Moving To Costa Rica

 

What we do comes out of who we believe we are.

I have had my faith, my perserverance and my commitment to this belief of who the new me is over the past few days.  I have also had it renewed, reaffirmed and strengthened.  I will explain what has happened in my life just the past week.

May 17 – Divorce mediation.  Very sad and emotional day for me.  We did settle on terms that I think is fair to both of us but I cried at the finality of it.  I don’t know if it is losing him.  I am not sure.  I know I do miss him at times.  We had so many good times, so many years together.  We grew so much, went through so many hard times, being so poor ass broke, raising all the kids, fighting our way to successful careers.  Yes, there were bad times, fights, mistrust, lies.  But that was life in my eyes.  Just thought we would always hold it together for our kids and grandkids.  I thought we would be holding hands as old people.  Traveling some.  So is it him or these dreams that I am having such a hard time letting go of?  I’m not sure but I have to let it all go.  I have no choice.  So I believe I am strong enough to reinvent myself.  And I will keep trying.

May 18-19 – Readying for the move.  We busted our butts trying to sell stuff.  Packing and moving.  We had to decide what things we wanted to store but possibly ship to Costa Rica if we decide to stay for an extended period of time.  We had to decide what we would just give to Goodwill, what we were storing but never shipping and what we were actually taking with us.  We whittled our lives down to 6 large suitcases and about 8 carryons.  Yes, too many.  We ended up checking a few. 

Now logistics of staying in an empty apartment and getting 3 people, all that luggage and a cat to the airport without it costing an arm and a leg.  I decided it would be best if we rented a cheap hotel for the afternoon before we left and take the hotels airport shuttle to get all of us the rest of the way.  Thanks to two great friends, Todd and Jim, who took us in two cars to the hotel near the airport.  I can never thank them enough for pitching in to help us out.  So we finally got all our last details taken care of.  Let me tell you, it is a whole different animal moving to another country than even moving across the country.  Many more issues to think about and deal with.

May 20 – The nightmare begins.  We are flying out tonight.  Still moving out and cleaning.  Jarred still does not have his passport.  The expedited service place said our only chance was go to the local passport office and try to get an emergency one.  Jarred and I go there about 8:30 am.  Turn in papers, wait and wait and wait.  The office closes at 3:00 pm.  Praying!!  The passport manager finally tells us at 2:30 pm that he will get his passport.  Then he disappears in the back.  We wait, and wait, and wait.  Remember they close at 3:00.  3:30 pm, we finally get Jarred’s passport. 

After exhausting ourselves moving and cleaning, we were supposed to get some rest at the hotel before the red eye flight leaving at 11:50 pm.  When all was said and done, we only had about an hour to rest at the hotel and we were all so worked up, none of us slept.  We figured if we caught the airport shuttle and had them drop us off directly in front of the airline check in we would be fine leaving the hotel at 9:30.  We go down at 9:20 and have the hotel reception call the shuttle.  She says he’ll be here in 10-15 minutes.  Guess what?  He ran into some trouble, was late, finally picked us up at 10:00.  Then we find out because of construction at the airport, they can’t drop us off in front of the airline, curbside check in is closed.  We get dropped off on one of the center islands.  We have to rent two carts to get our luggage in. 

When we finally get to check in, we have overweight bags of course.  Three to be exact.  We redistribute stuff so that we have only two that are overweight.  Pay the $150.00 fee for the overweight bags.  Pay the $80.00 for Jacobs and I bags.  I had upgraded Jarred’s ticket so his first two were free.  Paid the cat fee of $75.00.  Bleeding money.  Boarding will start soon.  It is 11:15.  Praying!!  Also remember I had hip replacement surgery just 4 weeks prior.  I am still using crutches to get around.  They get me a wheelchair and a guy to push me.  Rushing to security.  Annie has to be taken out.  We go through the screening machine.  Jarred forgets a bag so Jacob has to go back through and grab it, send it through and get rescreened himself.  In the meantime, Jarred is testing positive for something.  They take him to some back room to test him more.  I am sitting there in the wheelchair pretty damn helpless.  Security is trying to figure out if they need to pat down Annie to see if she is full of explosives.  Really people, this is happening.  You can’t make this shit up.  We finally get all cleared.  Go to get on the plane.   Yes, too many carry ons.  Check some.  Stuff Annie’s crate under the seat.  Sit down.  Ahhhhh, we are finally on our way.  Not yet!!

