Costa Rica Medical Mission

I was invited to do a Medical Mission trip through Compass Church in Colleyville, Texas. It was to be six days in beautiful Tamarindo, Costa Rica, a country I had never been to. Although I was still mentally recovering from my last trip to Thailand driving what seemed like hours in the back of open pickup trucks (lots of dirt and sand in every pore of my body), I always succumb to the Sirens call of my good friends Chad and Sara who were on the trip. We had a goodly number of nurse providers from various disciplines, some lay people like me and Doctor Ken from Thailand was along too.

We were blessed with a relatively short fIight (3 hours versus 23 to Thailand) and was rather surprised on our arrival of the amazing accommodations we were provided at the Epic Tamarindo, a five-star resort tucked away from the Tourist Zone of Tamarindo, Costa Rica. The resort was fairly new and was owned by one of our sponsors. Liberia International Airport is the closest international airport to Tamarindo, about an hour away.

We were there under the auspices of an organization called S.O.S. International in Keller, Texas. Although they plant Christian churches internationally, their focus is on child trafficking. We were receiving medical donations from Blessings International in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma to do our clinic work. Another fun change was S.O.S., through the churches we would be serving, would do all the setup of the clinic and we would bring the medicines and personnel to conduct the clinics, a real time saver for us. S.O.S.is a new partner for Compass Church Outreach and we were the guinea pigs as such. 

A bit about Costa Rica. Costa Rica's history began with indigenous peoples before Christopher Columbus arrived in 1502, leading to Spanish colonization, which decimated the native population (isn't that the way it always goes?) and left Costa Rica as a poor, isolated colony.

After gaining independence from Spain in 1821 and briefly joining the Central American Federation, Costa Rica became a fully independent nation in 1838. The country then developed on a foundation of agriculture, particularly coffee (really GOOD coffee), and established a strong, stable democracy in the 20th century after a very messy civil war. Today, Costa Rica is known for its peaceful, eco-friendly, and democratic society, a far cry from its other Central American neighbors.

Costa Rica does not have a traditional standing military, having abolished its army in 1949 after the civil war and instead relies on civilian security forces like the Public Force for law enforcement and national security. This decision led to shifting resources from military spending to social development in areas like education and healthcare, making Costa Rica an example of a peaceful, unarmed democracy (what a concept).

In 2023, about 95% of Costa Rica's electricity came from renewable sources: 74% hydropower (probably all that rain!),13% geothermal, 12.5% wind, 0.5% solar, and 0.1% biomass. That's actually a dip from recent years, mostly due to drought. Since 2015, the country has consistently generated more than 98% of its electricity from renewables, peaking at a record 99.98% in 2021 (again, what a concept).

The 1994 film The Endless Summer II, which featured Tamarindo’s waves and beaches, is widely credited with launching a significant tourist boom in the late 90’s and early 2000’s.

On day one of our Medical Mission trip, we started the day with a chef prepared breakfast on the patio at Epic Tamarindo. After the meal and a brief prayer, we did our Daily Devotional together and discussed our first Clinic of the week. I and two other members were tasked with Pharmacy duties which involved prepackaging various medications which our medical providers would be prescribing to their patients.

We rode an hour on our bus with driver Diego to the village of Santa Cruz and set up inside of their church. At noon, the town provided us with a very tasty lunch of  Arroz con Pollo and chips dish at our stations.

The days interesting case was a woman who showed up with an obvious through and through bullet wound to both legs. She had already been treated for the wounds and only wanted to be seen for the tooth pain. You can’t make this stuff up.

Taking a history

The fun case was a pregnant woman who heard we had a sonogram machine and wanted to be checked. It was the first time she heard the baby’s heartbeat. It was amazing.

One gentleman came up on his crutches. He was homebound but because he heard we were doing a clinic, left his home just to come see us. It was quite a distance but he made the effort because regular medical care in that part of the world is rare.

By four that afternoon, we had dispensed vitamins, pain medication and antibiotics to over 75 patients. It was very hot and humid and we left with booming thunder clouds overhead. We were right smack in the middle of Costa Rica’s rainy season (May thru November) which added to the extreme humid conditions.

That night we celebrated our success by going into Tamarindo for a scrumptious pizza dinner at Pizzeria La Baula. I had the Focaccia Bread Pizza. Really tasty.

