We couldn't apply individually since my revenue was not high enough to qualify as a pensioner (the easiest residency to get) so I had to go as Glen's dependent spouse. BUT, I had never obtained a divorce from my previous marriage. Sooooo, I had to get a divorce and that takes time. So long in fact that if we had gotten married back home there wasn't enough time to get the marriage certificate. All those documents have to be stamped at Foreign Affairs and then approved by the Costa Rican Embassy in Ottawa. One document, Glen's proof of income from his government pension, was not accepted at Foreign Affairs because it didn't bear a signature. Now we had to get it notarized! Thank God, I have a very nice cousin who is a notary and he was able to do that for us. Thank you, Stephane Riel!
But that meant a lot of travel back and forth from Laval (my son's house where we lived for 2 1/2 months after our trailer was gone). We could see our saved money go down with each trip!
So let's back up a bit and see what had to be done before all of this. We had to sell or donate everything we wouldn't be bringing. Everything sold really well and fast. That money was put away for our trip. The hardest item for me to sell was my beloved bicycle. It had an electric motor which assisted my pedaling and made it easy and I could go full throttle to go uphill or if I was tired. After a lot of discussions, it was decided that the bike was not coming. I was a bit sad to sell all my dog grooming equipment and all my sewing paraphilia including my sewing machine. All things that brought me enjoyment and satisfaction. But after all, this crazy idea of moving to a foreign country was mine so I had to be reasonable.
Glen sold the truck for a good enough price considering it was almost 10 years old and had a lot of mileage! We sold it fairly early as we dreaded having to put any more money into it. As an example, just before selling it the driver's side mirror got taken out on the swing bridge back home by someone driving a rented RV and obviously not comfortable with being in such a narrow space. The mirror exploded when it was hit by his mirror. It cost nearly $500 to replace it. We couldn't afford too many more incidents like that!
So now we had all our paperwork in order. We had to find someone to help us with the residency application in Costa Rica. It's apparently very hard to do by yourself especially when you don't speak Spanish. The people that helped us find a home to rent also knew someone who had been in charge of the immigration department for 15 years and knew all the ins and outs of it. His fee was equivalent to others we had looked into and he could be trusted to do the job quickly and efficiently and he guaranteed no other costs. It turns out his son is a lawyer and could marry us. Bonus!
For the actual move, we were each allowed 4 pieces of luggage and one carry-on. Glen was in heaven purchasing bins to use for our extra baggage. You see, Glen loves containers. Any size! He was very sad when he couldn't bring the many small containers he had gathered over the years. We packed and unpacked and sorted those bins so many times! Each time getting rid of more stuff until it all fit. We booked a driver with a van to pick us up at the house and take us to the airport so that was covered. What we hadn't really thought through was how we were going to move these containers once at the airport. Sure there are caddies you can get but it turned out that only 2 containers would fit on them. So we ended up with two caddies each. It reminded me of my trip to Cuba with my dear mother who didn't want to walk so I had to push the wheelchair while trying to maneuver both our luggage. Another crazy idea of mine that was not well planned.
So this is what it looked like:
My oxygen machine also caused a bit of trouble as I needed a signed document from the doctor stating that I needed it during the flight (which he had recommended). I didn't get that document until a few days before our departure and it had to be sent to Air Canada to be approved by their doctors. We didn't get an answer back until late afternoon the day before leaving. Without approval, you don't get on the plane!
We finally made it through check-in (very nice woman who charged us less for the extra baggage than we had anticipated) then we had to rush through security (we got to go through the VIP line) and finally rush to make it to our gate. Glen waved an employee that was driving a cart and she gave me a ride to the gate as I couldn't walk that fast.
Once there we also got to go in front of everybody and board right away (the oxygen machine really helps). We got the same treatment once in Costa Rica. They quickly got us through in front of everyone else. Then we picked up our luggage. Our suitcases came out the regular way but our bins were in the oversize chute. There was a large caddy close by but when I tried to take it I was told that you had to pay someone to do it for you. No one ever came so I just took the caddy and we started loading our bins which all fit on it.
We had a driver waiting for us at the airport. He had a sign with my name on it. We followed him to the garage. On the way, a man that I thought was working with the driver, grabs the caddy I was pushing with the suitcases and the carry-ons and starts pushing it through the garage. When we got to the truck (yes, it wasn't a van like we had expected) that man asked for money. At this point, we were too tired to argue and just paid him. The driver was accompanying his father who normally is the driver. Neither one of them spoke English. They proceeded to load everything in the truck box but it didn't all fit. So we ended up squeezed in the back seat with our carry-ons and personal items between us for the 3 1/2 hour ride that turned out to be much longer.
We were famished as we hadn't had any breakfast and got a small meal on the plane and now it was early afternoon. So we stopped at a soda (small restaurant on the side of the road) where everything was in Spanish. The only thing we could recognize was "hamburghesa" which we ordered. We got a big plate with two hamburgers (if you can call them that), some fries, a salad and some beans. We were too hungry to be picky and ate it all.
We then got to ride the roller coaster that is the road through the mountains from San Jose. Oh my God! The road is narrow, it twists and turns, goes up and down and it was very foggy. The driver was cautious and drove well but I was never good in roller-coasters. So I started to feel very sick. That, combined with the high altitude (in some places over 10,000 ft) gave me a headache. I was cold and shivering (fever?) and felt nauseous. It was awful!
We finally got to San Isidro de el General (the closest city to where we were going to live) where we met up with Liz who we dealt with from Canada for the rental and everything else. She has been a godsend because she speaks pretty good English and has been able to show us around and translate important conversations for us. We stopped at a supermarket for some supplies. Everything in the store was different than what we are used to and Liz, trying to help, kept telling us what to buy and putting stuff in our basket that we didn't really want. There, all of a sudden, I felt overwhelmed by the whole thing and thought for an instant that we might have made a big mistake.
We finally got to our house in darkness (the sun goes down every day around 5:30pm) and poor Glen had to carry all the bins and luggage to the second floor (we were supposed to get the ground floor but somehow that got changed) and I don't even remember if we ate anything but we went to bed early. It turns out I caught a bug on the plane and I was sick with sore throat, headaches, and then runny nose for about 3 weeks. Whenever I get a cold, my breathing is limited. I was exhausted and sick for the first while. Poor Glen had to step up and do almost everything by himself. He's an angel!
Next blog I'll tell you about the whirlwind that was our first few weeks in Costa Rica.
