A Trip Through Costa Rica's Bureaucratic Maze

by Loyd Newton

It's always an adventure in paradise when you have to deal with the bureaucracy in any of it's many forms. Fortunately, it's not something I have to do very often. I've been in Costa Rica for a little over two years now and things are starting to expire and renewal times coming near. My drivers license was due to expire at the end of this week so Monday I went down to the offices in San Jose on Calle 7 to renew it.

I parked my car in one of the public parking lots and they conveniently had a sign posted with the requirements for new and renewed licenses. Besides money, I needed to get a doctors exam for my renewal. I didn't even make it halfway from the parking lot to the drivers license office when I was waved into a doctors office. The exam took about 5 minutes which consisted of answering a few questions and reading the eye-chart above the green line. The doctor also mentioned he had a private practice near my home town and handed me a few business cards to take with me.

At the office I discovered a line that went out the door. Luckily for me, the line that stretched out the door was for new licenses. The one for renewals was doubled around the inside of the offices. I noticed a lot of people armed with newspapers for the long wait. My helper (interpreter, guide, etc.) went to get us a newspaper while I started my hour long wait in line. The people in line near me were very friendly and immediately started up conversations. The man ahead of me spoke English pretty well and was a fountain of information about the process. So instead of reading a newspaper, I spent my hour in line conversing with the ticos and the time went by quickly.

Once I got to the head of the line, I showed my doctors certificate and old license to the man at the first stop. He was very concerned about the fact that my residency card was expiring in June but said I could renew my license. Just use my passport he said and don't show them the residency card. Well, to be honest, I figured out what he was saying at the time but didn't understand what he meant until I hit the last stop.

I took my papers, got back in another line for the bank. There I paid 10,000 colones for my 5 year license. I told them the sign said it was only 4000 colones but they explained that was for the 2 year license. Sounded good to me, so I took my receipt and got into another line for the cameras. After about 15 minutes, I made it to the head of the line and went up to have my photo taken for the new license. When I got there, I handed over my papers and receipts and the man asked for my cedula.....mistake, because I gave it to him. He took one look at it and said he would not take my photo. He took me back to the start, "do not pass go, do not collect license". There the man asked me why I should him my cédula and I explained because he asked me for it. He told me, that the man would not take my photo or give me the license because my cédula was expiring in two months. This didn't make any sense to me, since I don't even need a residency to get a license here....perhaps it

When people get a little excited here, they talk very fast so I was having a hard time understanding what they were telling me. My helper had gotten separated between the last stop and the return to go. Fortunately, a tica came over and translated for me. There are some wonderfully helpful people here! While they were explaining the man's reason for not taking my photo, another photographer stepped up and said he would do it. So they took me around to another camera station, and within 5 minutes I had my new drivers license.

A low level bureaucrat that likes to have little power or just doesn't like gringos decided that a cédula that expires in 2 months was a big problem. Fortunately for me, kinder hearted people stepped in and took care of things. "I have always depended upon the kindness of strangers." So I left the place with mixed feelings....distaste for the petty bureaucrat and the hitch after over an hour of waiting and happiness that the good ticos and ticas won out and I could finish business that day.

I felt so good at not having anything else to do this week, that I went out and played 18 holes of golf today at Valle del Sol. First time I've played golf in a year so I gave up keeping score on the first hole. A great day to be outside and enjoy the weather though so I thoroughly enjoyed it though my golf game needs a lot of work. Guess I'll just have to get out once a week and practice on it.

Pura vida!