Day two was our second run at Santa Cruz. The usual cases presented themselves, lots of aches and pains but one in particular that got everybody’s attention was a gentleman who had a huge open wound to his left ankle. He also suffered from a traumatic brain injury in years past so he was a “poor historian” in medical terms and he couldn’t accurately say when he acquired the injury. He would just say sometime around 1984, which wouldn’t account for the extent of the injury. All we could do was clean, wrap it and hand him some pain meds for the road.

We were able to get a quick shower and change to get to a late dinner at Patagonia Del Mar in downtown Tamarindo. Their primary menu was sea food but had some meat items and amazing desserts including the best caramel Flan I have ever seen. Formed like a small volcano, it had sprinkles of coconut on top. A co-worker had ordered it (another Flan Fan) and reported how delicious it was.

A Flan Volcano

Day three was a free day which brought us to the Langosta Beach Club sponsored by our hosts. Beautiful beachfront playground with monkeys in the trees and gentle waves to bathe in.

Day four was a new site and about a two-hour drive to, Matambu, a part of the Chorotega Indigenous Territory in the Nicoya region. This was a group of indigenous people who had recently been given some autonomy from the government to rule themselves.

It was a small church off the beaten path that our intrepid driver, Diego, said we couldn’t drive up to so we disembarked and hiked the rest of the way. The church was a stout tin roof building lined with wood planking, no air-conditioning, just some fans. Lunch was Arroz con Pollo made on an open fire behind the church. Delicioso.

Let me take a moment to discuss the weather in Costa Rica. We arrived in the middle of the rainy season and boy did it rain. Afterward would bring a crushing humidity which tried men’s souls and their antiperspirants. Of course, it didn’t faze the natives but wore me out. I began sweating as soon as I exited the bus until I got back in. In Matambu, it decided to rain each afternoon as we ended the clinics. On the second day, there was thunder and lightening right overhead and rained so hard you couldn’t hear the person next to you speaking.

That evening, we went back to Tamarindo and dined at the Auto Mercado food park. Many ordered from El Chante Burger, I had Asian at Anthony’s. To entertain ourselves was a Corn Hole game setup.

Some of my worthless trivia;  was first described in Heyliger de Windt's 1883 patent for "Parlor Quoits", which displays most of the features of modern cornhole, but uses a square hole. Quoits is a game similar to horseshoes, played by throwing steel rings at a metal spike. But I digress and will not deep dive on that game.

Back to site two the next day. This time a villager hopped aboard and convinced Diego to drive up the rutted path to the church Diego, a more courageous man with a 45 foot long diesel pusher than I, gripped his wheel and made it without incident. It was a long day punctuated by the above-mentioned rain storm.

Lunch was a first for me in a Latin country, We had spaghetti and meat sauce. Again cooked on the open fire with a big vat of pasta and another with ground beef in a light sauce. Really terrific. Then they went further and made grilled handmade tortillas. There is something about a warm, pliable corn tortilla as you bite into it that warms your soul. The best tortillas I’ve had ever.

Our Bus

After packing up our stuff, we hopped on our bus and held our breath as Diego slipped and slid his way back to the highway on the now saturated rutted road for our long return to Tamarindo.

Later after another long shower to cool off, we were treated to a wonderful meal prepared by the resort Chef and her staff.

That night we debriefed about our experiences and turned in. The following morning was full of packing and loading up for the trip to the airport and security. We navigated our way back on for the connection in Miami and back to a late-night arrival in Dallas.

In closing, I feel a few things need to be addressed. First, our accommodations were amazing but not atypical. I did have mixed feelings about staying there but it was the first trip of its kind and I'm sure more modest accommodations will be sought, if and when we go back. The food was crazy good for a mission trip and I know it was designed by our sponsors to entice us to return but I missed the down-home culinary delights we've experienced in Mexico and Thailand. And we should have "mixed it up" more with the local's that, I'm sure, will be addressed in the future. Nothing like sharing a meal or worship with others to see how they do it.

All in all, a rewarding trip in which we got to serve our fellow man and I'm sure those we met were grateful for our work and contributions. I can only hope our efforts, in some way, made a difference in their lives.

