We’ve Got Driver’s Licenses!

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Yesterday was a good day. We had a 10am meeting with the lawyer who would send us with his driver, Brian, to get our driver’s licenses. Brian is the same guy who worked with us on getting our fingerprints and paperwork from the police station when we were working on our residency so we were already familiar with him. He’s a good guy of little words, probably late 20’s but definitely knows his way around town and the systems of CR.

The bus ride into San Jose was longer than normal. I’m still not sure what the hold-up was because we were in the last seat and couldn’t possibly see what was going on up front. All I know is we sat, most likely in traffic, for 15 minutes at a complete standstill. Needless to say, we arrived at Romulo’s about 30 minutes late but no one seemed to care.

Romulo charged us $20 to help us with the licenses which basically covers Brian’s time and gas money. Once again, it was the best $20 we’ve ever spent.

Brian made a bunch of copies of our passports and PA driver’s licenses and off we went. The driver’s license center was about 15 minutes from Romulo’s but once again, I was glad we weren’t driving. Many turns and driving in San Jose is no easy feat. It’s a bit chaotic and people have no patience for those that don’t know the roads or the system. Ticos are some of the nicest, tranquil people I’ve ever met but put them behind the wheel of a car and all that goes out the window. Personally, if I never have to drive in the city, that would be perfect. I’ll take forging rivers, washed out roads, steep cliffs and boulder mazes to driving in the city any day!

We drove past the driver’s license center and parked in a small underground garage. Brian seemed to know the garage attendant and he let us in with no problem. In the underground garage was another very small cinderblock office. Once again, no bigger than my old IKON cube. Here sat Roy Hidalgo, the young doctor who would certify that we were healthy enough to drive.

He asked us a few questions like, “did we smoke”, “what hand do we write with”, “how much we weigh”. I’m still not sure that has to do with our driving ability but hey, I’m not a doctor. We then took a quick eye test which made me realize that I seriously need to learn my letters. To my first Spanish teacher, Mrs. Simonini: Did we skip this chapter? I did ok and muddled through most of them so that lesson is tucked somewhere in my scattered brain, I just need to do a better job of retrieving it. Roy was very nice about it and laughed as I tried to remember the Spanish words for each letter. He knew English and was just fine with me using both English and Spanish and looked grateful that I had at least tried. Everything else I was able to answer in Spanish so I think that made up for it a bit.

Roy listened to our hearts, checked our blood pressure and determined that we were in fact capable of driving a vehicle. He gave us the necessary stamps and paperwork which would be presented to the driver’s license center. We paid the $10 each and were on our way.

I’m still not sure if this exam needs to take place every time we renew our license but we must have passed 3 more doctors sitting on stools on the street and some inside store fronts as we walked up to the driver’s license center so there must be a larger need other than folks getting their license for the first time.

When we got to the driver’s license center, my eyes glazed over. Line upon line upon yet more lines of people everywhere. And not great signage I might add. Thankfully Brian knew the drill and walked us through the labrynth over to a small office in the back. We’ve been told that it’s much easier for foreigners to get a driver’s license in Costa Rica provided we have a license back in the States. The gentleman who sat in this small office would simply authenticate that our U.S. driver’s licenses weren’t fakes. There was hardly a line here, just a few expats in front of us and we were soon sitting in the office watching the authenticator write down all our license information into a small black composition book. I couldn’t help but think about how someone would go about looking up information should they ever need it. For those of you who know me, you know the word “spreadsheet” was jumping around in my head. I guess the situation has rarely come up where someone needed to go back through those books and try to find someone’s name. The authenticator then stamped something official on the copies of our passports and driver’s license and we were on our way...again.

