I learned yet another Tico word just before we left Costa Rica.

Prenda – a Tico word that means “Guess what?  Just when you thought we couldn’t screw you over any more, we have a way to do it one more time!”

We were anxious to sell our car before we left Costa Rica, so you can imagine how happy I was to recently receive payment from a buyer.  This buyer happened to still be in the States, and is not due to be in Costa Rica until September or October, long after our departure.  So, in order to be sure that he can have the car in his name, I went with our friend, Pete (who happens to be a realtor who sold property to my buyer, and who found this buyer for me), to visit a lawyer in Tilaran, to effect a Power of Attorney (from me to Pete) so that they can go to another attorney when the buyer gets here.

It is bad enough that the Power of Attorney cost me an additional $80.00, but the first thing the attorney told me is that the Registro Nacional shows there to be a lien against the car.  I asked him how that could be, and he said that the car dealer from whom we bought the car had placed a lien against it in June of 2009 because of the way in which we purchased it. - - We paid a total of $16,000.00 for the car, putting the first $10,000.00 on my credit card.  Then, per our agreement with the dealer, we returned to them in September of that same year, and paid the balance in full.  Actually, we ended up paying more than we had expected because they added fees and interest that we had not anticipated. - - When we paid the balance, we asked them if that was all, and were we done, and we received reassurances that we were done, and owed nothing further.

Well, just like with so many other things in this country, we have now learned – three years later – that we were not, after all, done.  The dealership never mentioned the lien to us, and more importantly, never told us that we were the only ones who could get it removed.  And, wouldn’t you know it, that removal has to cost even more money!?

The lawyer in Tilaran wanted me to give him an additional $200.00 to remove this lien, but I declined, saying that I would contact the dealership and inquire as to how this had come to pass.  I did indeed talk to their legal department only to learn that (as the lawyer in Tilaran said) this was the responsibility of the lawyer who did the paperwork when we bought the car, but no excuse or apology for this oversight was forthcoming.

There is (just as with most things in Costa Rica) considerable paperwork to be done, and hoops to jump through.  So, we went to another lawyer in Nuevo Arenal, looking to get this stupid thing resolved.  It cost me $160.00 more to remove (hopefully) all impediments to the completion of the sale of the car to this buyer.  Would you believe that I am delighted, relieved, excited, and very, very happy to have left that place behind?

¿Quien Sabe?

“Strange as it seems, no amount of learning can cure stupidity, and higher education positively fortifies it.” - - - Stephen Vizinczey, An Innocent Millionaire
The last place to look for correct, accurate, and totally unbiased information is an internet forum. And, the first place to find incorrect, inaccurate, and totally biased information is on an internet forum. This is because, being human, most people can't help posting things as if they are gospel, just because it happened to them, or just because they heard from a friend of a friend, or just because they think so, rather than making an effort to apply anything resembling the scientific method. Following are a couple of examples of posts containing misinformation taken from real online forums:
First Example:
"[We} travel a lot all over the world but mostly to the USA, especially Georgia as our domestic operations are located there. 3 of my family members have drivers licenses from Costa Rica. We have had so many problems with this since we are US citizens. We have been told everything from "you can't drive in Georgia with an international drivers license", "you can't have residency in another country and be a citizen of the USA", or "we do not recognize international treaties in this State" ... yes, this is true ... and a good hint why we moved....." [evidently away from Georgia]
OK, so then this person went on to relate how the laws in the U. S. have changed so that now the laws require everyone to have a valid driver's license from their country of residence, plus a valid International drivers permit (from your country of residence).
The person also reports that her daughter was arrested because the Georgia police would not recognize either her IDP or her license from Costa Rica.
Now, she fails to cite either a Georgia state law or any Federal law that supports her contention. And, she ultimately asks whether or not there is some place in Costa Rica where she can obtain an IDP..........(btw, I have to wonder; since when did such an offense become something for which one might be subject to arrest?). My point about this example is that the person is totally misinformed in the first place, and rather than double check the law right there in Georgia, she resorts to ranting on an internet forum [which forum purports to be exclusively for/about/pertaining to Costa Rica], essentially seeking validation for her choice to be misinformed, ill informed, and/or just plain ignorant.