Ken Burns at Brandeis University Commencement 2024

Everybody should watch and listen to one of my personal heroes, Ken Burns, giving a commencement speech at Brandeis University. Watch the whole thing, if you can get past the political statement, you’ll get the message.

“As a Nation, we are diametrically preoccupied. Everything is right or wrong, Red or Blue, young or old, gay or straight, rich or poor Palestinian or Israeli, my way or the highway.

Everywhere we are trapped by these old, tired, binary reactions, assumptions and certainties. That preoccupation is imprisoning.”

Ken Burns at Brandeis University

Our European Vacation or How to see Europe from the back seat of a car.

Our story begins as a lunch discussion after church on a sunny Sunday in February. We were discussing vacations and a comment from our friends, Sara and Chad, was, "Hey, you should join us on our trip to Portugal.” Diane (nor I) had ever been to Europe and she has it on a to-do bucket-list. She immediately said, “Yes.” I had some reservations because I had a sense our friends had a different view of vacationing than we do. Though world travelers, they are very spontaneous and view vacationing as more of a race against time to accomplish as many goals as possible in the time allotted. Kind of like “The Amazing Race” rather than “Rick Steves’ Europe.” We, on the other hand, are more, “Where can we go to eat a nice meal, take a picture then take a nap” kind of travelers. What we got was “Rick Steves joins the Amazing Race.”

My mission in life is to praise Jesus and make my wife happy. Although I had my reservations, wanting her to check that bucket list item, I joined the crazy train to Europe. We pushed our coins together and made our contribution to airfare, hotels and fun. We were joined by our friend Louis, more about him later. What we didn’t do was ask a few probing questions that, in hindsight, may have improved our lot in life on this trip.

Folks, I’ve hated airports since 2001 and my faith in them hasn’t changed much since. I often harken back to those days when you could just walk in, walk to the gate to depart or meet someone or just get some food and people watch. Now we’re barraged with PA announcements about security precautions, ‘don’t leave luggage unattended’ messages, long lines and not-so friendly TSA agents who change-up the rules on a whim and seem to compete to get you to get as close to undressed as possible. Even Pre-Check doesn’t always go as advertised with some new guy deciding whether shoes and belts are on or off. Don’t get me started on paying for my luggage which may or may not arrive at the same destination as me. I forgot the AirTags AGAIN!

The DFW experience was passable and the flight to Philadelphia was uneventful. We were fortunate our travel mates, Chad and Sara, are among the 1 percenters who have a zillion points and can get us free bags and a stay at the Admiral’s Club. Side note, American’s Admiral’s Club was the idea of American’s first CEO, C.R. Smith. In 1939, Smith, a Texas native, wanted to have a place at the new LaGuardia Airport for VIPs and other elite customers to go before their flights. Smith wanted them to feel like “Admirals of the American Airlines Fleet” so he named it the “Admirals Lounge”. The receptionists were called “Skippers” and the bar staff were “Stewards”. It was such a success, other airlines followed suit and now have their own lounges. 

Another friend, an American Airlines Flight Attendant we had met, spoke about the thankless job they had and whenever she traveled, she always brought a little gift bag for each of the crew as thanks for their work. Diane and I decided to do that for our international flights. The crew were very appreciative and gave our team extra attention, some extra snacks and a bottle of wine on the return flight to Philly and DFW.

Philly to Lisbon was a long haul but the 787 was well stocked, had lots of movies and made it to Lisbon without losing a door or engine cover.

After 2 ½ hours to Philly and seven hours to Lisbon, the first red flag waved. Our companions had rented a BMW X-1. Mind you, there were five of us with two bags a piece and some backpacks to accompany us. The X-1 is a fine “Luxury Compact SUV” (with an emphasis on “Compact”) that BMW even admits can seat “up to 5” if the 5th person is a pulldown armrest with Stanley cups. Just a little on the tiny size for all of us and our junk. Realizing this, our friend tried to get a van which was way too pricy but was able to secure a Volvo XC60 Hybrid SUV. Lots of get up and go but still a little small for 5 people and all our stuff but it had to do (see photo).

We hit the road and drove 2 ½ hours to a neat little town on the south coast of Portugal called Luz in the Algarve region of Portugal. Side benefit, our friend Chad speaks Portuguese from a time he spent in Brazil in his youth. You’d be amazed how Portuguese is NOT like Spanish. There are some similarities, but way different.