Brian walked us around the maze to a very long line where we would wait to have our information punched into the computer. Considering the line was so long and I had nothing else to do, I decided to count how many people were ahead of us and time how long it would take us to get to the front. The tally came to 62 people ahead of us and we made it to the front in about 1 hour. My suggestion should you ever have to get a driver’s license here, just be prepared to wait. Once again, bring a book or you can buy a newspaper from the guy walking around the maze selling them. They even have a small concession stand inside the driver’s license center and a TV. Not too bad…

While in line, we ended up talking to a guy in front of us from England. Mike talked rugby with him a bit while I tried to figure out what a young guy from England was doing settling down in Costa Rica. He explained that he had lived in CR before and then moved to Brazil however the areas he lived in Brazil were apparently rather violent and unsafe. He said that there is a very high import tax on goods brought into Brazil, therefore anything imported such as laptops and electronics often come with a very high price tag, which makes robbing foreigners for these goods an every day occurrence. Whether that’s true or not, who knows but this guy decided that Brazil wasn’t for him and came back to Costa Rica. Nevertheless, chatting with this fella made the wait go by faster and it was nice to have someone to speak English with for a change. Don’t get me wrong, I love the Spanish language. While I know I have so much more to learn, my confidence continues to build. However, I can’t come close to being able to truly express myself in Spanish yet so speaking in English sometimes is a relief.

We finally made it to the front of the line, had our information punched into the computer. The authenticator had to come by again and nod his head to the associate to let them know that the signature on our paperwork was in fact his. We were then told to go to another line and pay.

Banco de Costa Rica has a bank right here in the driver’s license center which is where you pay for your license. The cost was $8 for each of us and our license is good for 2 years. Once we get it renewed again, it’ll be good for 5 years.

From here we were directed over to yet another waiting area where we could at least sit down and wait for one of the 6 camera stations to be open. We didn’t wait long and got lucky as by the time we got to this station, there was only one guy ahead of us.

The camera station was very advanced which I was surprised to see after our experience with the authenticator and his composition book. The camera station looked just like those in the States. Everything was computerized, we signed on the black pad just like a credit card and they even took our fingerprint electronically. Two minutes later, we were presented with our driver’s licenses!

Brian took us back to Romulo’s and from there Mike and I walked through La Sabana Park again to meet Matthew for lunch as Rosti Pollos (Roasted Chicken). Great restaurant with excellent coffee!

From there we took a taxi to La Uruca to meet with the shipping company. Our goods have not yet arrived in CR which is good for us, but they needed a color copy of our passports for customs. Since we were already in San Jose and La Uruca is close by, we decided to add this stop to our schedule. It was great meeting with the folks handling our goods. We have been very happy with their counterparts in the States and it was nice to finally put a face to the name we’ve been dealing with over the phone and email. It works out well for us that our goods have not arrived yet because once they get here, our 30 days of free storage kicks in. After the 30 days, we have to pay a monthly storage fee so the longer it takes for the boat to arrive, the better for us. Provided everything gets through customs smoothly and cheaply, I’d be happy to recommend our shippers to any of you moving to CR, just email me and I’ll give you their information. They have been great to work with so far.

While out in the lobby of the shipping company, Mike mentioned to the owner that we are currently living in Barva de Heredia. From a back office, we heard someone yell about how beautiful it is there to which everyone laughed. Mike commented that someone must also live there. From the office emerged a young man that we soon found out was actually a cousin of Gerardo's! What a small country.

We left the shipping company feeling like we had a really full day. We took one bus all the way back to Heredia and waited for about 15 minutes at the wrong bus stop to catch another bus back to Barva. By the time we realized we were at the wrong stop, I saw the rain clouds moving in. When I say that it rains here, I don’t mean that it just showers for a few hours. I mean that it’s a torrential downpour for a few hours and then nothing. It’s a very hard yet cleansing rain but you do not want to get caught in it. The rain brings with it the most fantastic lightning and thunder as well, which is a great spectacle. I’d take pictures of it but honestly the rain is really torrential.

Thankfully, the clouds were moving slowly and as we got off the bus and started walking to the house, it was still rather sunny. We made it to the door just as the first drops started to fall. Today was a good day.

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Photos

Our Doctor Roy, Mike and Brian
Yes, Roy and Brian thought it was a little odd that I wanted to take their picture but we told them, It's all for the blog baby! Haha...

Comments

[Mary Jo]

Sounds so exciting. Stay safe and good luck.