A Taste of Bureaucracy

No trip to Costa Rica would be complete without a little taste of Costa Rican bureaucracy. We haven’t truly been to Costa Rica unless we’ve had to wait in line for an hour to buy stamps to go on some document that we then have to wait in another line to turn in. And then come back in a week to find out that we didn’t use the right document. You get the idea. Pura vida.

So today was passport day. Because Cristina is a Costa Rican citizen (all legit—Costa Rica allows dual-citizenship) our children can be Costa Rican citizens. We like this idea. It gives them more options in life. If they ever decide to move to Costa Rica to live or work, it’ll be a piece of cake for them...as long as we do the paperwork to make them citizens. Sofia is old enough to get a youth cedula (Costa Rican ID…like a social security card). But the other two children are best documented with Costa Rican passports. Cristina and Sofia had Costa Rican passports from years ago, but they have both expired, so today we were getting passports for all four for of them.

Cristina had already done a lot of the legwork on this before I got here, so today was more or less the paperwork turn-in/get pictures taken final step. But you never know. Just when you think the hard stuff is done, the big bureaucratic bulldog usually comes up and bites you on the rump. Anyone who’s lived in Costa Rica reading this knows exactly what I’m talking about.

So it was a pleasant surprise that our morning at the immigration office went so well. Dare I say, the system was efficient? Cristina waited in one line to pay for the passports. Maritza and I waited in the passport line with the kids. After Cristina joined us, we were helped by a lady who got all our paperwork in stapled order. Then we waited for a little while until we were called into a tiny office. It helped greatly that we had an appointment. The lady in the office was good-natured and friendly. Let me repeat that. A bureaucrat in a passport office was friendly. It was awesome. All four of them got their pictures taken and everything finalized and ready in short order. The whole morning’s adventure lasted less than 2 hours. The passports should be ready for pick-up next Tuesday.

Mural at the immigration offices

Map for future reference

After dropping everyone off at home, I drove to Galerón (a grocery store) with Sofia and Alex. We bought a few things to make salsa, as well as some soda and a few other things.

I made salsa while the kids watched Bolt on DVD (borrowed from Mariana, Carmen’s daughter). The salsa turned out decent. The tomato paste I used was a little too ketchupy, but overall, it was good.

After the movie, we needed an outing, so we walked down the street to Mus Manni, my favorite bakery. We each picked out a pastry and also got a big loaf of French bread. Crossing the street to get to Mus Manni is always a little dicey, but we made it okay.

I was in the mood for pizza, and I knew Alex was reaching his breaking point for rice and beans, so I ordered Papa John’s. We got the special, which was two medium 1-toppings, a 2-liter soda, and a dessert pizza (for an extra 1100). The dessert pizza was made with Nutella, which Cristina loves from her Germany days. After the pizza was ordered, I drove up to Galerón again for some salad stuff. By the time I got back, the pizza was there.

After the younger kids were in bed, Cristina, Sofia, and I watched The Devil Wears Prada on TV. We hadn’t seen it before. It was okay.