There is the  Praia da Luz (the Beach of the Light) which is very scenic with sand meeting cliffs. Luz harkens back to the time of Roman conquest and still has remnants of Roman ruins around town. There lies the Fortaleza da Luz which was built in 1624 to protect the harbor, church and village from pirates and Moors who plundered the area. The Fortress is now a great restaurant (Fortaleza Da Luz Restaurant) which overlooks the beach, and has a great menu to choose from. Portugal and Spain are both seafood centric but there are other things to eat there. One of the best Cheeseburgers and fries I ever had was in Salamanca, Spain. Also, everywhere we went most people spoke English, had English signs and even English translated menus.

There we were introduced to Vin de Verde (Green Wine). A Portuguese national favorite, it is basically a dry white wine with just a hint of carbonation and low alcohol content. It comes from the northwest corner of Portugal, the Minho region where a lot of Portuguese grapes come from. It’s kind of like their version of Boone’s Farm if anybody remembers those days. We spent the night at our really nice VRBO three bedroom condo.

The next day we drove another 2 hours to another cool little town, Faro, farther east along the coast. Faro is another ancient town from Roman times established as a fishing and fish processing center. We did lunch. After a walk around and a rooftop drink overlooking Faro, returned to Luz. The next morning, we got back into our SUV and began our 3 hour drive to Seville, Spain. Lots of open country and the next red flag. You see, my friend driving is a cop.

All of you who were cops recall the driving habits you acquired while in Patrol or Traffic. For those who don’t know, imagine driving a powerful 4,200 pound vehicle (don’t forget that giant battery) that belongs to someone else and your only responsibility, regardless of preventative maintenance requirements, is to gas it up at the end of the day. Everything in between is crazy driving to get to your destination.

View of :Luz from our patio

Chad and Sara were in the front. As Chad sped our way through the Andalusian countryside, Sara was busy holding her Google Maps in one hand and monitoring the Volvo’s navigation console, calling out turns, lane changes and traffic circles (they were everywhere) like a co-pilot working an Instrument Approach in Cat 5 weather (clouds almost to the ground, really scary). While we were captive in the back sliding side to side as we hurtled across Spain trying unsuccessfully not to slide into one another like it was the 24 hours of Le Mans.

We were weaving in and out of traffic on the flat plains, hedges of vines heavy with their grapes whizzing by and winding mountain passes only occasionally stopping at gas stations to refill the Volvo’s insatiable appetite for gas at an average of  $1.62 PER LITRE (about 5.86 a gallon) and filling ourselves up with snacks and the best machine made Café de Leches I’ve ever come across.

Pastel de Nata and café

Let me digress, my first instinct on hearing that a side trip to Spain was in the plan, reminded me of all the pastoral beauty my good friend Dana encountered and documented and the people he met he has blogged about walking the El Camino de Santiago. “The Camino” follows the Pilgrim’s walk through Spain to the Shrine of St James at the Cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Galicia, Spain. Huge following, lots of foot blisters and eternal camaraderie to those who have completed or even attempted it.

Our ride was not so much pastoral as our view was confined to seeing the farms and villages zip by from the side windows and the view forward of lumbering trucks and lessor vehicles not keeping in tune with our friend’s schedule through a bug spattered windshield (see photo from Diane’s seat as she bravely straddled the cars tunnel). I got a much better appreciation for what it must be like sitting behind the pilots of the Space Shuttle.

After extricating ourselves from the rear seat, like butterflies from their cocoons, we visited Seville (Sevilla). An inland port, it is the chief city of Andalusia and the fourth largest in Spain. Sevilla was important in history as a cultural center, as a capital of Muslim Spain, and as a center for Spanish exploration of the New World.  Sevilla has been around since the 2nd Century BCE (that’s before Christ). It really brings the “Old” to Old World architecture. Sevilla became the center of the exploration and exploitation of America (think Chris Columbus).

