With only two weeks until we leave, I was questioning whether or not we would get everything done or if we would just be throwing things in the trash the day before we leave.
I have heard of this thing called "Government Red Tape" but I had never actually experienced it until yesterday. I had envisioned it being a thin strip of bright red tape that, even though it appeared flimsy and easy to break....like when a runner comes in first place at the end of a race....it had super powers and kept even the strongest men from achieving their goals. I was right on at least one point but not the other!
It is definitely capable of causing even the most determined and persistent person to fall to their knees, screaming in frustration. It is not, however, a thin line that can be snapped with just the slightest touch. Instead it is more like a wild, blood-red scarf blowing in the wind that entangles you in its grasp as it tries to choke the life out of you.
It amazes me that even though it is clearly stated on the web page that all we have to do is go to the police department and request a police clearance letter, NO ONE in the police department has any idea what we are talking about. When you are trying to coordinate the information you are receiving from four different sources and they all act like the other sources are alien creatures with two heads....you find yourself dreaming about wielding a sword with the intent of decapitating all of the two headed creatures.. but you can't because one of those creatures holds the key to your future!
After going to the police station and being told we had to fill out a paper and send it out and wait two weeks (the internet said 1 day or same day) and then going to the representatives office and being told we had to fill out the paper and wait 8 days, and then being sent back to the police station where they took fingerprints on a card before giving us the card but not doing a check on the finger prints....I finally called the State Department and talked to a lady who... in less than 5 minutes... has pulled up the paperwork on line and told me how to get to the web page to fill it out myself and print the results.***sigh...shakes her head....sigh****. I now have the necessary papers and find myself VERY tempted to call the police department and tell them how to do it!
Then we find out that all of our papers need to be notorized before sending them to the State Department for authentication even though the state doesn't require them to be notorized but the Costa Rican Consul in New York does and then we have to send the authenticated papers to New York after the States sends them back to us once they authenticate them.
Anyone else having a hard time following all of the hoops we have to jump through? And the scary thing is that it is actually starting to make sense to me!!!
Don't even get me started on how many notaries we had to go to before we found one that knew what we were talking about and only took 5 minutes to notarize our papers.
Did I mention that the Costa Rican Consulate in New York said that ALL of the documents...again---not explained on the web page....must be no more than 6 months old: that includes our birth certificates and marriage certificate. So now...off we go to the web pages of Pennsylvania, Florida, and Alabama to order copies of those documents so they will be less than 6 months old; even though we have two certified copies of each in our file cabinet. Once we get those new...less than 6 month old... copies back from those states, we have to have those notorized here so we can send them back to Alabama and Florida to get them authenticated so they can send them back to us so we can send them to New York.
How's your head feeling? Need some headache pills yet? :-)
It may sound crazy...which it is....but I feel a thousand times better now that we have the ball rolling and I know what we are supposed to be doing.
Guess I'll go to bed and see what tomorrow holds for us. I know it includes cleaning out a basement but you do what you have to do.
I just keep reminding myself...."The light is visible at the end of the tunnel and Costa Rica is just around the corner!"
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