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Published: August 29th 2006
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Backyard view
View from our back patio on the right side. I must admit the stress of living in a foreign country hit yesterday. With summer visitors gone and 7 months behind us it’s time to really get things going on the house project. (My Dad wants us to name the property…we’re open to suggestions) We figured it was time to check the national registry to make sure our names were recorded properly for the purchase. The day went downhill from the minute I checked the National Registry at 5:30 a.m.
We are new to the whole realm of buying, selling and certainly building a home. (Just ask G’ma Donna, the one who quickly sold our house in Arizona and helped make this dream life possible.) Buying and building in a foreign country …think about it very carefully. Be prepared for days when your stress level will rise above limits you ever thought possible. I thought we had gotten past living in fear being here for seven months but when I couldn’t find our names or any connection to us on the property we had paid for several months ago, panic set in. It escalated as I drank my morning coffee rechecking the registry with every combination of our names I
Parrots
Green parrots off the back patio. could think of.
For those who’ve never tried to look something up in the Registro Nacional Republic de Costa Rica there is really no way to describe it. http://www.registronacional.go.cr/ If someone out there knows how to work the system PLEASE contact me. I spent at least 9 hours yesterday trying to get into the online database. We went to the attorney who processed the sale and questioned him. He assured us everything was in order. We were given the new finca numbers and came home to check on our computer (the attorney doesn’t have internet in his office). I finally got thru on the registry website and checked again for our names and the new finca number to no avail. I called the attorney who again said it was on the website. All I wanted was for someone to show me proof that this property was indeed recorded in ‘OUR’ names. As there seemed absolutely no way to find this information my stress level elevated. I emailed an attorney we’d worked with at the ARCR offices and begged for her help. The engineer’s assistant had been emailing me through out the day saying she was checking on the numbers
Bear surveying the bosque
Cats sneak up under the choyotes from time to time to tease Bear. as well. After lunch and another hour trying to crack the website, we returned to the attorney’s office to find he’d gone to lunch. ARGH!
We finally connected with the attorney after a quick trip to Maxi-bodega and the festival in the central San Ramon for churros. He insisted the info was in the system and suggested I walk down the street to the internet café and pull it up. Did he not understand when I told him I’d just spent an hour trying to verify the info online? I sat at the café for 25 minutes only getting two responses to from the system both saying “nombre no existe en la base de datos” or “plano no existe en la base de datos”. ARGH! X(&*@!X(*& Back to the attorney’s office to tell him to walk his tush to the internet and get me proof. Luckily, he had another client waiting so Bill and Callista brought me home before my head started spinning and I spewed green gunck everywhere.
When we got home and I checked my email before attempting the registry website again (it was now an obsession, I couldn’t stop) and found the ARCR attorney had
Bobo on neighbors fence
He was just below the tree with the parrots the other morning. What a treat! found the info online and confirmed the new finca numbers just as given by our local attorney. Thank-you, Lord! I’m almost certain that if we hadn’t gotten some news to that effect by the end of the day I’d have been trying out the hospital services here in San Ramon. Calmer but still not satisfied (everyone in Costa Rica couldn’t be in on the conspiracy) I called the ARCR attorney and asked her to walk me thru the website so I could find see the info formyself. It was an unrealistic request as once you put in the correct info on the registry website you literally wait for up to 5 minutes only to get a response that the system has too many people using it at that time. I was able to pull up one screen and find which blocks to put in which info, something the local attorney failed to relay. The ARCR attorney told me she was able to pull up the information initially using Bill’s correctly spelled name. Amazed, I told her I had tried every spelling combination of both our names and got the “no existe” message. She couldn’t explain it.
Late in the
Our Choyoteria
A type of squash in my opinion. We're told San Ramon is know for the Choyote. Our neighbor built this behind our house to ensure his supply of the vegetable. afternoon I decided to finally let things go as I cooked dinner on the patio grill watching the birds grab a last bite of the bananas I’d put out for them as the clouds/fog slowly started to engulf the house. Whatever was going on at the Registro Nacional had stolen enough of my day. It was time to cheer on Callista as she chased the neighborhood dog, Black, away from the house with her bike. (Black likes to poop on our porch). It was a stressful day for everyone. Bill fell asleep on the couch at 7pm. Callista and I cuddled with Bear while watching some of our favorite Monday night TV shows.
I woke today and as usual turned on the computer on the way to the coffee pot. I only checked on the registry one time this morning and got the “system is busy” message. At that moment I decided to write as a way to release my frustration and walk away from the issue (for now). As long as the engineering firm can access the info they need to do the work we want, I’m happy. Don’t worry…be happy. (Anyone know if there’s a way to
View from patio
This shot is directly behind the house. Our view when doing the dishes. attach sound to blogs?)
What I find more disturbing than my experience with the “system” is my reaction to it. How quickly I turned back into the “gotta have it now” mentality. Luckily, I was able to spend the evening being drawn back into the nature that surrounded me and realized no matter what problems I thought I had they were unimportant when compared to the pleasure I get from watching the birds in the trees behind the house. No need for a pill here! When I sit on the porch I’m mesmerized by the life around me. My mind can think of nothing but how grateful I am to be able to experience these beautiful creatures right before my eyes.
PURA VIDA!
Jen, Bill, Callista and Bear
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Grand Ma Donna
non-member comment
Wow!
Scared me for a moment but sounds like you've worked everything out. Take care. Love Grand Ma Donna