Universidad De Sevilla est 1505

For two centuries Sevilla was the dominant force in Spain’s New World commerce; it was the site of the chief mint for gold and silver from the Americas, and many Spanish emigrants to the New World sailed from its quays. Sevilla was in fact the richest and most populous city in Spain in the 16th century, with some 150,000 inhabitants in 1588. Their importance was fleeting, however, since Sevilla’s prosperity was based almost entirely on the exploitation of the colonies rather than on local industry and trade. As a result, Sevilla’s economy declined in the 17th century, though its cultural life underwent a great flowering at that time. The painters Diego Velázquez, Francisco de Zurbarán, and Bartolomé Esteban Murillo, the sculptor Juan Martínez Montañés, and the poet Fernando de Herrera are the glories of Sevilla and of Spain. Miguel de Cervantes conceived of his novel Don Quixote while he was confined in Sevilla’s jail (I’m guessing Mike had too much Vin de Verde).

Catedral de Seville

Columbus is buried there in the Tumba de Christobal Colon in the massive Seville Cathedral. Although Chris is buried there, it was not his first stop. He died in Valladolid, Spain and was originally interred in Sevilla waiting for a Cathedral to be built in Hispaniola (now Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic). When Hispaniola (the D.R.) was signed over to France, they pulled Chris out and sent him to Havana. When that didn't happen, he was sent to Sevilla for burial in the Cathedral. He got more mileage after his death than he got “discovering” the New World.

We then returned to Luz to pack and prepare for our sortie north to Santander, Spain. One of our primary missions was to get our friend and fellow back seater, Louis, to his ancestral home of Rumoroso, Spain. Louis had traced his grandparents to the town prior to their migration to America. So we invigorated ourselves with Café Lattes and de Leches in the early light at The Studio Coffee in Luz and off we went on our 10 hour drive to Rumoroso.

Halfway up, we stopped at Salamanca, Spain passing through the Plaza Mayor de Salamanca, a huge sprawling town center. Beautiful architecture and, though we didn’t stick around long enough, is lit up at night and quite a sight to see. Salamanca is a UNESCO World Heritage site that became prominent in the 3rd Century BCE and the capitol of the Castillo and Leon districts. It is also home to Salamanca University. In 1218 King Alfonso IX founded Universidad de Salamanca considered the oldest University in Spain.

We walked the winding alleys of the town and found Meson El Churrasco open for lunch (home of the great Cheeseburger mentioned above). Trip Advisor came in handy (make sure you get those international cell phone rates added) for restaurants and menus. Some of our companions were Gluten intolerant and many had Gluten Free options.

After a little shopping, we then hopped back into our Swedish ride and made the rocket run in the waning light to get Louis his photo op at Rumoroso at the very northern coast of Spain.

The Art Hotel Lobby

As day turned to night, we made our way to our next hotel, The Art Hotel in Santander, Spain (yes…I did say The Art Hotel). It is a boutique hotel with real modern art inside. It was a nice room on the first floor with an actual window you could open but our view was the alley next to the hotel. Packed up and ready to stuff our bags into the back of the Volvo the next morning, we now had a tried and true procedure for that and off we went on another 10 hour ride back to Lisbon.

It’s important to note that throughout our travels, we couldn’t help but notice that just about everywhere we went, whether on the road or in the cities, we encountered graffiti. I get the art and symbolism of some of it but it really takes away from the beauty of a place.

Lisbon (Lisboa) is the capital and largest city of Portugal. Lisbon is one of the oldest cities in the world and the second-oldest European capital city (after Athens), predating other modern European capitals by centuries. Established by pre-Celtic tribes and later the Phoenicians there are ruins which date back to the 1st Century BC. The Portuguese were also big-time explorers, think Magellan, Vasco De Gama and Prince Henry the Navigator (an SUV we could have used on this trip) which is why people in Brazil speak Portuguese.

Lisbon was the nicest of the places we stayed. The Ikonic Lisboa is part of a chain of hotels throughout the world. It is located in the Park of Nations, the site of the 1998 Lisbon Expo on the banks of the river Tagus. It is a very modern hotel (not pet friendly) with an AMAZING breakfast buffet as part of our stay. Travel tip, don’t forget your 240/120 volt converters. If you plug something American into a socket, bad things will happen to your device and maybe the building.

Breakfast Buffet

For dinner, we walked into the Park of Nations and found Cantinho do Avillez. We were seated outside people watching on the promenade under the wings of a replica of a Sopwith Camel bi-plane from WWI. I enjoyed one of the best Quinoa salads I’ve ever had.

