DHL...doesn't deliver and NO...my name is not Nancy!

So I am out on a lovely bike ride with my husband this morning...enjoying the flowers that line the road on our "through the back neighborhoods" ride to the grocery store.....not thinking about anything but how nice it is to be able to get up every morning and go for a bike ride....not realizing the weird conversation our son was having with DHL.... a delivery company like FedEx.

Bob was showing me a back way to get to the grocery store at Plaza Mayor, so we don't have to bike the busy Final de Bulevard....or pay to take the bus. There is one REALLY steep hill but other than that there is not a lot of traffic and it is a very pretty ride!

Bob and I get up to Plaza Mayor and park our bikes at the bike rack, strap them down with our cable-chain-lock thingies, and head inside to get some meat. (Not sure what meat I am going to get at this point....but it will be something good.) After a quick trip to the store, and two bags more than I planned on getting, we take our steak, pork chops, and chicken (I couldn't make up my mind in case you didn't figure that out) back to our bikes....which are now blocked in by 6 motorcycles and one sports car...strap our bags down with bungie cords, and head home.

On the way to the store we had passed an amazing church.....it was up on a hill, surrounded by huge trees that shaded it like arms, with a white wing-shaped roof and all glass walls. It was beautiful! And what was totally amazing was that the church was surrounded by terracotta colored benches, facing the church, so people could sit outside and enjoy the service. I am sooooooo going back for pictures!

Anyway...we get home and Jake tells us that DHL had just called to tell us that our package was in.

SIDEBAR: Don't delivery companies usually....oh I don't know.....deliver?

So now I have to get ready to go into San Jose to pick up the envelope which held the last of our authenticated documents for residency in Costa Rica. We figure that if we are going to make the trip into San Jose then we need to just go ahead and go to Casa Amarilla (Yes...the yellow house) which holds the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to pay for and then get finalized these papers.

Of course at this point in my blogs you know things don't move quickly where paperwork is concerned. :-)

Once in San Jose, we flag down a taxi cab, which I personally think took the long way, and head to Casa Amarilla. We go inside...take a number...sit down...and wait....for a good 25 minutes. My turn rolls around so I head to the counter and give the lady my papers. She speaks no English and just starts stamping them....then she calls someone on the phone. Luckily, it was a woman who spoke English who needed to tell me that I now needed to go to the bank, across the street and pay for everything and then bring each individual receipt back to them so they could finish.

Over to the bank I go,in the rain, where I take another number...I was number 18 and they are only on number 7...did I mention there is only one teller? So again I sit. It is finally my turn so I go to the teller, make my payments, get my receipts, and head back to the Casa Amarilla to finish my documents.

Once back at Casa Amarilla I....you guessed it.....took another number and sat down. Of course the woman that I had previously dealt with was nowhere to be found. Thankfully, and not so thankfully, she came out a few minutes later, saw me, called me to her desk, and then....wandered off for 10 minutes. :-(

Once she was back, she glued all of my receipts to the corresponding documents, stamped them, called the English speaking woman back to tell me it would be about ten minutes, then sent me back to my seat.

About 8 minutes later, the other lady who is working there grabs some papers, looks out at the crowd of people...and then at me in particular...and calls some name that sounds NOTHING like my name. She repeats it a few times, the whole while looking right at me. At this point I am listening, really intently, to see if she is calling my name....but she is not. She puts the papers back and starts to work with another customer. Two minutes later she picks those papers back up, looks at me, and says the name again.....IT'S NOT MY NAME! I wish she would stop staring at me because now everyone else is staring at me too! A man stands up and says, "Nancy? Nancy?" while looking at me and I shake my head and say "My name is not Nancy." She puts the papers back. At this point the wheels are turning in my brain as I try to remember what papers they are authenticating.

A minute later, the lady who worked with me shows up again, goes to the other woman and they both look at the papers. My lady says, "Senora," waves me towards her and then, "Por favor." I go up to the counter where the other woman is holding the papers and giving me a look. She says, "Nancy?" I said, "NO"... but I notice that they are my papers. Then I realize one of the papers is my birth certificate. I look at the lady and say, "Me llamo is Patricia....Nancy es me madre." The annoyed look on her face is now gone....since she realizes her mistake, and that I am not a total idiot who doesn't know her own name...and I am finally in possession of my papers again.

After thought: I'm guessing they are done because she sent me on my way. :-)

Jake and I then take a leasurely stroll back through San Jose towards the bus stop...in the rain....doing a little shopping as we do. Thank goodness we bought those umbrellas and I remembered to take them with us! I found a 3 foot tall vase, that I have been looking for, to put just inside the front door. I plan on getting flowers, from the market.....the really tall ones, to put in it tomorrow. I'm even thinking I may pick up a goldfish at the market to put in it too. That would be totally cool to have a fish swimming around inside of it!

So to summarize my day......The flowers were pretty.....the glass church is amazing.....we have steak for dinner...... a vase for my flowers (and possibly a goldfish).....DHL doesn't deliver.....and my name is NOT Nancy!