The Wanderings of busman7

Once upon a time back in November 2011, having returned from Cambodia with no plans for future long term travel, I decided that it was time to apply for my Salvadorian residency.

Of course it goes without saying that one has their Canadian passport that cost $85.00

I had obtained the list of necessary documents from Migracion a year or so earlier

*note documents are only valid for 90 days

1) Resident application

2) Birth Certificate Quebec government $29.00

Canadian Embassy certification  $50.00

Salvadorian gov’t certification $20.00

Spanish translation                    $50.00

3) Marriage License       N/A

4) Photocopy all passport pages $ 1.00

5) Canadian Criminal Record check

I had ordered this from the Durham Regional Police before leaving for Cambodia in June but their incompetence resulted in a tilt.  $25.00 wasted

PNC finger printing  N/C

Canadian CRC $26.75

DHL Courier to Canada $63.53

Xpress post Canada to SV              $43.75

Canadian notary                         $20.00

Canadian Embassy certification $50.00

Salvadorian gov’t certification          $20.00

Spanish translation                        $50.00

* although it took nearly 90 days to receive my CRC due to delays on the Canadian end, Migracion viewed id as valid as long as I did not leave the country

** without this concession by Migracion it would be impossible for a Canadian to get residency

6) Health letter from Salvadorian doctor

Original letter November $25.00

2nd letter July                            $30.00

3rd letter correcting error             N/C

7) Salvadorian PNC Criminal Record Check $3.50

8) Certification of Pension funds + other monies received monthly

Due to the pathetic pittance provided by Canada (1/3 of Australia) then the 50% claw back when one has the audacity to escape Canada, OAS + CPP fall short of the amount needed so auxiliary income is required

Letter from Service Canada (one month) to receive  N/C

Letter from secondary income source                     N/C

Canadian notary to authenticate 2 letters               $55.90

FedEx Canada to El Salvador                                 $144.10

Canadian Embassy certification 2 documents            $100.00

Salvadorian gov’t certification 2 documents              $ 40.00

Translation                                                         $ 50.00

9) Salvadorian bank letter verifying monthly deposit

First letter                                          $ 3.39

Second letter including more info $ 3.39

10) Notarized affidavit verifying the documents are correct

Lawyer fee for document in Spanish            $ 50.00

Residency visa fee to Migracion                  $107.14

Miscellaneous expenses

Visa extension due to Canada’s tardiness               $ 25.00

Parking at Canadian Embassy 5 visits @ 1.00          $  5.00

*visiting a Canadian Embassy abroad one is treated like a criminal which shows the contempt the government has for it’s sheeple

Gas 12 trips to the city @ $10                             $120.00

Total Costs   $1,296.45

+ 9 months aggravation

From my experience & that of others relocating to CA/SA it is

apparent that due to that Canadian governments actions

towards it’s own citizens + towards Latin Americans wishing to

move to Canada, makes it nearly impossible for Canadians to

obtain residency abroad!

It is certainly much easier for citizens of the US whose

embassies treat them with respect and dignity. Must be nice!

F I N A L L Y !

Against all odds!

“It’s almost impossible for a Canadian to get a resident visa for El Salvador” says my lawyer when I approached him about getting residency so I wouldn’t have to do border runs every 3 months.

Always one to take such statements as a challenge to go into Don Quixote mode & tilt at the windmill, I went ahead with this one.

The anal retentive Canadian simple serpents threw their best curves & delaying tactics at me but with the help of their understanding (if a tad nitpicking) Salvadorian counterparts, their silly games came to naught. I salute the Canadian bureaucrats with their infamous prime minister’s salute

I am now the proud holder of a temporary Salvadorian

residency card! 🙂

Finally the last document has arrived from Canada, a mere 6 months after I started the process.

WAY TO GO CANADA!!  NOT!!!!

Of course Canada isn’t done jerking me around & ripping me off yet, the embassy has to get permission to certify them which now apparently takes 2-3 days instead of next day service. Of course there’s the $50 US charge (Canadian currency NOT accepted in El Salvador.

