Nicaragua/Costa Rica – Border Crossing

Same in coming back in from Panama. We waited for 3-4 hours coming from Panama, because they decided to have a STAFF MEETING AT 1:00 in the afternoon. NO Kidding. WE watched then in the room laughing and then told us it would be another hour because the meeting was still going on.
IT makes only TO MUCH SENSE TO HAVE IT BEFORE OR AFTER HOURS. NO, THEY HAVE IT IN THE HIGH TRAFFIC TIME.. OF COURSE.
SILLY US….:) Common sense is rare here in C.R.and the Government is worse for common sense or logic. But they get
real smart on how to hide and steal the money and how to pay off people when they want something. The Government is
real good at getting in the money but not putting anything back into the Country for growth or advancement.
Dont try to make sense out of it all.
Pura Vida

[quote=”Funmind”]Does anyone know why Costa Rica immigration at the Nicaragua/Costa Rica border was staffed with just one agent issuing visas to re-enter Costa Rica when I crossed last Saturday?
What an embarrassment to this country. I am in good health but imagine if someone was not, or if it were raining.

When I arrived at 9AM there were already 100 people in line, and it took me almost 3 hours to get through. I was shocked to see that the reason was that there was only one agent at immigration letting people in.

Leaving CR they take $12 from everyone. One would think that at least $1 of that could go to hiring a few more people to handle the workload and speed up the process.

The San Jose airport must have 30 agents, why don’t they treat the car crossing borders with the same attention?
[/quote]

[quote=”GEEGEE”] Same in coming back in from Panama. We waited for 3-4 hours coming from Panama, because they decided to have a STAFF MEETING AT 1:00 in the afternoon.
SILLY US….:) Common sense is rare here in C.R.and the Government is worse for common sense or logic. [/quote]

This is not directed specifically at GEEGEE but to all who complain about how things are and how they are done in Costa Rica.

We are guests in a beautiful country and live among wonderful people for the most part. Some will take advantage of a Gringo at the drop of a hat but that should be expected in a poor country.

The problems that you perceive are due to the differences in culture. I have seen various claims saying that up to 40% of expats end up leaving because they cannot deal with the culture. You can learn to live within the culture or you are constantly aggravated by it. My first year here was stressful to the point of losing 25% of my bodyweight but the benefits of the country, climate, and the people and where we live far outweighed the problems that we went through.

Although my wife belongs to the Newcomers Women’s Club and a book club of English speakers, I have no association with expats other than here on welovecostarica.com

If you read the following you will have a better insight into what you are facing.

[url=https://www.welovecostarica.com/public/731.cfm ]Culture Shock & Cross Cultural Adjustment[/url]

[url=http://www.hillquest.com/community/lairarchive/lairabout53.htm]The Adjustment Period[/url]

[url=http://forums.kiplinger.com/archive/index.php/t-7414.html]PopGoesWeasel[/url]

When you are on the welovecostarica.com web site, on the home page, do a search for “Eric Liljenstolpe”. He has a good take on cultural differences. He also has four videos on youtube.