A Second Example:
A newcomer to Costa Rica from Canada (they evidently just picked up and moved, without having done much preparation, but that's another story), wanted to know about the forty day wait period for the processing of a check from outside the country into an account in a Costa Rican bank. They essentially complained about the difficulties they encountered in simply opening a bank account, and then were looking for information about what might be the best way to get money from Canada into their Tico bank. This is what the all knowing moderator told them (in part):
"About the float on the check deposits at 40 days, that's about six weeks and not unusual for a brand new account. Here is where being a member of ARCR can help because as a member they will provide you with a letter of introduction to the nearby Banco Nacional branch with which they have an arrangement for their (ARCR's) members, which will make your application with BN there go a lot more smoothly and, as a reference, that letter might even shorten that float time a bit for your deposited checks. Check this out with ARCR. BTW, the float time will diminish after you have developed a history with the bank.
As to the VISA debit card, it depends what logo is on the reverse of your card. Star, Plus, and Cirrus are the systems that work best with the ATMs in CR. The ATH, which stands for 'A Toda Hora' and means 'At All Hours' (logo looks like OATH at first glance) seems to be the best ATMs to use and offer the least trouble. At least that has been my experience with ATH ATMS."
Now, his statement that ARCR can help avoid or shorten this 40 day delay in processing is just flat not true. I bank at BNCR, and was a member of ARCR. I still had to wait even longer than 40 days for a personal check to process, and this was after I had been banking with that bank for nearly ten years! As for opening the account, we did that some years before we moved to Costa Rica, on our own, without any letter from anyone. As for using a debit card, there are some cards that charge an international fee, and others that do not.
This same moderator is also infamous for posting rumor and second hand information with his built-in authority as if it were fact, which leads to even more people believing misinformation. As an example, recently a person came onto a forum seeking contact information for an attorney. One person provided what little they had, and, after a time, here comes our 'expert' who, incidentally only lives part time in Costa Rica, saying "I thought I heard" that so-and-so had moved away from Costa Rica! Now, first of all, how is that helpful? Secondly, if he only thought he heard, what does that say about his information? It is, at the very least, questionable, and highly suspect as to accuracy! My point is that if he doesn't have a definitive answer for the person who asked the question, then he has no business posting anything - Especially, if he is supposed to be serving as a moderator.
Speaking of misinformation, here is a glaring example found all too often on certain forums. Say a discussion begins on the subject of GMO food, or organic produce, or to be (or not to be) a vegan. The folks who support these half-baked (no pun intended) and otherwise strange concepts invariably refer their dissenters to see this or that 'documentary,' whenever they are challenged to offer any kind of scientific evidence to support their claims. Or, to go to certain web sites that support their position. Or, when asked where they obtained their information, they will admit that they did a Google search using wording something like "the harmful effects of GMO produce," or "The evils of Monsanto," thus creating a variation of a self-fulfilling prophecy. Not only that, but if one was to Google simply the word/name, "Monsanto," I believe that most of the 'hits' would be negative in tone. Why? Because, there is much more discussion of that company from the haters than from any legitimate member of the scientific community.
Now, as to the creation of any video documentary, consider this: It takes money to make a decent video, no matter the subject. Who has paid for the production costs of all these 'documentaries' referred to by these folks who espouse the vegan way of life, or the elimination of Monsanto and their 'evil' GMO produce? I can tell you who did NOT pay for it. No one in their right mind, that's who. No one who has looked at this issue with anything resembling an open mind, that's who. No one, in short, who is able to maintain an objective view of the subject, that's who!
So, because emotions run so high on these subjects, newcomers are being constantly provided with only half the story, and, being human, they all too often stay ill informed simply because they are too damn lazy to do their own - objective - research!

