The saga of the missing credit card

Last Monday, I went to the bank to withdraw money. My receipt came out and I looked at it, desperately hoping I’d calculated correctly and 100,000 colones was not as obscene an amount as it sounded. When I saw my remaining account balance and noticed that I was actually a millionaire I got a bit distracted. So much so, that I didn’t realize I never took my card back out of the machine until I got back to the base.

I made a quick trip back to the bank where I had a frustrating conversation with a guy whose accent was almost impossible to understand. He eventually gave me a phone number and told me who to call. Have I ever mentioned how much lower my Spanish comprehension is when talking on the phone? It’s pretty low. And it took 3 phone calls to figure this out. Fortunately there are quie a few bilingual Costa Ricans on base, so they helped me with 2 of them. I was on my own for the last one though. Taking down the address to the place where I went to pick up my card took forever. Addresses here are crazy. Apparently there are no street numbers. I’m not even sure all the streets have names. The address she gave me ended with “edificio esquinero”, literally, “the building on the corner” (and that was the address, NOT directions).

So, Scott (the school director), Breeana and I set off in search of the building. Driving in Costa Rica, if anything, is even crazier than their address system. Lanes are optional, as are stop signs some of the time. Left hand turns across 3 lanes of traffic are a part of life. Taxis drivers all seem to have a death wish. Vendors walk up and down between cars trying to sell things at lights. We bought 2 coconuts with a hole cut in them and straws to drink the milk. Not my all time favorite, but definitely worth the dollar.

We finally spotted the building on a corner, but not one we could really get to. So, after several quite possibly illegal traffic maneuvers and more lane changes than one should really make in 5 minutes, we pulled into the parking lot only to be foiled by the doors. Here’s a tip- if you’re walking into the ATH building in San Jose, push the button by the first set of doors, then pull them open. Wait until they close completely. Then open the next set of doors. That little bit of info will make you look less like a fool than I looked. Once we got in, getting my credit card back was easy. Let’s hope keeping it proves even easier.