Started this when I dropped the documents off at the embassy, well the 2-3 days turned into 7 & as Canada’s OAS is so paltry it + my CPP didn’t add up to enough to meet El Salvador’s low monthly requirements, I needed to show extra income, which meant 2 documents so got ripped off to the tune of $100 US!

Am I a proud Canadian? NOT!!

Took the documents to the Salvadorian government for authentication $40 ,which the moron at the embassy had never heard of, fortunately the girl from the previous time had given me the heads up on that, of course he was the same idiot that told me to get a Canadian money order (impossible in El Salvador) then dropped them off at the lawyers for translation. A week later was informed that the lawyer needed all documents before he would do translation (isn’t miscommunication great), another week lost.

All is now in the hands of my lawyers assistant who naively claims all should be ready in 2 weeks to get my card. Have heard the original application always needs modification before being processed.

Problem is that due to the foot dragging of the Canadian government (6 months to due what any civilized country would do in 6 weeks), in 2 weeks there will only be one month left before I need to depart on my LAST trip to Canada. However if I leave before the process is complete I will have to start all over again, which isn’t an option!

There are days (about 365/yr) that it SUCKS

to be a Canadian!!!

To be continued——

June 14, 2008 the day of my sale when I

reached the point of NO RETURN to living a life outside

Canada!

Life in Canada at that point was still bearable but not to my liking & as I had the resources to live elsewhere, I was on my way to make that dream a reality.

At that point in time I still had 2 72 passenger buses + a W/C bus, the Super C tractor I bid back in at the sale, the 03 Caravan, ‘82 Checker, ‘78 MH + ‘78 Scout & mother was still in her house.

Looking back it doesn’t seem possible that so many changes in my life would happen in just a tad less than 4 yrs or how freedom & government services in Canada would deteriorate in that short a period. Of course some of it could be attributed to getting out & experiencing the REAL WORLD not just accepting the, for the sheeple government brainwashing version.

First change came in Aug 08 with provincial simple serpents, through collusion & fraud, making my charted business worthless & unsalable (see blog), resulting in the sale of 1 bus.  Then then found a buyer for the ‘03 Caravan before I departed on my CA/Cuba trip.

During that 6 mo winter 08/09 trip mother took a turn for the worse, her house was sold & she moved into a nursing home. Also received the news that the outcome of my court case against the school board was a draw due to shenanigans of JP!

Returned to ON in late April 09, to satisfy Big brother OHIP’s requirements for only being out of the country for 6 months, to wet, cold, miserable weather (never again Canada in April). Found mother extremely unhappy so moved her from nursing home to nice one bedroom, ground floor apartment she had found.

Over the course of the summer found much more griping of self-employed friends over new rules & the way they were being screwed by the government. Sold the Super C for less than the sale bid, sold the remaining bus & left the end of Aug on my RTW 09/10.

During Sept mother had an accident which resulted in a move to a nursing home in B’ville.

Returning in July ‘10 found mother’s condition had deteriorated badly & Ontario’s healthcare system a pathetic joke. Flew to El Salvador, bought a house & after a major hassle with the Bowmanville hospital which isn’t fit for pets, incompetent doctors & lying air ambulance operators, managed to make arrangements to have her transported to El Salvador.

During this time July-Sept 10 I managed to sell the MH, load the W/C bus with the contents of my storage unit, & drive it to El Salvador via Route 66.

Returning in May 2011 I found a sad, pathetic Ontario that I could never live in again. Also managed to get screwed trying to sell the Checker on sleaz-eBay so had to sell it at a friends tractor auction where it only brought 1/3 of what I had in it.

Trip to Phnom Penh for a couple months then back home to SV where I am attempting to get residency status, only problem is I need a CRC (criminal record check) from Canada notarized as authentic in Canada. One wouldn’t think this would be a problem however to do this one needs to deal with the moronic simple serpents running Canadian bureaucracy who took 10 WEEKS to do the CRC & send it to a friend to get notarized.

