I went to Costa Rica on vacation for two weeks. The first week it was just Kyle and me, and then the second week, my private nurse (ha) Rose and her niece joined us. We had a great time. None of us are trailblazers so it wasn’t as though I was holding them back from anything. That would have sucked. Both Kyle and Rose reminded me to take things easy, not swim out too far while snorkeling, etc. The only time I had a minor issue was a wee panic attack at the bottom of a waterfall. Kyle and I had walked down many steps to get to the fall, and of course… I had to walk back up them when we left. I was a bit panic-stricken that I would have another “attack” going up the steps. (I know this begs the question, “Why did you go down the steps??” I just wanted to see the waterfall. What can I say.) But Kyle just reassured me that we’d just go back up slowly and take however long it took. To distract myself, I counted the steps, which I took about 10 at a time. Then a break. Then 10 more. Then a longer break. We finally got to the top of the 252 steps, and I was okay. Wiped out but okay. That was really the only time I was afraid I might have a problem.
For whatever reason, I always feel better when I’m in the water. After my second episode with this stuff, before I had any idea what was going on, I tried to “induce” a dizzy spell. (Bear with me here.) I intentionally didn’t eat all day, then went to the pool, did water aerobics for an hour, then swam laps for an hour. At this point, I was still convinced this was a low blood sugar thing. But I felt absolutely fine. No dizziness. No nothing. And my blood sugar was fine too. So I didn’t worry too much about snorkeling. Most of the time we weren’t in deep water or anything, and there were always plenty of other people around. And luckily I didn’t have any problems.
[Back to that chicken… again, not a travel blog but good lord, if you find yourself near Tamarindo or Playa Flamingo, be SURE to head to Soda Brasilito and get the fried chicken casado. You’re welcome.]
Low, Low, Low 