We have one way tickets to Costa Rica so you see, the airlines have to see your documentation that you are leaving Costa Rica within 90 days as that is how long your tourist visa is good for.  We had documentation that we were flying to Guatemala in June.  And no, we are not but yes we will have to leave Costa Rica for 72 hours, then come back in to renew our tourist visas for another 90 days.  As we are sitting there, the stewardess comes over and asks for our documentation regarding this.  I told her we were already checked for that, which we were when we first checked in.  She said it was not marked so she needs to see it.  I give her our paperwork and she says it is not good enough because it doesn’t have the ticket numbers on it.  I say that’s all we have.  She says she will show it to her supervisor and see what he says.  I say it is going to be a nightmare if it isn’t, she agrees, “Yes it will”.  Anxious, scary moments thinking this whole thing is going to all apart.  Praying!!  She finally comes back and says, you are good to go.  Whew!!

May 21 – 5:00 am.  Arrive in Costa Rica.  Get through immigration. Customs wants a copy of Annie’s health certificate.  I only have the original.  So I take a picture of the original with my phone and tell them to keep the original.  They are happy.  So am I.  I had reserved a car through Budget rental car so we wait for their shuttle and go to their office offsite from the airport.  “Oh, you don’t have a credit card?  You cannot rent from us.”  Thanks, it would have been nice to know ahead of time.  I knew a lot of places require this but they did not state that in anything I saw when renting online.  Ok, do you know anyone that rents cars but doesn’t require a credit card?  Carlos at Safe Car Rental.  He helps us out sometimes when we are low on cars.  Carlos will send a cab to get you to take you to his place.  Waiting and waiting and waiting.  We are now in Costa Rica on tico time.  Waiting and waiting.  Cab comes.  Load all the freaking luggage up again.  Jarred and Jacob are exhausted!   Get to Carlos.  Rent a questionable Suzuki Grand Vitara as it is the only thing big enough to haul our luggage.  Ok, cuando es?  $450.00 US dollars for 3 days.  Shit!!!  Bleeding money.  Pay the cab.  Bleeding money.  Look for one of my debit cards to pay the rental.  Lost!  Look everywhere and call Budget to see if it is there.  No.  Lost.  Ok, luckily I have another.

Get all luggage loaded into car.  We have a hotel in San Jose for that night but we have hours to kill before we check in.  We go by my school and pick up the suitcase I left there last time I was here and say hello to some friends.  We are right by Mall San Pedro and I know I am going to need a local phone so we go to the mall.  Find a little kiosk, get a phone.  Come out, parking ticket on car.  In fact the whole line of cars that are parked on the road in marked parking spots, all have tickets on them.

Go to pick up my friend who wants to go to lunch with us.  We have lunch at some freaky Anime restaurant.  There is a life sized Gremlin with a French maids outfit on the counter that I want my picture with.  Go to get my  I-phone and realize it is missing.  Shit!  Where the hell is my phone?  We think it might be at the Mall at the cell phone kiosk. Praying!!  We pull up and Jacob hops out and runs in.  I drive around awhile and he comes out.  He has my phone in hand and says it was just sitting on the kiosk counter and no one was even at the kiosk. 

By this time we are so tired, none of us can think at all anymore.  We decide we better get to the hotel before something really terrible happens due to our brains not functioning.  So we go to the hotel.  It is pretty uneventful there due to we are all exhausted and just pretty much sleep the next 14 hours.  Oh, wait.  I forgot.  I was shaking out a hand towel in the morning, holding it over the balcony and accidentally dropped it.  When we checked out we almost did not get our $100 deposit back because the maid had to check the room before they would give it to us and she said a towel was missing.  I retrieved the $100 hand towel and they were very happy.  I was happy to get my deposit back too.

