before i left la estados unidos, i attempted to clean up as many outstanding issues as i could. there were storage issues. car selling vs leaving on a lot issues. medical issues. issues related to my former work and some relations from said work. some physical cleaning was necessito. there was some emotional cleansing, as well.
most was taken care of. some metaphorical spots refused to budge and will follow me in some way. some, i will clean up here in costa rica. how? because i will be the cleansing change i want to see in the world.
i'd heard almost immediately upon arriving in this country some of the same arguments i've engaged in myself, often, recently. arguments about institutions poisoning us with the food and water we drink, with the messages we are asked to believe or not believe. arguments about wanting to live and walk the truth, cleanly, healthily. and then i see various levels of shunned filth within our breathing and living quarters.
i'm probably not going to walk over to the owner and offer to clean his house, but that didn't stop me from bringing the hotel i now work at up to my cleanliness specs. as summit folks would say, possibly tongue-in-cheek, i did a deep clean of the room i sleep in. lots of rodent poop was removed, dust swept, roaches evicted, drawers and dishes and surfaces sanitized. i also did a quality clean on three rooms that went from occupied to vacant as of this morning. then i continued cleaning in the unoccupied rooms, which were actually the dirtiest - sweeping under the beds brought about lots of dust, broken glass, a condom wrapper or 2, 60 costa rican colones (about 12 cents), 50 nicaraguan centavos (?, but i think it's less than 1 penny), and a sense of satisfaction. i also did a bang-up job on the laundry room, in addition to doing maybe 5 loads of laundry.
tomorrow will be a different story. sure, i will clean up after the 3 guests that're here now, but i will also begin a deep clean on my teeth at an affordable rate.
while in Chicago recently, i found a deal that allowed me to get mucho digital pics of my teeth and the initial exam for $1 - what a deal! then i received some not-quite-unexpected news - an estimate of $5,648. thanks, but no thanks. i'm cool with using clinics even though i know i end up waiting longer than some people did for bread in soviet russia. i did the clinic thing for a physical before my initial move to NH. i've done it for std testing. i did it recently for a strange, but ultimately okay growth. i tried it for my dental work, also, but was turned away; unless i was actually living as a homeless person, they were not accepting new patients. hmmm - perfect teeth on the streets, busted teeth between the sheets. okay.
now i'm in costa rica. and i've made connections. francesca hooks me up with fresh, homemade bread: 1 loaf with mango, 1 with chocolate. fresh fruits and veggies from local farmstands for ridiculously low prices - i think i paid 10 cents for an onion and 60 cents for a mango. tomorrow i have arranged for a local farmer to deliver me some milk served up warm and straight from his cows utter. and after i eat my milk with that, i'm off to Dr. torres.
the gent whom i just replaced, a carbon copy of a guy i know whom goes by the name of john dunham, gave dr. torres his teeth to work on - 12 cavities and 2 root canals and 1 deep clean for $620. i've got 9 cavities with 1 deep clean and maybe 1 root canal needed. i figure for around $500, i'll be walking away with a full mouth smile that can last me for a couple years. not 3. no, definitely not 3.
see, this is the 3rd dental bill i've received since 2001 for over 3k. once i had insurance, then i didn't, but i had cash and worked out a deal with a dentist. this time, i had neither, but i had a gypsy soul that led me to a foreign country with medical prices that were not out of whack, at least in relation to what i could afford. i'm prone to having a mouth that needs help, likely from a combination of genetics, long term coffee drinking and smoking, and poor flossing habits. plus, i rarely make it to a dentist for a yearly cleaning and check-up. i literally added aflac to my insurance about 1 1/2 yrs ago just so i could get some dental work done, made an appointment, and then shut off the teeth care switch in my head. someday, i may find someone who'll be a worse enemy to me than i am myself.
i'm told the locals get some type of socialized medicine. i also saw a commercial in the dentist's office advertising for dental insurance for around $40/year. the situation here seems not unlike the US - most can barely make it within their own system, the difference here being they don't "vacation down at the gulf of mexico," pink houses, but probably on their own coastal shores, or maybe for that extended vaca 1 country below in panama. when the avg pay, from what i hear (and haven't fact checked), is somewhere between 25 cents to $1 an hour, and the avg education stops in elementary school (again, haven't fact checked), there's only so far one can go.
me, i'll go as far as i rich damn well feel like going. i've seen the decay in modern metropolises, i recognize the deep clean needed to undo all the human spoilage we've made through our corrupt bankrupt systems. and so i clean floors. and live rather well. and will once again walk tall, my even, white, outward smile able to reflect the inward loca pura vida i've been feeling for quite some time.