Changes coming

Heads up!  That is, if there is really anybody still reading this thing.  Changes are coming to my Blog, effective after July 17.  We are returning to Texas on that date, with no plans to come back to Costa Rica, unless/until we sell our property here.  So, since current plans are to return to live in El Paso (Del Norte), the name of this thing will necessarily change to something more appropriate to that locale.  Keep in mind that this is still based on the ramblings, musings, complaints, whining, or rants of a dyed-in-the-wool curmudgeon, who still has a few axes to grind.

don't know what to call it, but the name will indeed have to change......any ideas?

Our Dream of Pura Vida has turned to mala vida

"There is no such thing as "fun for the whole family."  -- Jerry Seinfeld

Or, as Peggy Lee once sang, “Well, all right, OK, you win………” - - Except when she sang those words, she was talking about admitting to pretty much the opposite of what I have to admit to here and now. My admission is that we have given up on our dream of living in paradise. My admission is that what we thought was a paradise is mostly window dressing, and physical appearance, with nothing behind the curtain.

As you know by now, we came here three years ago with the firm belief that our last years on this earth would be tranquil, peaceful, smooth, totally happy, and without problems. Boy, were we wrong!

At first, as you may recall, things did actually go swimmingly. We received our personal belongings in good shape, and in a very timely manner (albeit nearly 50% higher in cost for shipping than the shipper had quoted prior to the move*). We were able to obtain a construction loan for our little house, and it was completed in only ten weeks time (although the interest rate on the loan is nothing short of usurious).

We were able to purchase a decent car with little trouble, and it has indeed proven to be well worth the (exorbitant) cost. [We paid $16,000.00 for a 2005 model Suzuki Grand Vitara XL7, in June of 2009]. We made many new friends and found ourselves with the busiest social lives we’d seen in many years. We obtained our legal resident status with only a few glitches along the way, and never had to hire an attorney during the process. We were able to have our entire front porch screened, so as to enjoy the view without being bothered by too many bugs. We were able to add both a garage/workshop and a carport to our house.

Yes, things were looking good. We received and entertained a number of visitors, both friends and family over the first year or so that we were here. We were aware that the increasing cost of air travel was having a negative impact on the family members we had anticipated entertaining down here, and that was certainly disquieting. We thought we were adjusting to the difficulties always encountered when trying to purchase just about everything in a small, backwater country. Just about anything manufactured has to be imported, so that logically means higher cost. In this particular little country, not only are manufactured items more costly due to shipping costs, but the truly ridiculous import duties make many things just out of the question. Worse, the quality is very poor because just about everything is imported from China.

What really rang our alarm bells, however, was what occurred on and around the First of March, 2011 (see my Blog entry for April 4, 2011, titled “I Fear That The Blush Is Off The Rose……..”). At about that same time, we also found out that there had been some serious overcharges on our electricity billing (that I did not Blog about until August 4 & 7, titled “Didn’t see this coming…..” – Parts I & II).

Those two events, occurring so closely together, coupled with so many other negative things that had been happening to us, pretty much led to our decision that maybe Costa Rica is not for us, after all. I mean, look at us. We first thought that this would be a place where our small pensions would go farther, and then, when the economy took such a dive, the cost of living here dumped as badly, or worse. When you consider that too many things were already too expensive here (gasoline, manufactured items of every kind, decent food), the rest pretty much took that blush right on off the rose of our dream.

We do not regret this decision, only the delay in reaching it, and its actual implementation. We cannot sell our property, but we cannot let it go, either. We cannot afford to pay anyone to be a caretaker for the property, nor can we pay the electricity, or water, or phone for someone else’s use. So, we have hopes that a young Tico couple will live here rent free, in exchange for which they will maintain the place and pay their own electric.

We will leave here – gladly – on July 17, bound for El Paso, Texas. We do not have high hopes of anything once we get there. We won’t have anything because we cannot afford to pay to ship anything back to the states, which means we quite literally may well lack the proverbial pot to piss in. But, that is OK, because we will lack the window to throw it out of, as well. We expect to rent, most likely a small apartment, if we can find one that we can afford. Our income will have to cover our mortgage payments down here in addition to whatever living arrangements we can manage in Texas.

