Insights on Coronavirus

One thing that is certain about the Coronavirus is that it is
especially threatening to the elderly - 70 and beyond - and
those immunologically compromised. I recently interviewed
Stephan Rechtschaffen, M.D., who founded the Nosara
Longevity Center at Blue Spirit and has researched aging and
health issues since the 1970s, who has some important
insights regarding aging and immunity.
Dr. Rechtschaffen notes that the Coronavirus is a respiratory
illness and the focus should be on the lungs. Aerobic
exercise such as tennis, his favorite, and breathing exercises
such as those developed by Wim Hoff or yogic breathing
exercises strengthen and clean the lungs and make them more
resistant to lung-based illnesses, he says.

The lungs provide oxygen to cells to create energy, and he
draws an analogy to the fires consuming forests in the
Amazon, Australia and California. “We are burning the lungs
of the planet. Covid-19 is a disease of the lungs. People are
dying because they don’t have good lung function.” With low
functioning lungs, viruses or bacteria can be trapped in
mucous and fester.

He also suggests Vitamin C and zinc supplements to help
boost immune protection against respiratory illness, and
intravenous administration is available at the Wellness
Center, for anyone seeking a boost prior to travelling. The
Center has been open to the public for two years and offers
a menu of services and strategies to promote healthy aging.

The level or dose of exposure to virus is a factor in who gets
sick, as well as the body’s immune function, he points out.
The Chinese doctor who died was not old, but his exposure
was very high, he said.

He recommends intermittent fasting, and skips breakfast, to
confine eating to a 6-hour window of lunch and dinner - with
no dessert or sugars after dinner. Another approach
to consider is fasting up to two days a week.  “The aging
mechanism is turned off in the first stage of fasting.” He views
grains as generally pro-inflammatory, and also stays away from
sugar.

The body uses inflammation to fight disease, but steady
inflammation promotes the diseases of aging. He explains
the seeming paradox by describing inflammation as a
‘mechanism’. “Intermittent fasting reduces general
inflammation and saves it for when you need it.”

The Center is tucked away behind the gates at Blue Spirit but
is open to the public. The menu of services offers diagnostics,
treatments and recommendations for supplementations,
under the directions of Rechtschaffen and Dr. Adriana
Galeano. 

“It’s not about living forever, it’s about living as well as you
can. Vitality lasts a lot longer, with less inflammation, less
oxidative stress and toxicity,” he explains.

If you’ve ever taken one of those Facebook tests that promise
to tell you your true biological age, the real thing is offered at
the Center, based on analyzing oxygen use and related indicators
to determine your cellular, or mitochondrial efficiency.

Additional information and a PDF catalog of services is
available by contacting the Center at longevity@bluespiritcostarica.com or
calling Blue Spirit at 2656-8300 or 2656-8228. Week-long
longevity retreats are planned in June, July and August.

Visiting Antigua, Guatemala

My visit to Antigua, Guatamala, to attend language school over the New Year was an excellent way to welcome a new decade. The historically-preserved colonial-era town is at the same time cosmopolitan and rich with restaurants and cultural activity.

Antigua is a 45-minute drive from the airport at Guatemala City on a modern thoroughfare that is at first marked by bright signage from the major fast-food franchises. Access from San Jose may not be the easiest, but an evening flight let me take the late afternoon Sansa from Nosara, and arrive at 10 pm at the modern and generic airport where the driver arranged by the language school was waiting, late on Christmas day.

My sister arrived earlier from the U.S. and was waiting at our boutique hotel. We were attending different language schools, with private instruction over the course of the next 9 days. The altitude of approximately 5,000 feet made the morning walk to class brisk, and I wore a long-sleeved shirt that could be removed for the afternoon sun, although it never got out of the 80s F. I had registered for four hours of morning class, and spent part of the afternoon exploring one of the local craft markets, where the famous Guatamalan textiles and clothing were displayed in endless stalls. Street food is in abundance and the volcanic soil ensures a variety of the freshest produce.

