Learning To Drive A Costa Rican Car

I bought a car about 2 weeks ago. I picked up my friends Cathy and Roland, and I was not able to make it up the steep hill with my car. They had to get out and walk up the hill so I could get us out of there! Roland thought maybe I needed a new gas filter or possibly a new pump.

Last week I took my car to the shop of a wonderful young mechanic named Kevin. He had tested the car out for me before I bought it. I told Kevin what happened and his reply was, "Perhaps you do not know how to drive on mountain roads." Well, truer words were never spoken. Not only have I never driven on mountain roads I have not driven a standard shift with a small engine in at least 30 years, and that was on flat Texas streets. So....I made an appointment to come back to Kevin's shop today.

I arrived precisely at 9:30 for the appointment. He was still tied up under a car, so I stood outside where another American walked up to get his car. He and his wife had moved here in April from Round Rock, Texas. So much fun meeting other people that are making Costa Rica their home.

When Kevin finished with the car he came to me and said, "Let's go for a ride." We went back to the hill I could not get up, and the other American rode with us to put the extra weight in the car. Not a problem. Up the hill we went. A little slowly but up. That is when he told me he would be giving me a driving lesson. I just died laughing! Yes, it was I with the problem not the car. He talked to me about torque and where my engine should be revved to when approaching a hill. All righty then! I love "free" advise!

Another challenge and lesson learned in Costa Rica unless there is the small truck rocking along in front of you with 2 cows in the back.

Pura Vida!

A Lost Two Weeks

I am sorry I have not posted in a couple of weeks. I got my first Costa Rican cold. It was really not fun. I did get to meet the doctor that everyone uses here, and I did really like him. I have no idea what kind of anti-biotics he gave me, but I've never had one work so fast. I'm still fighting the cough, but at least I feel alive.

Things are so different here. The doctor gave me my prescriptions. I took them to the pharmacy, and they gave me packets in foil like allergy pills come in. Not a bottle of medicine like we are used to. I do not have insurance here yet, so my antibiotic, med for my lungs, and cough syrup cost me $30.00. The antibiotics in the States would have cost me more than that without insurance!

Last week I went back to the pharmacy. I have fibromyalgia and take pain medicine and muscle relaxants for it. I walked in the pharmacy and handed her my bottle of Hydrocodone that I have to go to the doctor every three months in the States to get, and then am handed 3 prescriptions where I go to the pharmacy each month to have those refilled. When the 3 months are up it's back to the doctor and another doctor's bill for something I have been taking for years. The lady in the pharmacy here told me they did not have hydro, but she could give me 500 mg. Codeine with 30 mg. acetaminophen. No prescription needed. Are you kidding me? No doctor visit to pay for and no prescription.

For the exciting news! I bought a Suzuki Ignis made for the Latin American market from the Veterinarian everyone uses here. It's little, but it gets me from point A to B. Costa Rica has a great bus system. They set the country up for bus travel. It only costs around .95 to go from Puriscal to San Jose. Very inexpensive. The bus runs by the street I live on and takes you straight into Puriscal. I am less than a mile from town, but on a two lane windy mountain road, it is not the smartest thing to walk. Well, lucky me! There are some mean dogs between me and the bus stop, so I was advised not to make the walk to the bus stop. Thus my auto purchase. I would rather not have the expense, but it became better for me. You cannot imagine how free I feel! If you move to CR my suggestion would be to live right in town, or live on a road with no mean dogs. I love where I live, but economically I would have been a little better off living in town. Not as happy, but more economically sound.

Pura Vida!

Little by Little

I continue to make progress here, little by little. Poco a poco. Last week I went into San Jose to complete my filing for my Residency. The last step was to get my head shot for my residency card and finger prints. I expected to go to a city hall type building for this. It is the official identification and final important step. I went to Roberto's office, my CR attorney, where he had all the papers translated into Spanish for me to deliver to the official immigration location. I thought he would be going with me, but he had his helper who spoke no English at all accompany me. He was very sweet, and we mostly communicated by him pointing to where I was to stand or go next.

We pulled up in front of a building that was nothing like I had imagined these offices would be like. First of all, we walked up to a man set up at an outside table with a chair next to it. This was where I was having my head shot made for my license! He had me sit in the chair, took my picture, ran if off on a printer, cut it out and handed it to me. I was almost laughing at how crazy this appeared. We continued next door to a tin building that was completely open. There was a gate around it and a metal door to shut it off at night. This was the finger printing location. Roberto's helper told the people I was a "senior" over 65, and they took me straight to the front of the line! It would have been a 2 hours process instead of the 35 minutes it took. He pointed to a chair for me to sit in and instructed me to (pointing to his ear) listen for Claudia Sullins. Luckily the lady that came and got me spoke some English. We sat at her old metal desk as you took the papers Roberto had sent me there with and put everything into the computer. Her last questions to me were, "Is you house wood or cement, and what color is it?" In CR there are no real street addresses. Addresses are actually location by directions. The very last line of my address is, Casa de amarillo (yellow house). After that she walked me over to the line to get my finger prints. They still use the stinky black ink here.

I wanted so badly to take pictures getting my finger prints done, but there were signs everywhere with pictures of phones with lines through them. It all went so smoothly I did not want to rock the boat by pulling my phone out to take a picture. I did take a couple of the outside photographer given the important job of taking everyone's photos for their licenses.

I love it here. There is no pretense whatsoever! Nothing was in a fancy office or building, and it all worked just fine. Now I just wait for the papers to make their way through immigration then to me.

