Down Day

Looking out my window, it's dark and dreary. It's threatening to rain but can't quite muster up those clouds. A perfect day for me to garden and putter around after a grueling day in San Jose yesterday.

The trip to San Jose is about two hours but with the road under construction, it took a lot longer.
Our only mission: get our Costa Rica driver's license renewed.
THAT can be an all day deal.

We hired a taxi to take us to the bowels of San Jose where EVERYONE in Costa Rica gets their license (no satellite offices that I know of, YET). The place hadn't changed much from last year except the line was out the door and down the sidewalk (in the morning sun). NEVER try and follow a taxi in downtown San Jose unless you have good insurance and nerves of steel. The taxi wanted my girlfriend to ride with him and I followed... very close. Once a bus tried to cut me off and I pushed onward almost scrapping the side. Traffic is NOT normal in downtown San Jose. It is totally unnerving for me. Too many taxis and too many buses! Too many pedistrians that just stand in the street. TOO many one-way streets! The taxi driver in front of me barely used his turn signals and his car looked like 200 other taxis. I think he WAS trying to shake me after my girlfriend told me he flirted with her. Machos and "Machas". Ticos love blondes.

In my limited knowledge of Spanish, I could understand the other Ticos complaining about the "system" at the driver's license place. I've heard others back home complain about the DMV there and I WISH they could experience it here. They would never complain again. Guess it was just our (un)lucky day yesterday. After standing in line for over an hour, they announced the computers were down and they didn't know when the system would be up again. Maybe two hours, maybe tomorrow, maybe Friday. We've both lived here long enough to remember "Pura Vida".