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“I THINK I NEED A DOCTOR”- AN INTRO TO COSTA RICAN HEALTH CARE

By | 2018-04-15T18:19:38-04:00 July 30th, 2011|Categories: Cost of Living|Tags: , , |

Costa Rica Costa Of Living Update: Three heads of garlic-90 cents

A lot has been going on behind the scenes at Happier Than A Billionaire. Unfortunately, there has been a few not so happy times. My husband needed hernia surgery and I chose not to write about it until I knew he would survive. I’m nice like that—I prefer to have my husband alive and well when I write about all the embarrassing things that happened to him while infirmed.

And since he is convalescing, he has less ability to reach the computer to read about it and less of a chance to yell at me for talking about him on my blog.  

So here it goes. A three part story on my introduction into the Costa Rica health care system.  Grab some popcorn and hug your Blue Shield card…it’s going to be a bumpy ride. (more…)

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MOJITOS IN THE SUN

By | 2018-04-15T18:19:38-04:00 July 21st, 2011|Categories: Tourism|Tags: , |

Costa Rica Cost Of Living Update: Daypass to Hacienda Pinilla’s fancy shmancy beach club- $20

Yesterday we decided to get out of the house to celebrate the book launch and my new occult following. I wanted to live it up and go somewhere super snazzy. A place with jasmine scented soap in the ladies room and cool travertine under my feet.  A place with the best chance of making an idiot out of myself.

The Beach Club at Hacienda Pinilla fit the bill. Situated right on the sand, you can swim in their infinity pool while watching the surfers ride the waves. Another incentive was that the $20 fee was credited  towards your food and drink. And since I was celebrating, I ordered a Mojito—Ernest Hemingway’s favorite beverage.

I have since learned that I can’t drink in the heat.  I know this because I started reenacting Spanish infomercials in the pool with mint leaves stuck to my front teeth. It wasn’t my proudest moment. Especially after all the adults and children ran out faster than a scene from Jaws.

Next time I will stick to iced tea. 

A man’s got to take a lot of punishment to write a really funny book~Ernest Hemingway

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I’M TOO CUTE TO WORSHIP THE DEVIL

By | 2018-04-15T18:19:39-04:00 July 15th, 2011|Categories: Uncategorized|Tags: , |

Costa Rica Cost of Living Update: Happier Than A Billionaire, $2.99 on Kindle and $12.99 in Paperback

The paperback version of my book is out today.  I woke up anxious to share the news when I heard a loud crash. A tree had fallen, wrapped itself with the telephone wire and blocked the road right outside my driveway. Our internet was still working but I knew I had only minutes to share some good news.

I rushed to the sink to make a cup of coffee and realized there was no water. Wait? No morning coffee? This was serious. I dashed to the window just to reaffirm frogs and pestilence were not loitering on my terrace.  Surely, judgement day had come.

With the threat of boils and lice dropping in by midday, I announced my paperback to the world via Facebook. I then went through a caffeine withdrawal which looked a lot like the shower scene in Silkwood.

When I logged back onto Amazon, I was happy to see I was number one in my category. Surprisingly, I also made number 45 in the Occult division. (Calm down mom, I haven’t spray painted any pentagrams on my wall. It is a rental you know.)  (more…)

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COSTA RICA TICKETS

By | 2018-04-15T18:19:39-04:00 July 11th, 2011|Categories: Car|Tags: , |

Costa Rica Cost Of Living Update: An entire roasted chicken from supermarket-$6.50

Someone stole my front license plate. Not the biggest deal but I know I will eventually get pulled over by the coppers. I know this because I’ve been pulled over by the coppers quite a few times.

Once we were stopped because my husband was not wearing his seat belt. As the officer was writing the ticket, a car came towards us in the other lane and we noticed a baby propped up on the dashboard licking the windshield.  The policeman smiled, waved them through, and handed us our ticket.

I am not an expert  in this field but I feel confident that a baby eating bugs off a windshield is worthy of a few driving violations. But who am I to criticize? I’m from a generation that never wore seat belts. Without these restraints, my sister and I got to enjoy those thrilling airborne moments after my dad slammed on the breaks; consequently,  enjoying those thrilling, crashing moments once we smacked into the vinyl bench seat. It’s amazing I still  have front teeth.

Anyway, this guy doesn’t seem too worried about getting a ticket. So I won’t be too worried about my license plate.

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HAPPIER LIVING WITHOUT TECHNOLOGY

By | 2018-04-15T18:19:39-04:00 July 6th, 2011|Categories: Utilities|Tags: |

Costa Rica Cost Of Living Update: 30 individually wrapped slices of American Cheese-$6.40

I lost internet for 2 days which had me feeling like Lindsay Lohan on house arrest. It was that bad.

I often see people sitting at the beach with their computers and joke that they are staring at a virtual screen saver of a palm tree while actually sitting under one. They can’t—even while on vacation—let go of that internet addiction. But after losing my signal, I empathize with these people.  We have all become a generation of technological junkies.  I bet we could be happier if we let up every once in a while and enjoyed all the great things going on around us.

I’m going to take that first step. I’m shutting down the computer today to watch a few monkeys that are currently playing on the telephone wire outside my house.

Hmm…I think I just found out who knocked out my internet. This is not the face of an innocent monkey.

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