SO YOU WANT to LIVE in COSTA RICA the Adventures, Trials and Tribulations of Settling in Paradise

This is the continuation of a series of blogs to promote the e-book SO YOU WANT to LIVE in COSTA RICA – which is a guide to… the Adventures, Trials and Tribulations of Settling in Paradise… This is a guide book that will give you the kind of insider’s knowledge that you might wish you had before you made your decision to move or not move to Costa Rica.

Every blog entry will start with the appendix because that way when you read whatever else I have posted it will 1. make sense (I hope) and 2. give you a point of reference in case you realize you need to read something that is “archived”.  Because if you read every blog I enter you will have eventually read the whole e-book and won’t need to order it for $2.99 from Amazon or B&N.  All you’ll be missing are the photos that show what you might expect if you choose to undertake the Adventures, Trials and Tribulations of Settling in Paradise.

As I said, I will start each blog with the appendix so that the reader can reference important elements of the book to archived blogs.  The page numbers shown are the actual page they appear on in the book. Here is the Appendix – and these are all the nuggets and their corresponding page numbers: Definition of “nugget” – 3, Doors & Windows – 7, Manufacturing – 11, Real Estate – 11, Shipping – 12,Maps, – 15, Corporations – 20, Traffic Cops – 23, Know basic Spanish – 30, Panama – 33, Roof Line – 42, Plumita Pacifica Web Address – 65, Getting the Best a Tico has to Offer – 84, Power Surges – 86, Liberia Airport – 88, Attitude – 104, Cellular Phones – 117, Newspapers – 18, Your Embassy – 137, Buying & Selling Cars – 154, Drive Slowly – 161, Arriving at the Airport – 168, Wages & Prices – 170, Undertows – 226, Life Ring – 230, Avoiding Customs Confiscations – 234, Driving Rules – 236, Walking in the City – 249, Purchasing Anything – 258, Buying Fresh Produce – 263, Bus Tickets – 272, to “Bribe” or not to “Bribe” – 313, Traffic ticket Prices – 315, Exiting the Country – 337

chapter 9 continued

The next day I see an ICE truck.  I literally turn my car sideway across the road to block his path.  I get out, show him the name and number, he says that’s the boss all right but I should call this other person who is more in touch with the daily schedule of events.  It’s a lady and he writes her name and number for me.  I call.  She say’s “next Monday”.  Well, this story has to end here because that call just happened today.  To be continued I hope not.

Well, its three more weeks later and I think I’ve calmed down enough to, unfortunately, continue.  Of course ICE didn’t show up.  I let the week go by to give them a chance to show.  Then the next week was “Semana Santa” (Easter Week) and the entire country shuts down.  It’s not that they’re so religious, even though statistically the country is 70% Catholic; it’s that they take any opportunity to party.

Actually, church attendance is way off, which I think is interesting since ticos seem to enjoy claiming allegiance to one or the other churches here but openly admit to me, when I ask them, that they seldom if ever attend.

And it was my week to be in Ca. anyway.  But, when I retuned, Nidia (she and her husband Mario occupy one of my apartments and guard and maintain the place) said that an “inspector” from ICE had been to my house to tell her that I needed to go to the ICE office to give them a different “address” (remember?, C.R. doesn’t have address’s) because the workers couldn’t find me.  That was just over the top too stupid!

He found the place #1 and #2 what’s wrong with him simply giving the “address”, since he obviously found me, to the office he said I had to go to?  This government worker represented perfectly the stupidity we make jokes about.