So, even though we are leaving here, and even though the name of the Blog may no longer be appropriate, I do intend to continue to write the occasional musings of an old grouch (or, those of an habitual bitcher, as my father was wont to say) from wherever we land. We currently have no plans to return to this place, until/unless it finally sells. However, to be honest, if or when it becomes obvious that it will never sell at any price, I think we’ll be happy to just let it go………..

P. S. – I should mention that the electricity went out only once while I was writing this piece. Yeah, even after three years here, we still have power outages 3-4 times per week, lasting from seconds to hours. And, no, they are not usually associated with a lightning strike, or storm event, but just happen randomly.

*this reference is from an email I sent to Charlie Zeller, with a moving company called shiptocostarica, on 3/9/2009, his quote had been $10,465.00, and I emailed him assuring him that I would have that much money ready. His bill (prior to the actual delivery) was over $16,000.00.

ICE Wins Again!

"No tyranny is so irksome as petty tyranny: the officious demands of policemen, government clerks, and electromechanical gadgets."  -- Edward Abbey
You may recall that we suffered considerable damage to some of our electrical and electronic devices in April, and that we (foolishly) submitted a claim against ICE for the power surge that caused it.
Well, the local administrator did finally respond to our claim in May, but I have held off on commenting on this further until now. According to his letter, which must have taken him all of five minutes time, after an “exhaustive analysis” of our home’s electrical, ICE cannot find what caused our problems. We were given three whole days in which we could appeal this decision, but we lack the funds to seek legal recourse (not to mention the patience to wait these bastards out), so they win again.
On the one hand they acknowledge that we are their clients, and every time you interact with these assholes, they always say “para sirvele,” but the last thing on their mind is obviously NOT service.
We already knew we want out of here, but now I know that I want out much more than I did before. It is simply unconscionable for any entity to be so uncaring, so lazy, so blind, so useless as is ICE. They charge more for electricity here than private or public utilities charge in the states. They remain top heavy with administrative personnel who do nothing. They own too many vehicles to cart their important administrative types around. They will do nothing without money up front. They have a large number of employees in general, who do nothing (the two cretins who performed the ‘exhaustive analysis’ at our home did nothing more than measure the incoming voltage (252 volts!), sniff the burned out capacitors of the dead power surge protector, and look at the items we showed them.
That’s right. A power surge protector! What could have burned out such an item, if not a power surge? How could anything in the house (on the receiving end) that belongs to us possibly cause a power surge?!
Now, even fifty years ago, I believe that whatever technology was extant at that time was capable of showing exactly where and when spikes or power surges occurred. Picture a big room somewhere, with a wall of meters and lights, all indicating the current conditions across the power grid. That would have been fifty years ago. Skip forward to today, and even if ICE is still that primitive, all the jerk in the local office had to do was call over to Tilaran (the county seat, and the location of the ICE HQ for power generated in this general area), and ask them to check their records for the day and time we provided to him. Any reasonable and responsible admin type in the world would have done this for a customer, upon whose continued business his company should depend. But not Mario whatever the hell his name is, the Jefe in the local ICE office. I have never in my life encountered a more unmitigated bastard than this two-faced bureaucrat.
At the end of the day, ICE, in the person of this jerk, denies responsibility, and we are still stuck with the repair costs. God save us from these people. This extremely high cost, not just for the electricity itself, but for all of the devices that have failed in the three years we have been here, has more to do with our decision to get the hell outta here than any other single event or series of events.
For those keeping score, the final is like this:
ICE – millions
Me – Nada, Zero, Zilch, double goose eggs, and 0

P. S. - His name is Mario Murillo Castro, and his title is 'Coordinador,' whatever the hell that means.  I suspect it means that he coordinates ways in which to screw customers, while deflecting their complaints, so that ICE takes in more and more, while delivering less and less.  Lou Cristie sang his theme song, many years ago:  "Two Faces Have I."

