A Remarkable Costa Rican Doctor in Dominical

My wife Helene and I were in Dominical at the end of March this year. She loves to fish and we saw a sign on the side of the road for “inshore fishing”.

We pulled into the house of a young Tico family. The husband immediately got the fishing tackle and away we went.

We pulled off and drove down a rather steep dirt road where he directed us to park as close to the edge of a rather formidable cliff about 20 feet above the water. There was no path or footholds going down to the rocks by the water so we slipped and slid and let gravity take its course, finally getting to ground zero.

On the way down, Helene almost lost her footing and fell. I grabbed and caught her. The boat was anchored about 200 yards out in the bay where the Tico had to swim to bring it close to shore so that we could wade out in knee deep water to get on board. We fished for a little less than 2 hours …. Caught a few… Had a nice time.

Upon returning, it had started to rain turning the steep hill that we had come down, to mud and it had become a little slick. My plan was to climb up the hill where I could reach down and pull Helene up safely. I got about half way up and totally lost hand-hold and footing and landed flush on my side in the rocks.

The Tico, who had started to take the boat back, came back and pulled, half carried me up the hill to the car. The day before, we had been to the drug store in Dominical and noticed a Doctor’s office next door so we headed there. It was 6pm. The sign on his door said his hours were from 8am to 6pm and another sign said “back in 20 minutes”.

By this time, it was raining heavily outside and the Doctor returned about 6:10. My first question was “Abblas englais?”

He quietly assured me he did and said come on in and let’s have a look. He then turned to my wife and told her she was to assist him in my exam. I said “STOP!” Before you begin, how much are you going to charge me? (We had heard of Doctors charging herrendous fees to be paid in cash and unless and until they received payment the patient was not allowed to leave the country).

The Doctor then asked me if US$35 would be too much? Needless to say we proceeded with my exam and treatment and he was thorough, right down to checking my colon. He said I should have an ultrasound but the closest machine was in San Isidro.

He wrote the prescription for the ultrasound along with one for pain pills which were great and you cannot get them in the states. They were great because they effectively took away the pain with no side effects. He then started to explain where we were to go in San Isidro to get the ultrasound.

The Doctor sensed our confusion and mentioned that they don’t speak English at the clinic and, you don’t speak Spanish…”OK” he said, “I will meet you there and make sure you are taken care of.”

The next day, he drove from Dominical to San Isidro, met us there, made sure I was taken care of and explained the results of the ultrasound. It was a broken rib with no internal injuries.

I asked him how much more I owed him. He said, “Just give me a hug“. I am not a young man and told him that if we did decide to move to Dominical, the fact that he is there, would be a major part of my decision.

This wonderful Doctor’s name Dr. Alvarado Gonzalez and he had just moved from Houston, Texas. If you ever have occasion to speak to him, tell him how you came to know of him. Thank you for the opportunity of telling my story AGAIN!

Our thanks to Jim Panaretos for this heartwarming story.

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Andrew Makarik

to@welovecostarica.com

Andrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.