Luckily, the following morning, the airport was minutes away and we got there in plenty of time to get through security. Well…there was a slight deviation I experienced for the first time. I noted on my ticket back to Philadelphia had a series of four Ss printed on it. When I got to the gate, my name was called along with other passengers to return to the ticket desk. When I got there, we got pulled aside and a secondary search was conducted on me and my carry on bag just as the airline called for boarding. I was number three and had to take everything out of my pockets, remove my belt, remove my phone and iPad from their cases and my shoes. All items including me were swabbed for GSR and Bomb elements and once re-dressed, the agents were kind enough to let me jump the line to get on the plane. I was worried I wouldn’t make the flight.

When I got on the plane I immediately searched SSSS on a ticket. Here is what I found: Secondary Security Screening Selection or Secondary Security Screening Selectee, known by its initials SSSS, is an airport security measure which selects passengers for additional inspection. People from certain countries are subject to it by default. The list is a subset of the “No-Fly” list. The passengers may be known as Selectee, Automatic Selectee or the Selectee list. In the case of Southwest Airlines, secondary screening selectees may have a "checkerboard" pattern printed on their boarding passes. So beware the dreaded SSSS or checkerboard on your ticket.

The flight back was long but comfortable. American has two meals they served, breakfast and dinner. Both were passable for airplane food. Because we had handed out our gift bags, we got a little more attention and got some extra drinks, snacks and a bottle of wine. Several of the Flight Attendants came by to thank us for the gifts and seemed genuinely appreciative.

Back in Philadelphia, we made our way to the Admiral’s Club for the three-hour layover which got delayed further by a storm front passing through Dallas. I had lost my original return ticket to DFW along the way and had the ticket reprinted in Lisbon. Unfortunately, the reprint did not have my TSA Pre designation and I had to go through regular security (note to self, don’t lose your ticket ever again). We got home around midnight and had to Uber in a Lincoln Navigator (how ironic) back to our car and home. A 1,362 mile road trip we will not soon forget.

In case you’re curious, the gift pack was a small flashlight (was timely in that the Attendants had recently been told they can’t use their phone flashlights on duty), mini tube of hand cream, tube of lip balm, a red “Flight Crew” key fob, one dark chocolate and one milk chocolate candy all packed in a snack size baggie….all available on Amazon.

My Thailand Experience

 I think we can all agree, we are a spoiled people. We were fortunate enough to be born or transported to this land of milk and honey where things are relatively organized (well, except our current government wrangling) and we can depend on a steady access to fresh water, electricity and food. All of which, one way or another, are regulated and consistent throughout the expanse of our Nation. Not so much in lands outside of our borders (sorry…not you O, Canada, you guys are pretty set except for that weird money you have).

Let’s take a moment to discuss flying to distant destinations. The farthest I’ve flown was to Hawaii. About six hours with no delays. Dallas-Fort Worth to Doha, Qatar was 17 HOURS. There’s only First Class/Business and then the unwashed rabble (us).

We had these neat little video screens with like 400 videos and movies to watch but the seating space was ridiculous. When the person in front of me tipped back their seat, that little screen was now inches from my face. Luckily, I had been blessed with an aisle seat, I could get up at will and move around. My row companions, not-so-much.

Then there was the connecting flight, 7 HOURS to Bangkok and another hour and a half to Chiang Mai. That’s over a day in the air in a metal tube hurtling through space.

Apparently NOT worried about hijacking

Food wasn’t a problem, we had three meals on the Doha flight, two to Bangkok and another on the Chiang Mai flight (kudos to the Bangkok Air folks, they had, in my opinion, the best in-flight meal). Interesting side light, on Qatar, they give you this cool bag of stuff you might need like headphones, cute little socks and blinders to wear to sleep. They also have a “Personal Wellness Bag.”

Of course, it is an airsickness bag but with a twist. Look carefully and note the top is sealed, you have to tear it open to use it. I thought this could be problematic if you were in some sort of a hurry. This should probably have been covered in the Safety Talk at the start of the flight.

