Success!

On the bus at 7:15, in Grecia at 8.  Roy stood in line @ Banco National so we would be one of the first in at 8:30 when they open.  I walked to the "Parque Central" and waited for Marco.  Approached by street person wanting I don't know what, and I stupidly said "No hablo Espanol" ... Duh!  Why couldn't I have said "I don't speak Spanish"?  Anyway, Marco shows up at exactly 8:15, with new, improved letters from he & Mari and printouts of my IRA papers, which I emailed to him (our printers being somewhere else at the moment) and I was off to the Bank, a block away.  

Waited outside (actually in the open sub lobby) for 15, got in and sat to wait ... much waiting.  But not long this time, due to our impeccable timing, and soon we were sitting at Javier's desk, yet again, and he was reading letters, looking over IRA docs, asking for passports, asking for docs on purchase of our house, asking questions about: marital status, former occupations, income (? what is that ... I don't have any) and making photocopies of everything .  1.5 hours later, we had 2 accounts (one in colones, one in dollars) and were told to return tomorrow (it is ALWAYS manaña) to pick up our Debit Cards and get set up for internet banking!  Debit Cards in a DAY?  Why can't the rest of the system work that way?

So, in less than 2 weeks, it would seem that we've accomplished what takes many gringos months, sometimes years, to accomplish:

• Electricity
• Land Line
• Bank Accounts
• Internet

So, tomorrow, something novel ... we are going to the BANK!  First to Servicios de Clientes for the cards, then, I assume we take another number and wait for Javier to demonstrate how to use their internet banking system.  Wonder how long it will be before we can avoid going to the bank for a day or two?