Last week, we needed to get our Costa Rica Drivers' Licenses. Up until this point, we have left the country every 90 days, which renews our Florida Licenses so that we can drive here legally. But now we are in the residency process (that's a whole other post), so we do not need to leave the country this month. However, this means our FL licenses "expired" last week. It was good timing, because it was the first time we had a few days off in July.
Monday we tried to go to the clinic near our house, because part of getting a license here is a medical examination and blood test. However, when we arrived the clinic was closed. I called the number on the sign, and the person who answered told me that they would be closed for 22 days, since the doctor had a personal issue to address.
Tuesday I had a doctor's appointment at 11:00, so we thought we would try to go after that. The doctor's office didn't have my name in the system at ALL, even though I had one of our Tico friends make & confirm the appointment. So we didn't actually see the doctor until 12:30. By the time we fed the girls lunch, the license office was almost closed (they are only open from 8-3).
Wednesday morning, we finally got our act together and left the house at 7:30, so we could be there right when the doors opened. Except when we got there it was closed. It was a Costa Rican Holiday... for the annexation of the Nicoya Peninsula (I think).
Thursday morning we left the house at 7:00, so we could be SURE to get it done, especially since it was the very last day we could get our license. We went to a clinic just down the street from COSEVI (the license office) at 7:30, to get our medical exam & blood test. The medical exam consisted of these questions: Can you read without your glasses? Read the third line from the bottom. Okay, are you sick? Then she checked off a bunch of boxes to questions she did NOT ask me, and told me I was good to go.
We got to the COSEVI gate as they were opening, and we asked the security guard where exactly we needed to go to get our drivers' licenses. He told us the first thing we need to do is pay for the fee at the bank. This is very common here, because they do not use personal checks. So typically, when you owe someone/place money, you need to deposit money in their account. Interesting, eh?
There was a bank inside of the COSEVI compound, so he told us to wait in line there. After 15 minutes of waiting, I asked the sweet, older gentleman in front of us - do you know when they open? He told me they were supposed to be open 30 minutes ago, but there was no one inside yet. So after asking the guard, he told us where another bank was down the street. We got to the bank, which was not open yet, and the line was all the way from the front door to the street and down the sidewalk. At this point, Olivia and Ava were getting restless. Standing in long lines is not their forte. Unless it ends with a Disney ride. And let me tell you, this was nothing like Disney!
We finally get inside the bank, to the teller window, where she promptly informs us that we first need to go to the COSEVI office, and once they've processed our applications they will give us a slip to take to the bank. I double checked what she said, just to be sure I understood, and then I broke the news to Jeremy.
So we left the bank, walked back down the street and to the very back of the COSEVI compound, which was a good 10 miles (exaggeration) from the street entrance. We got in that line, finally saw the man at the desk, who was going to begin our application. He asked for our 3 copies of the passports, and drivers licenses, and then he wanted to review the original license. Okay, no problem. Except - ACK!! - I somehow left my wallet at home in the mad dash out the door. I literally thought I was going to start crying right in front of this guy. But I did not. (I waited until we were back in the car.) Jeremy went ahead and began his application, and got his slip to pay the bank.
We loaded up the girls in the car, drove back up the mountain to our house, and there was my wallet. Right on the table where I left it. At this point it was almost 11:00. We got back to the COSEVI office at 11:30, and got my application accepted. The man who gave Jeremy his slip told him we could pay the fee inside at the bank windows that we hadn't visited yet. There were two different banks inside. In order to avoid more run-around, we asked the guard to verify what the man in the office said. He confirmed that yes, we needed to walk over to this certain bank and pay the fees. So we did. And we were promptly turned away at the teller window, where they told us we needed to pay the fees at the bank down the street. (Are you laughin yet? Because that's all I could do at this point.) So we took both of our bank slips, walked down the street again, and made the deposit. Then we walked back to the license office, waited in line and FINALLY received our CR licenses!!! It literally felt like we had run a race, and I was super excited to be crossing the finish line.
So here are the final stats:
Time to get our licenses (including running back home) - 6 hours
Number of visits to the bank down the street - 3 times
Number of visits to the bank inside the gov. office - 2 times
Number of visits to the license office in the back - 3 times
Number of times I said "I don't need to drive, let's just go." - 2 times (that I can remember)
The silver lining to this story? We did this all on our own. Without a translator, without a Tico friend's help. That made me very, very happy. And it feels good to continue driving legally, although in the moment I was considering a Visa run, just to not have to deal with this government office any more. Ha!
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| We were so relieved to be out of the lines, we went to a local park and just ran around. It was a good stress-reliever! |
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