7/3/7

Last Wednesday, the 28^th of March, Linda and I got up early to go to San Jose. We took Victor, one of the builders, with us. The purpose was three-fold. Larry, my friend with the hotel in Alejuela, was going to help me get my driver’s licence. We went to his place, and followed him downtown to the licence bureau, or MOP. I got my ten dollar medical, had my Canadian licence photocopied, and went to the lady’s office with Larry. Well, because my passport is new and was issued in San Jose, it has no entry stamp on it. Larry told Victor to take me to immigration to get the stamp. We tried that, but they couldn’t do it, maybe at the airport. I had an appointment to get my residency card the next day, and that would suffice for my licence, so we went on to phase two.

Obviously, Linda is picking out all the ceramics, paints, stucco, etc., that I have no taste for. We went to Heredia with Victor, and wrote down all the above, including light and plumbing fixtures for the new house. Linda is leaving on the nineteenth, and I was very glad to get that done. She had five ceramics stores, big ones, within walking distance, and we went to a place they knew with a good selection of all the rest. Victor made it easy, and, to me, the hard part is done.

We returned to Larry’s for the afternoon, visited, had supper in a restaurant, and Victor rejoined us at 8am. We drove down to ARCR for my residency interview, and after an hour of waiting, discovered that my appointment was for the day before. So we came home. I will have to go back for my licence, with my old passport with the entry stamp, before April 18 because my Canadian licence expires, and I would have to write the test here, in Spanish. ARCR has said they will arrange another interview for after Linda comes back in August.

Sunday night we drove across the river to Chomes to see Calle 8. An excellent band we had seen before. Jose, Zaida, and Allen went in our car, and Mike and Sandra followed in their’s, although Mike and Sandra left earlier than us. On the way home, my car overheated, but on a real back road, no traffic, phones or houses close, and the damage probably already done, and a kid in the car, I drove it home. Now it’s in the shop getting the head planed.

Wednesday, was like the Friday night for the biggest long weekend in this neighbourhood, maybe in the country, The kids get the week off for Easter, and most adults get four days. No liquor is sold Thursday or Friday, but sales are high on Wednesday. Playa Blanca is FULL. All the cabins in Punta Morales are full. So on Wednesday, I cracked my upper plate, and can’t even think about getting it fixed, or eating solids, until Monday. Oh well, at least it’s not a toothache!