Summer in the tropics

The mornings are sunny and beautiful, and around 2:00 it begins to rain.  It pours for a while and then settles into a light rain.

I’m enjoying it while I can.

I’m researching places to rent, but I have yet to decide. I’ll keep you posted.

Last Tuesday, I actually went out, did several appointments and visits, and had lunch with a friend at the food court of an upscale mall.  I felt like a social animal for the first time in a long time. And I didn’t die.

While urinating into my downstairs toilet, a bat popped up into the bowl.  This is the second time; it’s either my second bat, or the first one got bigger in the months since it showed up before. I slammed the lid, flushed several times, and put a paint can on top of the toilet. When this first happened, everyone told me that it had to have flown in while the bathroom door was open. I knew they were wrong, because I keep the door closed at all times and there’s no window. This latest incident proves I was right.

FYI: This is not typical here. I live in a very upscale neighborhood with reliable utilities and great WiFi.

However, the owner of this place does not want to pay for any repairs, and I suspect this will be an expensive one. I believe that there is a break in the pipe under the paved parking lot, which would explain why my back-up water pump keeps kicking in, even when there’s no break in the water delivery from the street.

Ah, well, it won’t be my problem much longer.  And I have the luxury of three other bathrooms.

It appears that Costa Rica is reaching herd immunity, since many people have been vaccinated (finally), and many others waited so long to be called that they actually got covid and survived. As in other places, the majority of those in the hospitals are young people, which indicates that certain variants are prevalent here. The numbers have started going down, a trend which I hope will continue. The remaining danger is that the land borders are open, and many medical refugees need to cross over for medical care, because they can’t get treatment in their home country.  We’ll see what happens.  

With all the conflicting information going around, one thing appears to be true: Although the vaccine does not completely stop transmission, it does prevent the hospitalization and death. I know of one person who was infected well after being vaccinated and, after being tested, got through it at home in a few days.

And, dare I ask, WTF is going on with people beating and attacking employees in stores and airplanes over mask mandates?  The people they are attacking are not decision-makers; they’re doing their jobs as directed. Another sign of the end of civilization.  I wonder if they do the same to merchants with “No shirts, no shoes, no service” signs.  Somehow, I doubt it.

And I’m pretty sure that, when violence and murder over such mundane things as masks and vaccines becomes an everyday occurrence in a culture, that it has lost it’s viability. From the Ten Commandments to civil law, not murdering is at the top of the list of requirements for maintaining a civilized and sustainable society. We are fast approaching the point of no return. I know it sounds dramatic, but I find it difficult to imagine how we can pull back from this.

I’m much healthier than I was in March, when I saw my doctors in Palm Springs.  I do worry about the heat this year; it’s already unusually hot, and I fear there may be rolling blackouts and water shortages in all of California.

If I need to drop yet another body part, I hope it’s one that’ll make me less sensitive to heat.

I watched the Netflix movie I Care a Lot, which is about a woman who cons single seniors into her custody and then into nursing homes while she steals all their assets.  This new genre of horror film is timely and terrifying for all of us baby boomers living alone.  Well done and interesting.

And, before signing off, I’d like to say goodbye to my friend and former neighbor Neil, who was truly one of the kindest people I’ve ever known. May he rest in peace.