotel wireless network but I couldn't get anything to respond. Very strange.
This was a day off of sorts with no dental work scheduled. Margene had an early afternoon appointment with Dr. Luciano Alvarenga, a Brazilian dermatologist recommended by Laura Murray, our host at the B&B in Lake Arenal. Since his office was located next to the Cafe de Artistas, that sounded like a logical place for lunch. It was ... and perhaps the best Cuban sandwich I have ever had. Perhaps best of all, the residential setting made it feel like you had left the city completely. While Margene was in with the Doc, I just relaxed in the cafe with good mystery book and a tall iced tea. Very pleasant!
We made the rounds to a few pharmacies to pick up some things that Margene needed and to order a special compound that the dermatologist prescribed. This farmacia will actually formulate the stuff and have it ready in a couple of days. Custom drugs -- so cool! I also wanted to see if I can get a better price here than I can in the States on a couple of my higher-priced meds but so far they don't seem to know the particular drugs I am on. If I can find them, there will likely not even be a prescription required here. Margene did discover that the prescription strength of an antacid she is taking is cheaper here than the over-the-counter formulation she has been getting at Costco! It makes you wonder ...
We made a quick stop at Bagelmen's, an excellent bagel bakery and major ex-pat hangout, to pick up some bagels for tomorrow's breakfast, then it was off to Cima Hospital for Margene's consultation with Dr. Rodrigo Araya, a cosmetic surgeon who we learned of on the Suddenly Senior website. If you want to see a truly remarkable transformation, check this out. (Margene said she saw enough photos of similar results in his office to believe Carolyn's before and after photos.)
Margene came away totally impressed with the man and his approach to the work, quite unlike her experience at the clinic in San Jose yesterday where she felt more like she was being processed by a big machine. It just goes to show that the power of presence and personal connection applies to a lot more than just the restaurant business. She has one more doc to check out tomorrow, a surgeon recommended by the Brazilian dermatologist. He is a Brazilian who had done extensive training and study in France. He employs a "harmonic scalpel" technique -- not a laser -- that has been used successfully in France for several years that uses some sort of energy frequencies and involves no cutting at all. She is very interested in finding out more about it. Hopefully I can have a more revealing report in tomorrow's diary.
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