Color me Independent.

"Elections are won by men and women chiefly because most people vote against somebody rather than for somebody."  - - Franklin P. Adams

I identified myself for many years as a Democrat. When I created my Facebook profile, I even put Democrat. But, that was before Washington went totally bonkers. I now have very strong feelings that neither political party can be trusted, because neither appears capable of making a serious effort to do what is best for the nation. As a matter of fact I think the term politician should be a four-letter word, and anyone who wants to be a politician should be banned for running for any public office. Ever.

There are so many words that seem to escape these jerks in Washington. Words like compromise, deal, agree, progress, or work, just to name a few. They were all elected to do the right thing, no matter what their political affiliation. Evidently, none of them have a clue as to what the right thing might be, however. What is the right thing? Basically, it would seem to logically be to get to work and find some way to try to repair the damage done by a totally clueless Republican Administration during the eight years that followed a very successful Democratic Administration.

Unfortunately, from where I sit, the last two years plus of (in)activity in Washington, D. C., have shown us (and the world) some of the most childish partisan politics that have ever disgraced that once beautiful city. Both parties are to blame for this, and it is truly unfortunate that this had to happen at a time when we so desperately needed to show the world a united front. It was bad enough for the world to see us as a clumsy, unfeeling bully, and to have the world grow to hate us so actively (and rightfully so, in the wake of the bumbling Bush/Cheney/Rove ‘Axis’). But, for the world to now see us as this quibbling, back-biting bunch of spoiled brats fighting over scraps is heartbreaking and truly shameful.

Now, it is true that the GOP has been laboring under the stigma of trying to defend those actions that got us into this mess since after all it was their guys who did this to us. So, in any effort to come up with solutions they start with a serious handicap. While trying to defend an indefensible position, they are clinging to their antiquated GOP methods to fix the mess. The Democrats really have no excuse, other than the fact that they are currently outnumbered in the Congress. Meanwhile, if ever there was a time in the history of this once proud nation for all parties to put aside their differences and do what is best for the nation, this is it (and, has been since 2008). But, what is still happening?

No, I most definitely am not leaning toward becoming a Republican, because I haven’t accepted much of anything from the GOP since Teddy Roosevelt, but even he was a progressive, and I doubt that he would be at all acceptable to today’s crop. As for the Democrats, I just happened to agree with more of what has come from their side of the aisle, and that goes back to FDR, through Truman, to JFK, LBJ, even Carter, then Clinton, and now, it is ending, not with or due to Obama, but because I no longer believe that there is such a thing as a politician who can be trusted, or worse, a politician upon whom anyone can depend for anything (unless you depend on them to lie through their teeth).

So, who can any right thinking person support today? Damned if I know…….I do not see a single individual out there who gives the impression that he or she cares enough to put party aside, and bring the nation back together to clean up the mess.

Last one out, please turn out the lights!

“Turn out the lights, the party’s over.” (Willie Nelson [song: The Party’s Over] via Dandy Don Meredith, MNF)

The Thursday before last, early in the morning around 7:30, we had one of our common ICE moments, where the power abruptly surged up and down a few times, burning out several electrical devices, and leaving us with only about half power. I say half power because after this event, if we turned on one light, and then a second light, both lights then failed. We were unable to turn on anything that might draw current, like the fridge, or the TV, or even the gas stove.

There are about three different phone numbers that we are supposed to be able to use to report electrical problems, so we began trying them. The first one, which is to an ICE office in Cañas (no, I do not know why we would be calling so far, but this is one of the numbers we’ve been given), did reach a live person. This guy would not even let Blanca explain what had happened before he cut her off, saying over and over that whatever problem we had was internal to the house, and thus not ICE’s worry. I then became very discouraged, but later on tried the other two numbers. One was not working, and the other was to our local ICE office in Arenal.

