A Life Lived in the Rip Currents
I've not slept well this week. Because of my stupid body, asthma + asthma meds = no sleep my sleep is all screwed up. Waking up yesterday morning felt like being hard pummeled in a sudden rip current. Jim came roaring into our bedroom in a panic. Why? Stupid Gringo alarmism.
You know that here in Costa Rica the government keeps extending our visas out further and further due to the 'Rona pandemic. Right now they are set to expire in March 2021. But as of yesterday morning the government had decided not to extend our drivers licenses beyond November 18th, one short week away.
Jim's buddy, the one that is 20K out of pocket for being away for over five months. contacted him and stirred him up into a panic, screeching out that we had to book tickets for next week now, now, now!!! to keep our licenses active. He babbled about $2,200 plane tickets, $1,000 Covid health travel insurance everyone is required to get coming back into Costa Rica and lots of other scary fear-mongery things. He had Jim lathered up into a panic. Jim wanted to know if I knew.
I hate being woken up, especially over something so incredibly stupid. I knew that they were talking about not renewing our licenses, but am not about to get on an overcrowded overpriced plane for anything. The land borders here are closed so the Gringo Shuffle across the border into Nicaragua cannot happen. Air travel only.
The government has been pulling this nonsense about the drivers licenses since the first days of the pandemic. Which is why I forced Jim in a panic to get our asses to the border about two weeks before we were due for a visa, to keep the licenses valid. They closed the border the very next day but refused for some weeks to extend the drivers licenses of foreigners. We were exempt because of the border run.
A couple of weeks into the pandemic they begrudgingly extended them. They've been playing this drivers license chicken ever since. Stating they will not extend the licenses with the visas, gringos get in an uproar, and they fold faster than Superman on laundry day, and extend out the licenses. This morning I awoke to the news that gringos are in an uproar and they are reconsidering their decision. Bullshit walks, Gringo dolares talk. Once they realize they may lose that sweet folding green stuff they back off. I expect it will be announced in a few days they extended the licenses. Giving people a mere week to meet the guidelines is just wrong, and there's nothing that Ticos love more than American money. Don't piss off the Gringos.
His friend is a pompous Trump supporting Gringo with more money that sense. He seriously overpaid for his Covid travelers insurance, and got fleeced on so many things. He, or Gringos like him, are the reason I'm eager to write and do YouTube videos on life in Costa Rica. They make things unnecessarily harder and more expensive for everyone with their fear mongering and fake information they spin their own way.
If it was true there are still so many options he cannot wrap his mind around. Costa Rica has a public transportation system that rivals that of Germany and other places. There are official taxis, Uber, pirata taxis, and a huge network of public buses. The first five months we lived in C.R. we did so without a car, ours being on a ship from the U.S. I hopped the bus many times here and in Copey to get around. It's quite doable. The last time I rode the bus I paid something like 40 cents to go into town. Two bucks by taxi.
Secondly that ticket for not having a valid license is minuscule up against the associated costs of flying out, putting the residency application in jeopardy, that insurance costs, the costs of lodging in the States, meals out and everything else including getting a house sitter to feed the cats while we're gone. We did the math and would be out a significant sum, not 20K mind you, but perhaps half of that if we panicked and did what he was shouting out. A few cheap traffic tickets seems like a bargain in comparison.
Thirdly after consulting our C.R. lawyer there are, surprise surprise, legal ways around it, like getting a local drivers license valid for three more months. There are a few other ways around it too. The next time I go back to the States I'm getting that important international license I used to have.
It's not the end of the world even if they did it. We'd just go back to walking and riding with the piratas (pirate taxis - unlicensed) Do us some good to walk.
But I hate people that fear monger, and the damage they do with their disinformation.
That drama took up the morning, calming Jim down, pointing out everything I have said above. I'd somehow managed to break my third cheap coffeemaker and had to go out after lunch to get one. Ended up at the Maxi Pali buying a fancy Black and Decker model. It was the only model not a Central American made Durabrand, which are notoriously crappy. Three cheapy Durabrands in three years is two too many!
While we were at the store both Jim and I got the shock of our lifetimes. Remember that pal of Jim's that practically lives at our house, who's wanted hugs? Who accused me of being a pill junkie because I asked him to bring me an 18 month supply of allergy pills? Who I think is pretty creepy? He left his wife for another woman after 36 years of marriage.
I guess creepy is as creepy does. Jim's having some trouble emotionally dealing with this news because he knew this guy so well.
I feel horrible for his wife, expressed that to her, told her she's always welcome here and if she needs anything to let us know. From my first quick awful marriage I know the devastation of what it feels like to have your marriage end, even if I was the one that ended it.
This is like the tenth local marriage I have personally heard about here flying apart during the pandemic. This is just such a stressful time for everyone I guess.
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