An Unexpected Journey

A week ago, I never dreamed I'd be writing a post from Costa Rica.   And the picture I wish I could show you but am not yet able to, would be of my mother sitting up in bed, smiling and only needing a oxygen through a nasal cannula, and of her arriving safely home in Colorado.
Instead, I am showing you a photo of the beautiful landscaping outside the front of Hospital Cima in San Jose, Costa Rica.  My mother had traveled to Costa Rica on a Birding trip, which she had been eagerly anticipating for some time.  The majority of the trip went very well and she was able to see many new birds and said that it was beautiful.  Then, just a few days before the end of the trip, she contracted Influenza B and a secondary bacterial infection which has for all practical purposes given her pneumonia on top of the Influenza.  She is in the ICU here at Cima Hospital.  I flew down on Wednesday to be with her and oversee her care and to deal with all the paperwork involved in someone being hospitalized outside of their home country.  It is extensive!  Every two hours, I walk into the hospital past these beautiful plantings and am amazed that the plants I have meagerly grown in my home in the past, can be such glorious plants here in Costa Rica.  They are truly beautiful and lift my spirits daily.


The view from my hotel room looks across the construction of a new hotel to the hospital (the yellowish tan buildings).  It is reassuring to be so close that I can walk in less than 5 minutes.  To the right of this, I have a view of the wooded hillsides behind the hospital.  It is lovely.  Truthfully, this is about as much of the city as I have seen so far, and if not for the fact that Spanish is the primary language spoken, it could be almost any American city.


The hotel I am staying in is very modern and has lovely contemporary artworks hung throughout, including this magnificent wall sculpture made of paper pulp!  I am fascinated by it and how organic it is.  I will try to take a close up shot of it at a later time.


My first day here at the hotel, I had to wait for a couple of hours for my room to be ready.  Each time the doors would open and the breeze blew through, these enormous draperies moved in the loveliest manner ~ gently dancing fabric.  It was beautiful.  These are small things, but they have given a lift to my heart.

So many people have gone out of their way to assist me in caring for my mother, and the hospital here is providing excellent care, for which I am deeply grateful.  There have been more headaches of paperwork than I care to expound on here, but the details are coming together now and I am hopeful that as my Mother is able to fight off the infections that are ravaging her at this time, soon we will be able to make the journey home.