Dental Clinic in Tamarindo

While in Tamarindo for a vacation on the beach, why not get your teeth whitened? Right on the street by the beach in the center of Tamarindo is a dental clinic that advertises with this sign. No, I have not used it, nor do I have personal experience about it.

Medical/dental tourism has become a growing trend in recent years, as some people use vacations to get medical or dental procedures done at a fraction of the cost at home.

The health care system in Costa Rica ranks the same as the USA on international scales. Costa Rican health care received some publicity in the USA

recently because Rush Limbaugh stated that if health care reform legislation is enacted in the US, he would move to Costa Rica. That caused some commentators to point out that for 60 years Costa Rica has had the type of health care system that Limbaugh opposes.

Out of all of the countries in the world, I don't know why Rush Limbaugh mentioned Costa Rica, except maybe he has been here on a vacation and, like so many others, loved it. I do not think he would agree with the politics in Costa Rica. Costa Rica, despite the armed conflicts in its region, abolished its military in 1949 and put the money into public schools and health care instead.

In the 1980's, Costa Rica had one of the highest per capita debts in the world, yet it turned down financial aid offered by the Reagan Administration because in return the U.S. government wanted to use Costa Rican land as sanctuaries to train contra rebels to fight against the Sandinista government in neighboring Nicaragua. Instead of becoming involved in an armed conflict in the region, the President of Costa Rica, Dr. Oscar Arias, negotiated an end to the conflict and earned a Nobel Peace Prize.

We have photos of the Mayan ruins of Uxmal posted this week on our Viva la Voyage travel photo site.