Cedula! Cedula! Cedula!

Hola Mi Amigos!

We received our cedulas on Wednesday. It was a very big event for us.  A cedula is like a temporary green card in the States. We have temporary residency for the next two years. After the two years, we will apply for permanent residency. 

I have to say it does feel a little strange being a resident of one country and a citizen of another. I don't see us ever trading our US citizenship. You can have dual citizenship here, but why? 

It took us about 15 months to get our cedulas. I think it takes a little less time but we had to get documents together and my FBI background check was lost in the mail. So, it had to be resent.

All these changes and somehow I am just going with the flow. With our cedula, we will be able to get a mortgage, a real phone plan, driver's license and we are longer considered tourists. In Costa Rica, we are now considered one of the family. 

We've almost been here two years. It's been an interesting journey. We've made some mistakes and that we expected. Realizing that living in Escazu was not the best for us was a big revelation. We weren't aware of the traffic, and that living this high up would cause me difficulty breathing because of my blood condition. These are real and relevant issues. Though I think the fact that this area is a wealthy suburb is probably the main reason why we want to leave. 

Jess and I celebrated getting our cedula by watching Oliver Stone's Film "Salvador." Personally, I think it is one of his best films.  James Woods plays an American photojournalist who gets caught in a political struggle in El Salvador in 1980. In the last half of the film, he is trying to get a cedula for his girlfriend. I don't don't know how many times James Woods says the word cedula, but it's a lot!

We have always made fun of that! Cedula! Cedula! Here we have our cedulas!!

Love & Peace

Chao

Gina