May 22 – The drive to Nosara.  We head out of San Jose about 11:00.  But we realized last night that the local phone I bought is not working.  We think maybe there is no minutes although we thought some came with the phone.  Buy some minutes at Max Y Manos.  Also trying to buy some other things.  Need to buy laundry soap but Jacob said it didn’t look right so we asked a woman that was shopping.  I ask, is this for clothes and imitate washing my shirt.  Nooo, she laughs.  That is for cleaning floors. We find actual laundry soap.  Ok, can someone here help us load these minutes on the phone as the instructions are in Spanish.  Ayudar!!  A guy trys to help us.  He says he thinks the SIM card is bad.   Back AGAIN to Mall San Pedro to get a good SIM card.  Pay for parking this time to avoid a ticket.  Guy at the kiosk does not speak any English.  We finally get our point across.  So he tests it, and sure enough, bad SIM card.  He puts a different cellular providers SIM card in.  Tells us it is better.  But now we can’t use the $10.00 worth of minutes I just bought for the other provider.  Bleeding money.  Oh well, as long as it works. 

Finally on our way to the place we will live for the next few months.  We are almost free and clear!!   ALMOST!!  The first part of the drive is beautiful through the mountains, the sun is shining, listening to beautiful Spanish music and some American music.  We even start cracking up because that song that was in a movie where the tape player was stuck and would only play that song, “And I would walk 500 miles and I would walk 500 more” is playing on the radio.  Our spirits are lifted.  We come down from the mountains, heading to the Pacific coast and suddenly something is going wrong with the tires of the car.  It feels like a flat.  So I pull over and the boys get out and look and say, no, no flat.  Hmmmmm, maybe it was just the road.  Drive a little further and noooo, there is definitely something wrong.  We are in a small town area and when I say small, I mean really small.  About ¼ mile of little stores and businesses.  I pull over again and we all get out and look.   The boys notice that on the left rear tire, there is a lug nut bolt missing and all the lug nuts have worked loose.  The tire is about to fall off the car.  Shit!!  Now what?  Unload all the luggage and dig out the lug wrench to tighten the lug nuts?  Praying!!  Some guy rides up on a bike and was watching us.  He indicates as best he can that there is a mechanic or service station or something right up the road.  Muchas gracias!  We limp up the road about ¼ mile.  We see a tire by a shop.  Wow, a tire place.  Well, not quite but we indicate we have trouble, with a capital T.  He does not speak any English but comes and looks at our tire/lug nut issue.  Oh, he doesn’t do that kind of work but the guy around the corner of the building can help us.  A couple more guys come out.  One speaks English.  He gets the mechanic guy that they all say can help us.  The mechanic speaks English pretty good.  He says we need all new lug nuts AND THE BOLTS!!  Shit!!  Cuando es?  15000 colonies-$30 US dollars.  Not bad but still bleeding money.  He tells us it is unsafe not to have it done.  Ok, do it.  Call the rental car guy at “Safe Car Rental”.  Safe my ass!  He says yea, he will reimburse us for the work.  The mechanic tells us there is a soda (which is a small, local run and usually outdoor café) right next door with good cheap food.  Yay!  Donde es banos?  Right around the corner.  Sitting at a picnic table drinking great Costa Rican coffee, watching guys shoot pool at the two pool tables in one of the shops repair bays and watching the mechanic work on the nuts and bolts.  They have to even take some brake parts off to do it.  Praying he is a good mechanic and doing it all correctly.  Put it all back on but the mechanic is not happy, the bolts are a little crooked.  Take it all apart again.  Readjust!  Yes, I think he knows what he is doing and takes pride in his work.  And hour and a half later, we are on our way securely bolted! 

Soon we hit monsoon level rain and darkness sets in.  We also hit the unpaved road.  Woo hoo!  Driving in the torrential downpour, in the dark, over rutted, flooding roads.  Slide sideways.  Weeee, that was actually fun!!!!  Get to the place, get the keys, go inside.  The house is nice but pretty dirty.  Beds not made. Oh well, too tired to do anything but drag the bags inside, make the beds and go to bed.  Tomorrow is another day.  Shit!!  Praying!!