Pura Vida

Pura Vida

Well, here I am still trying my best to discover Pura Vida. I am afraid there is still a little too much city "crazy" girl in me. I am better, just not all the way yet

My furniture made it here last week with some damage and an entire box missing. The box had some valuable collectables in it, and two cushions I put in there as padding that go to my dining chairs. Now I only have 2 matching cushions. Most of the damage can be repaired at a cost, but my antique floor lamp is toast.

As far as my missing box...I contacted the shipper with less than satisfaction. It is really too bad because up until now I felt confident using him, but the proof is in the pudding isn't it? When I first called Charles Zeller at Ship To Costa Rica he had his movers and I recheck to make sure box #58 was missing. No box #58 any where. After we searched as requested Mr. Zeller said he would call Customs and see if they still had it. I had to call him back then sent an email. He wrote me back giving all the reasons it could be missing with the top 3 being my fault. I did not hear from him for two more days when I emailed him again with all the steps I had taken asking for his help. As I sit here typing this 5 days later he still has not responded. So, the moral of the story is, first of all to not use Charles Zeller, and secondly understand that things can happen in Customs that you have no control over no matter how careful you are.

As a back story, the shipper, Charles Zeller, had me list every thing moved with a number and list each one on an inventory list. As they were moved out of my home I had an additional inventory page with numbers I was to cross out as the boxes and all items were loaded into the truck. Box #58 was there and loaded. A copy of all these inventories were then sent to Zeller for him to check when he received my belongings. He did have note of the damages done to my furniture, but no note of my missing box.

The damages are the fault of me and the mover I hired to load the crate. He did stack things beautifully and tied some things down. It was not nearly enough. You need to tie rope, use moving bars and anything else that works to keep your things from shifting inside the crate. The crate is driven to the closest port near you. Mine being 7 hours away. The crate is then moved by a crane onto the ship. It can be tossed around on the seas then is unloaded by a crane onto another truck and driven to customs. That is a lot of moving, and in my case, a lot of shifting went on despite our efforts. Truly get someone who specializes in loading for over seas shipping.

Now that I am calmed down from all of that I did find a furniture man who picked up my bookcase and antique dresser mirror to be repaired. The smaller items can wait. I have unpacked everything except my paintings and pictures. Why you ask? More of my Pura Vida character building. I have a man that was supposed to paint my walls before my things came. He was busy and did not get to me. Then he got food poisoning, and here I sit with nothing on my unpainted walls and large boxes leaning everywhere. I swear I am trying to stay calm! This is a lesson...if you are considering moving to Costa Rica you better understand NO ONE is in a hurry or even worried about timeliness here. It works for them, and I'm sure it will one day work for me. Fortunately or unfortunately for me, depending on how you look at it, I have never been late for anything, and it has always driven me crazy to put off until tomorrow.

Breath........Okay! Everything else is moving along wonderfully. My immigrations papers have been turned into the government, so I can get my residency! I was so excited to get the copy of my papers. Now all I have left to do is get finger printed which I hope to do this coming week.

I am still LOVING nature here! Every day I see Toucans, parrots, amazing butterflies, hummingbirds and views that go forever, and all this is off my own balcony!

Pura Vida!

Shipping Crate Is In Customs

I received word today that my furniture is in customs! Charlie Zeller at Ship to Costa Rica http://www.solutionscostarica.com/relocating/ has been wonderful. He told me 5 weeks, and yesterday was 5 weeks. Hopefully, things will run smoothly through customs, and I will have all my belongings next week!

I am ready to be surrounded by my own things. It was a hard decision and harder process to pack everything up for shipping. After living here for 3 weeks I can tell you I am very happy I made the decision to ship. I love the house I am living in and love the location, but everything is brown. I love color and coziness. Having my furniture, area rugs and art is going to make all the difference. It will be home sweet home.

I have been having fun taking pictures of some of the wild life and plants since I have been here. Here are a few.

Pura Vida

Filing for Residency

Yesterday was a very exciting and surreal day. I signed all my papers with my attorney, Roberto Umana. Now he will file them with immigration. Everything is in Spanish. There is no way I could have done this by myself. In about 3-4 months I will officially have my Costa Rican residency!

It has been a lot of work starting in March when I began getting all the required paperwork together. Birth certificate, background check and proof of a pension that is no less than $1,000 a month. For most people that is their Social Security income. Once I had everything together they had to be sent to the Secretary of State for an Apostille to be attached to each document. Then off to Roberto's office and translated into Spanish.

In my case, getting my paperwork together was pretty easy. I was born and raised in the same state. If I had been married I would have been required to get a copy of the Marriage Certificate. If all your life was spent in different States it will take you a little longer to gather all your information. But it is worth it.

Pura Vida!

Nature in Costa Rica

I have been trying to get pictures of nature's beauty in Costa Rica that is literally in my yard. It is not easy. Nature here is so fast! I am inspired and in love with everything I see daily.

I have a flock of parrots that fly over my house almost everyday, but I have yet to get a picture of them. They are beautiful. A brilliant green. If you know me you know how much I love birds. I have had them all through the years. I had, Lady Bird, a white Cockatiel for 10 years. I got another wonderful and smart Cockatiel, Fella, about a year ago. I was not able to bring him to Costa Rica with me, so my daughter, Meleese, took him. She and her husband love him. He loves to "wolf whistle" to get your attention. I miss him.

I have also seen a couple of Toucans, but again have not caught them on film, either. My yard is covered up in butterflies and hummingbirds. It's been difficult to get a good picture. They are like Speedy Gonzales! I will keep trying.

Here are a few shots that I have been able to catch.

Pura Vida!