Paperwork, Documents and Process

There is a saying that goes something like "While the English invented bureaucracy, the Spanish perfected it".

The past few weeks have been full of paperwork details.  Those organizational things that that you can't live without, but would rather not have to deal with getting in place.

Internet service - actually this was not so bad, once we understood the options.  The aggravating part was trying to get people to respond to our enquiries - need to turn off the North American expectation of instant response.  But you would think what appear to be large companies would have customer service and sales staff.  Guess not! The local guy was responsive, checked out the lot and reception and is arranging for installation.

Insurance - Ah yes - never an exciting topic and never easy to deal with.  Insurance is a monopoly (not sure if it is actually state run, but the only choice).  We have heard that they are not the most customer focused and some people use a broker to liaise with the company - others say it doesn't matter - and some say it just isn't worth it and go without!  We choose to use the ARCR (the Association of Residents of Costa Rica) a group that supports expats - emails get us the policy information.  A few more clarify the documentation needed - passports, corporate documents (we put them someplace safe - where was that?!?!?!), house values, listing of all contents valued at over $750 (that is almost every item).  Often seems like broken telephone with repeated emails on the same topic, but I think we now have insurance on a monthly billing plan! 

Guess it was easier than the cellphone!

Electricity is in place and will be transferred over to us - I think the last piece is property management - hopefully that is a breeze!