COSTA RICA DIARIES v1 n6
My Sweet Heart…
People who know me know of my heart issues. I thought I had a heart attack this afternoon here in my hotel room and the staff were super fast and in what seemed like an instant there was a doctor and a paramedic putting an IV in my arm. It wasn’t a heart attack, thankfully — just very bad dehydration, which is not unusual when you travel internationally and forget to think of yourself. The doctor was listening to my music and agreed to be my personal physician down here. I think he and the staff thought I was more famous than I actually am. But when it comes to a rescuer dealing with my heart, I’ll take what I can get.
When you have a heart problem, there is nothing more fearsome than when you have an episode. Your mind races. You think of everything and everyone that matters to you. My first call was to my children’s mother, Judy, and she was typically supportive. 20 years after our divorce, she’s always my first call. I feel lucky to have her. We have a loyalty thing that’s endured pretty well.
Anyway. So I’ve spent the last two days writing and working on the new album I’m making in the beginning of 2024 in Brasil. Looking for a condo (done) and for a studio and a pianist to do a Christmas song (not done — It’s a challenge). And serving my clients whilst taking in the extraordinary views from my room here in Las Catalinas. I mean, it’s entirely distracting. I just forgot to eat and drink anything but Coca Cola, which down here is made with pure sugar. Hence my heart acting up. Do not drink that shit outside of the United States, my friends. I really thought I was dying.
I was looking at The Drudge Report earlier. Someone said Trump is headed for jail and there was a piece beating up my friend Tucker Carlson. Tucker doesnt care, but I care when my friends are trashed. It pissed me off. And I do hope Donald Trump, once a friend, goes to jail. That one didn’t bother me. But everything in my country seems ugly now. Im exhausted by it. I can’t look at that shit.
And I’m nervous about the state of our world. We have no competent leadership whatsoever and Jews are being attacked on the streets. That would never happen here, which is part of the reason why I’m staying. I’ve never experienced a more open and kind place. Well, there was Taiwan, but I was a guest of the goverment and I think the whole trip was contrived.
I have yet to meet a single asshole in Costa Rica — from hotel staff to taxi drivers to ex-pats. Everyone is smiling. This place hasnt had a military since the 1940’s. They don’t need one, because everyone is cool. I was a little skeptical about the whole pura vida thing until I got here, but it is real. Life here is indeed pure. And gorgeous.
So for the doctors who treated me to the staff who called them and keep checking on me, the drivers and the maids, I am grateful. And relieved that Ive found a place that feels like home. Come here.