We Americans take so much for granted that, when we travel abroad, we have certain expectations and feel somewhat inconvenienced when those expectations aren’t met. The ugly American syndrome takes over and our hosts look at us askance, roll their eyes and do what they can to accommodate us when they can.

Like restroom accommodations. Both in Thailand and my experience in Mexico, not everybody is blessed with inside flushable toilets. Oh, you’ll be safe enough in some of the major cities, but just outside the city limits you would most likely end up with some version of this setup.

A stand up or squat situation with a manual flush of a bucket of water cast into the porcelain receptacle or it could be just a deep dug hole which may or may not be in a cabana or shed. Like camping, having a roll of toilet paper in your back pack (and some baby wipes for those more fastidious souls) is a life saver. For the “upscale” Resort we stayed in, they used flush toilets but a slight twist on the bidet concept. Bet you never thought to use a dish sink sprayer like these folks did.

When we arrived for our Medical Mission, Carmen took us aside and reminded us we were in Thailand and not to expect four-star accommodations or treatment. She emphasized we were guests in their Country and to act that way. We were told in no uncertain terms that taking shoes off when entering a person’s home or church was mandatory, and special dispensation had been offered us while we were at clinics because they expected us to be wearing shoe coverings on-the-job.

Masks are still common in Thailand (I was somewhat surprised, being from Texas, the Land of Virus deniers) how many people I saw wearing masks in stores or on the street) and if offered one or asked to wear one we should agree or leave the place we were in.

The Thai people are an old and proud culture and, although they will excuse a foreigner (they actually call us that), they can be easily insulted and don’t forget easily. Generally, if confronted by embarrassment, they will default to laughing or giggling and walk away. Many have been Westernized and many know and understand at least rudimentary English. It is taught in public and private schools and college/universities. There is also a huge Ex-Pat community of Europeans and Americans as well.

And, of course, there are a plethora of American fast-food establishments to make one feel at home. Although available, I never saw anyone use chop-sticks in and around the Chiang Mai area. Of course, with my corrupt sense of humor, I was trying to visualize someone eating a Big Mac with chop sticks.

Our first few days involved acclimating ourselves to the Thai ways. “Team Building” exercises involved us trying to pick up some basic Thai terms and greetings. Each Team of Medical and Vision had medical and/or vision terms to use to coax our patients to tell us what was wrong or right about what we were doing. This involved huddling with our Thai student leader and learning a song (in Thai) that we were going to sing to other groups later on…no pressure. No matter who you are or where you come from, it’s always easy to spot pain, suffering or fear in someone’s face and sometimes just holding a hand or shielding their eyes could provide comfort when the crazy foreigner is about to stick a big old needle into your extremity.

At one Team Building, Carmen split us into men and women and assigned us food preparation tasks. The men were teamed with some male Thai students to go to the food market. Our mission was to go into town and buy a main course, side dishes and a healthy soup.  One team had to prepare Breakfast.

The women stayed behind to get some open-air kitchen cooking techniques with our Chief Cook. Luckily, the men teams got an interpreter to go along to help.

We piled into our open pickup trucks (ah…did I mention they don’t have a Department of Transportation regulating things like…seat belts? Hey, its Thailand after all) and made our way through bustling downtown Chiang Mai traffic at rush-hour.

It was a cacophony of horns, loud exhaust, clouds of diesel smoke (oh yeah, no smog regulations), squealing tires and then add in motorbikes in various configurations (amazing the things you can hang off of a moped) darting in and out of traffic. All vying and jockeying for position where whatever driving regulations and traffic control devices are mere suggestions in the overall picture and, oh, did I mention all that driving on the wrong side of the road?

Funny story, while we careened through the streets, I mentioned this seemingly chaotic road scene to one of our mentors, Dr. Roy Batterham. Doc Roy said it may look that way, but, in fact, all people who apply for drivers’ licenses take mandatory driver safety classes AND a mandatory four-hour course in Courteous Driving and must pass the course to get their license. Backward third-world country? I think not.

We get to the open-air market and split up to get our ingredients. My guys were tasked with getting the soup contents. We approach what I will euphemistically call a Meat Counter. No refrigeration or even ice supporting these various cuts of chicken, beef and pork lying about.