I spoke with a clerk at the local office who knows me, and he said that he would send some people out. If they came, we never saw them. We ended up waiting all day long for the only local electrician of any worth. Jose Alfredo did show up late in the afternoon, after 5:00PM. He explained that the connections to our neutral bar, within the circuit breaker box were all corroded, especially the main neutral line, due to cumulative affects of too many power surges. He cleaned up the main connector, and recommended that I replace the entire bar.

So, at the end of the day, we did have electricity again, so that the fridge did begin to run once more, we could turn on lights, and use the stove, and so forth. Meanwhile, our outside security light (a dusk to dawn affair) was no longer working, our coffee maker was dead, the microwave oven was dead, the fridge no longer makes ice, and the freezer is not as cold as it should be (ice cream is like mush, and the temp, according to my special thermometer, is only around 20° F; - - just how cold does it have to be for ice cream to stay solid, anyway?). It was not until a few days later that I discovered that my all-in-one (multi-function printer/scanner/copier/fax) machine is also dead.

Now, this is not a small thing, and with this latest event I would point out that in the two years and several months that we have lived here, I have had to buy (as replacements), or pay for repairs to, more electrical and electronic devices than I have had to pay for in the previous twenty years! And, that is most definitely NOT good.

I was very much aware that the electric provider (my good friends at ICE) is totally responsible for this event, and for any damages that we have suffered as a result. Furthermore, I was very much aware that the laws of Costa Rica even say this. We discussed this at some length over the next few days, and shared the report of the incident with anyone with whom we came into contact. We ultimately decided to not pursue any efforts to recoup our losses, however, simply because of our firm belief that ICE would just do the same thing to us that they did the last time we had a problem with them (that would be nothing, other than belittle us).

Well, the son of our builder, who is now some sort of big shot engineer with ICE, got involved and told us we had to file a claim, and provided the written policy showing the requirements for doing so. Also, he contacted the guy who is in charge locally, and that guy had a letter formally delivered to us, informing us that we could submit a claim, and outlining what we needed to submit with the claim. – Picture this, if you will. He sent an employee, driving a large ICE truck, all the way out here to our house, so that the employee (who happens to be a lineman/tech of some sort) could have me sign for the receipt of the letter.—

Now, the requirements are nothing short of next to impossible, but I did my best. The requirements include receipts showing ownership of whatever was damaged, and of course, my full identification. It took me a few days to put it together, in Spanish, and then we went to the office in Arenal to submit our claim one week after the event. He was ready for me, and he (the local supervisor) apparently had nothing else to do but answer the phone and prepare the paperwork connected to our claim. He accepted my declaration of ownership for those things for which I no longer have receipts, and handed us a written response to our claim.

This response starts out by saying that we are accusing them (ICE) of having damaged our things, and tells us that they will conduct an “exhaustive technical analysis” of our entire house and the articles in it that were damaged. It also informed us (a week after the incident) that we must maintain the items right where they were when damaged, without repairing anything or making any effort to change anything in any way. By this time, I had already found out that the coffee maker was not repairable because the technician in nearby Tilaran could not find parts, so I had already told him to throw it away (yeah, that’s right; we bought yet another new one). The microwave had already gone for repair, and was back in place. And, of course, the electrician had already cleaned up our neutral connection to get us back up and running.

Furthermore, if we were to follow this particular requirement (that of not touching anything), this would mean that we have lost any hope of recouping any part of our losses the moment the electrician got us back on line. And this would mean that they expected us to have existed this past week without electricity, to have allowed all the food in the fridge to spoil, and so on.

I ask you, is this absurd? First, they themselves did not respond to our telephone calls. Second, and rather obviously, we have to have electricity. But (and, here’s that Catch 22), if we get the electricity working on our own, then we have essentially destroyed the evidence of their screw up! Oh, yeah………and, then there’s the timeline. Their letter informs us that the ‘exhaustive technical analysis’ may be done any time within the next ten days, and may take as long as two months!

So, what can I say? Welcome to our version of pura vida.