The town is fairly small and completely walkable, although abundant tuk-tuks will take you over the rough cobblestone streets if you don’t mind a bumpy ride. When we were told that the tuk-tuks were regulated to charge a flat rate to take you anywhere in the old town, we realized we had been overcharged, but it was still just a couple of bucks.

Gretchen had signed up for 6 hours of conversational Spanish, while I thought I needed more structure. She and her young teacher spent much of their time touring the sights and restaurants. A couple of large earthquakes had toppled some cathedrals and monasteries, and their ruins contributed to the ambience, along with a large inactive volcano to the south.

The schools were closed for the weekend, so we booked a day-long tour of Lake Attitlan, from one of the ubiquitous tour offices. Options included the Mayan ruins at Tikal, which involved a plane-ride, and an overnight trip to an active volcano. The van picked us up at 5 am on Saturday at our hotel for the two-hour ride to the lake. After a hearty Guata breakfast we  were packed off to a tight-fitting boat for a ride across the lake to the first of three villages on our itinerary.

At the first village, San Juan del Lago, we trekked up a steep road, lined with craft shops, to visit a women’s cooperative where we were given a demonstration of fabric weaving, starting with the spinning and dying of cotton. These villages are populated by people of Mayan ancestry who still maintain their traditions of craftsmanship. There are also many art galleries with beautiful, coloful depictions reflecting local life.

Back to the boat, where we filed in sardine-like for the trip to the next village, Santiago. Somewhat larger, we toured the town square and where given a history talk by our guide. Of course every town has historic churches or cathedrals and a mix of Mayan and colonial influences, with all manner of shopping and eating experiences. Our third and final village, the largest on the lake, included late lunch and more of the same. The high-altitude lake is surrounded by volcanoes and the streets are accordingly steep. 

There are many other traditional villages along the lakeshore, and countless tour groups such as ours. I think we paid $70/pp, a bargain as is everything in Guatemala, and I heard that it is easy to arrange more personalized tours as well. We had about 15 in our group.

Walking the busy holiday-week streets of Antigua one evening, I heard my name called and there was Elizabeth and Vytas and their two girls from Nosara, also visiting for the holidays. They raved about the overnight volcano tour, with a spectacular night-time view of the sparking volcano. Truly a Nosara moment, in another country.

New Year’s Eve is a big event, as you can imagine, with crowds, street music, firecrackers and fireworks all night.

Nevertheless, we had our choice of restaurants, bars and entertainment all night without the need for reservations. We did pay a cover charge at a nightclub but snagged a windowside table that let us watch the festivities on the street below. Other nights we found a microbrew with a sampler flight and a lovely singer from the US, a restaurant called Samasati with a vegan-yogi style menu, and plenty of international options. One night I ripped it up at a karaoke bar with a local guy on harmonica doing Piano Man.

My sister and I have a long-going tennis rivalry which we fully
indulged at an excellent tennis club there, with a ballboy to
chase after all our strays. We didn’t even get to the dance
lessons at night, but that can be another trip. All in all, we had
an excellent trip and hope to do it again. Now, I just have
to practice those verb tenses.

Two Weed Stories

I bought my first weed from the guy who sat next to me in high school biology and he also invited me to a John Birch Society introductory meeting hosted by his parents. Out of curiosity I attended and watch a filmstrip outlining their beliefs, basically that the US government leadership was heavily infiltrated by communists in league with the Soviet Union.

This seemed preposterous on its face, but it got much weirder as they added additional conspiracy theories such as the use of fluoride in drinking water to soften minds to communist doctrine. I took home a handful of their far-right brochures and some bumper stickers and tacked them to my bedroom wall to irritate my liberal Democrat mother. I was 16 and quite the asshole at the time. In recalling this story today, I realized this was the first instance I was to see a link between drug use and conspiracy theories.

At that age I was still planning a career in medicine, because those were the plans my mother had for me. However, with the advent of weed, something was going on that I wasn't aware of at the time. I decided that I didn't want to spend the next 10 or more years in school to become a doctor. I might have been high. It came to me as an epiphany and I have never had any regrets. I was writing a lot at the time, for the school paper and an 'underground' sheet, and eventually determined to make my living somehow as a writer. Journalism seemed to be the safest career path.