I was told that Thais generally ascribe to the European style of meal preparation. In most cases, they buy stuff for the next couple of meals so there is no immediate need to refrigerate because the food will be consumed soon after purchase. Most folks have refrigeration in the cities but the more rural (and away from electricity infrastructure) the fresher the purchase or harvesting. This market was extensive and you could pick up just about anything we might have at a grocery store except for packaging and some of it maaaaay still be moving.

My guys looked to me (the VERY senior member of the team) to come up with the ingredients. I looked about under the watchful and clearly entertained eyes of the women proprietors. You see, Thailand is more of a Matriarchal society and men aren’t usually the ones doing the food prep or purchase. So, we were already behind the eight ball if you will.

I was a little overwhelmed with the smell and display of various meats, some I could not immediately identify. I did note there seemed to be a plethora of pig parts, hooves, bellies, ears and whole heads. So, I had our intrepid interpreter ask the woman behind, what I will loosely call “the counter”, if she had any ground pork. She quickly and enthusiastically answered yes and asked me how much I needed. I couldn’t find any clues around me and my stalwart companions were of no help so they left it up to me. I recalled I was in a Metric country and blurted out, “One Kilo.”

This seemed to satisfy the woman who then told us she would immediately grind up some and that we could swing by to pick up after completing our ingredient list. We then selected some beautiful and BIG carrots, some potatoes and cilantro. We went by the meat counter, scored our pork, had enough stuff to feed about 20 people and got out of there for less than the equivalent of $10 U.S. dollars (the Thai Baht was 36 to one U.S. Dollar at the time).

After dinner, I had some time to do some reading. There was usually a “hot pot” of water for coffee or hot chocolate. For convenience, our hosts used a common packaged single serving coffee. Doc Roy came by and I remarked to him the huge number of coffee shops I had seen on our travels. Literally a Starbucks or mom and pop independent shop every hundred yards or so. Doc Roy told an interesting story.

As you note on the map, we were on the outskirts of the infamous “Golden Triangle” of Laos, Myanmar (Burma) and Thailand. Opium, what started out as a revenue source for anti-Communist militias fighting in the 1960s in that region, ended up as a big Drug Cartel mess. Because opium was such a great cash crop in this region, the government was making efforts to get the locals off farming opium and move to a less dangerous and addictive crop. They went to the United Nations and their agricultural guy did a study and decided coffee beans would do well in their climates so there was a big push to switch over and now they have developed a huge coffee culture which coincided with the rise of coffee shops and cafes in the 70s and 80s. A success story if I had ever heard one.

It wasn’t all work and no play. We did get a day to visit a big tourist draw to Chiang Mai, Wat Phra That Doi Suthep built in 1384 AD. According to legend, a white elephant, carrying a relic of the Buddha, was released into the jungle and began to climb a large mountain in the center of Chiang Mai, Thailand – Doi Suthep. When it reached the top, the elephant trumpeted three times before dying on the mountain.

So, they built the Temple where the elephant fell using only local materials. There are 300 steps to the top and for good luck tourists walk around the Temple three times and ring the bells as you go. We were trying to get to the Doi Inthanon National Park and Elephant Sanctuary but the rains had washed the roads out and the park was closed (sorry Debbie).0

Then there is the downtown Night Market. It’s chock full of stuff you don’t need but have to buy because it’s so inexpensive, which includes a huge food court with traditional foods and an assortment of Gringo food like burgers, pizza and even Mexican.

On another day we got to visit the Central Festival Mall. A huge five floor monolith with all your favorite shops from Nike to Ralph Lauren. The food park was in the basement and had all the stuff you want to eat and desserts. Yes, even Krispy Crème was there. Prices in Baht were comparable to U.S. prices. There were no farmers shopping here.

All things must come to an end and our last day was packing and then airport nonsense. Chiang Mai was easy, very Southwest Airlines-like. But Qatar was beyond all expectations. In retrospect, the Arab nations probably had a heads-up on the Hamas invasion of Israel. Bangkok was pretty intense but in Qatar, the day before the attack, we went through four, count‘em, four separate security checks before getting to our final gate. At this writing, several Thai captives had been released by Hamas. 

After another full day in the air in my cramped aisle seat made me that much more grateful for our return. My comrades and I had a very rewarding and interesting trip loaded with memories of the place and the people. Now, I need to reflect and decide if I’m going back in 2025!