Finally In The System

Just to let you know we were notified the other day that Immigration has received all of our paperwork for our application for residency.   It took a little over two months from the time we handed our lawyer our documents for them to get them submitted to Immigration.   A little longer that I expected but none the less it is done and now all we have to do is wait about a year or so to hear if we can be residences.  The really good news is that we don’t have to keep leaving the country every 90 days to renew our visa, even though we are still considered tourist.  Should additional information be required we need to be in country.

With that step out of the way we can breath a bit easier for a while at least. 

Getting your Driver’s Licenses

As part of the process of becoming a resident you need to get your driver’s license in order to drive legally since after a while your visa stamp will expire and you will no longer be valid using your US licenses.  We wanted to use the services of ARCR to help us out but could not get a time when they could get us in during the times we were in San Jose.  After reading many other blogs I had an idea of how the system worked but had no first hand knowledge.

We decided to bit the bullet and do it on our own since our visa’s will expire next month.  Since we do not plan on leaving the country for a while (hopefully if we get our papers submitted to Immigration) we had to take action.

So this is how we did it. 

We booked a room close to COSEVI in an area we knew was safe and got up early that morning and took a taxi to COSEVI.

Room with a view

Upon arrival we went straight to the Medical Exam place and had our blood type taken and did the medical exam (lots of questions, quick eye chart and blood pressure).  That cost us about $40/each.  Next we took our medical paperwork over to the famous line up area but shot to the front of the line and waited with other foreigners in a separate line by the front door.  We got there about 8AM and waited until about 820AM when they started looking at our documents.  We had everything (medical, blood type, picture page of passport and visa stamp page) except a photo copy of our US driver’s licenses (both sides).  So I had to go back out down to the medical place again (where they also will make photo copies for you) and got copies made for 400 colonies.  Once I returned we were told to take a seat in the back row of chairs and wait to be “called upstairs”.

Stairway to heaven

After a about an hour waiting we got the “call”.  Once up stairs we presented out documents to the lady at the desk that hand wrote everything down in a spiral notebook (no joke).   When I was done I had to go see this other guy who then entered you into “the system”  You are assigned a number.  After answering many instant messages, you are finally handed a piece of white paper with this number at the top and allows you to go to BN and pay your 4000 colonies for your license.  With your yellow receipt in hand you go back to the office (passing the long line of people now waiting to renew theirs) show them the receipt and wait on the chairs up front to be called in and have your picture taken.  Once your picture is taken in a few more minutes you are handed a brand new CR Licencia de Conducir.

Final Product

So here is the break down:;
Cost of room - $100
Cost of Medical - $80
Cost of Taxi - $10
Cost of License – “Priceless”

Rainy Season

I just took a look at the national weather here and it seems like the rainy season isn’t quite over as of yet, except for the far northern part of the pacific.  All those who have come hoping for a sunny and warm Christmas might be a little disappointed this year.  Forecast calls for more clouds and rain tomorrow too.  Since we do live in a rain forest you kind of have to expect that at some point in time.

With the rains comes the wind; which happens to whip the waves up a bit, making it not so nice for swimming. Surfing is good and you really don’t mind the rain since you are wet anyway.  Umbrellas and rain jackets are the main wardrobe garb during these days.  Since most people who come here don’t have a car, walking or taxi are the only options for most getting around town.  Standing in line at the ATM machine this time of year can be trying to some also since the line can extend down the road a ways.  That’s why I get up early in the morning and not  have to wait, usually everyone is still in bed sleeping off the night before.

PV is like the tide, when it goes out it is calm and quiet, but when the tide comes in it is a whole different story.  People cram the little main street making it almost impossible to drive any where.  The good news is that they paved all of the back streets in town so you can go around main street without loosing your teeth bouncing up and down and by pass the crowds.

Well it is the season to be jolly and so I’ll end on a jolly note,  NO SNOW!!!!! in the forecast.  Pura Vida, gota love it.

Wild Goose Chase

After talking with a number of local folks here we kept hearing about this place called “Chase”, how great it was and that you could find anything you wanted.  The deal is that it is located in Panama.  So yesterday we took off with some friends and started down the long bumpy road.

We kind of knew where it was but not the exact location and thought it was at the end of the road (18Km worth).  Driving at top speed of 10km/hr you can imagine how long it took to get there.  Once we got there we asked if anyone knew where “Chase” was.  Yes they said, go back about 10 km and it’s on the right.  Great, back to the car and down the bumpy road.

Well, when we got there we were really shocked at what we saw.  Nothing like any one had told us about.  A crowded store with clothes a few TV’s.  There was no beer or wine or any such thing since that was the main reason for the trip.  Only came back with some cheap christmas lights.

                                                The road

                     The Bus that almost ran us off the road

     The Soda where we should had turned left in the first place

The boat dock with Panama across the river.

Saw this on the way home, a Mal in the back of the truck.

I doubt we will be visiting Chase again any time soon, not until some body can verify that the goods are there.

Joyful Holidays

As part of the Holiday sprit, ICE (pronounced E-Say, the country’s monopoly for power and communications) has come up with a friendly reminder for your cell phone.  Just so you don’t go and blow all of that Christmas bonus on presents, a call to your phone is automatically made to remind you to pay your phone bill.   I paid ours 5 days ago and I got 5 calls this morning reminding me to pay mine.  I wonder how many I would get if I hadn’t paid.  Maybe it works a bit too well.  Besides I can’t imagine a Tico letting something so close and dear like their cell phones to be turned off.  Isn’t that a human right that should be brought before the supreme court?  How dare they even think of such a thing.  For sure the cell phone has changed everyone's lives, it is probably the one big techno deal that will go down in history.

The holidays here are warming up and we are glad of that.  It’s been even chilly at times with all the rain and cloud cover, aka Pacific Northwest, but blue sky is right around the corner, along with all of the new wave of tourists.  The raining season has been really hard on Costa Rica this year, eliminating dozens of bridges, closing many roads (many of which are still closed) making it hard or impossible to get to your favorite traveling destination.  But if it wasn’t for the influx of the tourists a lot of things would not be fixed or mended, so we are thankful for something’s here.

I just can’t wait to sink my teeth into my Christmas chicken, unlike our Thanksgiving chicken, this time I hope to do it beer can style just like back home.  At $70 for a 16 pound turkey at Pricesmart (aka Costco) we will have to wait for Santa to bring us one.  Don’t get me wrong, I am not complaining we love it here and wouldn’t change a thing, well maybe our diet and some expectations.

When it Rains

When it rains, it pours.  In the last three days we have had 10 inches of rain from this low pressure system.  Today it is not raining yet so I went down to the beach to take a look and see if we still had a road to drive on.  Luckily we do, the beach on the other hand is filled with debris from the rivers.  Huge trees and old trees fill the sand.

 

It will probably take a week for the ocean to clean all of this up.  It is amazing how things change within just a few days.  With the ground already saturated, I hope the rain stays away for a while so things can dry out a bit.

Tropical Low

What happens when a tropical low pressure sits off the coast?  Well, it rains!  It has been raining since Monday evening and so far we have around 6 inches of rain fallen and it is still coming this way!  Good things it is 75 degrees other wise we would have around 5 feet of snow on the ground! 

The other good thing is we really don’t need to go anywhere right now so we are staying put until this passes over.  That could be a couple of days or so.  Needless to say, we are in for a green Christmas, not a white one.