maybe soon, i'll be able to clean up that nagging knee issue. and some interpersonal dirt that decided to stay. one trek up a jungle mountain will likely take care of any emotional residue that may have stole away con me.
most was taken care of. some metaphorical spots refused to budge and will follow me in some way. some, i will clean up here in costa rica. how? because i will be the cleansing change i want to see in the world.
i'd heard almost immediately upon arriving in this country some of the same arguments i've engaged in myself, often, recently. arguments about institutions poisoning us with the food and water we drink, with the messages we are asked to believe or not believe. arguments about wanting to live and walk the truth, cleanly, healthily. and then i see various levels of shunned filth within our breathing and living quarters.
i'm probably not going to walk over to the owner and offer to clean his house, but that didn't stop me from bringing the hotel i now work at up to my cleanliness specs. as summit folks would say, possibly tongue-in-cheek, i did a deep clean of the room i sleep in. lots of rodent poop was removed, dust swept, roaches evicted, drawers and dishes and surfaces sanitized. i also did a quality clean on three rooms that went from occupied to vacant as of this morning. then i continued cleaning in the unoccupied rooms, which were actually the dirtiest - sweeping under the beds brought about lots of dust, broken glass, a condom wrapper or 2, 60 costa rican colones (about 12 cents), 50 nicaraguan centavos (?, but i think it's less than 1 penny), and a sense of satisfaction. i also did a bang-up job on the laundry room, in addition to doing maybe 5 loads of laundry.
tomorrow will be a different story. sure, i will clean up after the 3 guests that're here now, but i will also begin a deep clean on my teeth at an affordable rate.
while in Chicago recently, i found a deal that allowed me to get mucho digital pics of my teeth and the initial exam for $1 - what a deal! then i received some not-quite-unexpected news - an estimate of $5,648. thanks, but no thanks. i'm cool with using clinics even though i know i end up waiting longer than some people did for bread in soviet russia. i did the clinic thing for a physical before my initial move to NH. i've done it for std testing. i did it recently for a strange, but ultimately okay growth. i tried it for my dental work, also, but was turned away; unless i was actually living as a homeless person, they were not accepting new patients. hmmm - perfect teeth on the streets, busted teeth between the sheets. okay.
now i'm in costa rica. and i've made connections. francesca hooks me up with fresh, homemade bread: 1 loaf with mango, 1 with chocolate. fresh fruits and veggies from local farmstands for ridiculously low prices - i think i paid 10 cents for an onion and 60 cents for a mango. tomorrow i have arranged for a local farmer to deliver me some milk served up warm and straight from his cows utter. and after i eat my milk with that, i'm off to Dr. torres.
the gent whom i just replaced, a carbon copy of a guy i know whom goes by the name of john dunham, gave dr. torres his teeth to work on - 12 cavities and 2 root canals and 1 deep clean for $620. i've got 9 cavities with 1 deep clean and maybe 1 root canal needed. i figure for around $500, i'll be walking away with a full mouth smile that can last me for a couple years. not 3. no, definitely not 3.
see, this is the 3rd dental bill i've received since 2001 for over 3k. once i had insurance, then i didn't, but i had cash and worked out a deal with a dentist. this time, i had neither, but i had a gypsy soul that led me to a foreign country with medical prices that were not out of whack, at least in relation to what i could afford. i'm prone to having a mouth that needs help, likely from a combination of genetics, long term coffee drinking and smoking, and poor flossing habits. plus, i rarely make it to a dentist for a yearly cleaning and check-up. i literally added aflac to my insurance about 1 1/2 yrs ago just so i could get some dental work done, made an appointment, and then shut off the teeth care switch in my head. someday, i may find someone who'll be a worse enemy to me than i am myself.
i'm told the locals get some type of socialized medicine. i also saw a commercial in the dentist's office advertising for dental insurance for around $40/year. the situation here seems not unlike the US - most can barely make it within their own system, the difference here being they don't "vacation down at the gulf of mexico," pink houses, but probably on their own coastal shores, or maybe for that extended vaca 1 country below in panama. when the avg pay, from what i hear (and haven't fact checked), is somewhere between 25 cents to $1 an hour, and the avg education stops in elementary school (again, haven't fact checked), there's only so far one can go.
me, i'll go as far as i rich damn well feel like going. i've seen the decay in modern metropolises, i recognize the deep clean needed to undo all the human spoilage we've made through our corrupt bankrupt systems. and so i clean floors. and live rather well. and will once again walk tall, my even, white, outward smile able to reflect the inward loca pura vida i've been feeling for quite some time.
maybe soon, i'll be able to clean up that nagging knee issue. and some interpersonal dirt that decided to stay. one trek up a jungle mountain will likely take care of any emotional residue that may have stole away con me.
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