No problemo, one would think, just trot down to your lawyer, he puts his stamp on it, initials the stamp & a couple minutes later for between free & $20 you’re out of there or that’s the way it used to work, apparently NOT NOW!

It seems your AROGANT, IGNORANT,

A$$HOLE ONTARIO lawyer is on holiday for

a week, then cancels the appointment the next week, when he finally deems to see you, he finds it impossible to simply notarize it but must study it for a week.

He then proclaims that the hossmen have signed the CRC so notarizing it is unnecessary & sends the poor ignorant peon on their way.

Friend went back yesterday to explain to the know it all, backwoods advocate from Jerkwater ON, that the aRse Cee eM Pee signature may be good in Canada but is meaningless in the real world, at least in El Salvador.

Apparently the fine upstanding (NOT) advocate for the people finally deigned it prudent to take 30 seconds (after holding on to it for a week) out of his busy life & notarized the document.

So we now have the fine Canadian system (NOT) taking a total of 106 days, almost 1/3 of a year, to complete a process that should have taken 2 weeks tops. Of course I still don’t have the document & as courier charges from Canada are Outrageous (nearly 2x what they are here) will have to depend on Canada Post’s rip-off (nearly same as courier here) Xpress post & hope they can deliver it without losing it in maybe another 2 weeks. Making it a full 4 months (a full 1/3 of a year)!

WTF’s happened to the Canada I/WE

grew up in?

I shall return to Canada, FOR THE LAST FLUCKING TIME in

August 2012 to finalize a few things in OnturkeyO, pick up my

Scout & head to Quebec’s Eastern Townships to attend

the CHS homecoming at the Big Brome County Fair on Labour

Day weekend. http://www.bromefair.com

Shall then make haste for the Y’all land border at Rouses Point &

the Scout Nationals http://www.midnitestar.org held at the

Clarke County Fairgrounds in Springfield OH in conjunction with

the Ohio swap meet  http://www.ohioswapmeet.com where the

Scout will be FOR SALE!

At the end of the Nationals it will either be the Grey Dog to the

Mexican border where one can get a REAL BUS home to the land

of the Mayas & Palm Trees or another road trip back to the

Paradise of Las Brisas.

http://wwwlasbrisasplayasandiego.blogspot.com

Before another rant on Canada I should write a bit about my visa run to Bogotá.

Had planned on just going to Liberia CR but when I went to book the flight, found TACA had a sale on & the fare to Bogotá was only $100 more so it was a no brainer, Colombia here I come.

The city is pretty cool & has now bumped Panama City to 3rd place on my cities list, of course Bangkok remains the undisputed leader.

Lots to do, friendly people & relatively safe. Definitely worth a visit when in the area.

There is also a steam train that makes for an enjoyable day trip out of the city.

http://www.bogotaturismo.gov.co/recorridos

http://www.turistren.com.co

As has been mentioned before, when I was in Ontario last May (2011) I went to the Durham Regional Police offices in Oshawa (the local  Bowmanville ones closed to the great unwashed public) to apply for a criminal records check, filled out the form, paid my $40 & figured it was a done deal.

When it came time for me to leave for Cambodia some 3 weeks later & I still hadn’t received it in the mail, had been told it should take 2 weeks, I left anyway figuring if I needed it a friend could pick it up & send it to me.

Didn’t need it until I returned to El Salvador & applied for residency, however when my friend picked up the mail, instead of the document saying that a check couldn’t be completed as my fingerprints needed to be submitted to the RCMP. Oh Joy!!!

Freaking moronic DR’s didn’t know fingerprints were needed for a check, figures!

So off we go to Embassy Canada in San Salvador, that little experience has already been documented, prints taken & couriered to the RCMP in Ottawa at the address provided by the embassy along with money order in US funds (after it was confirmed a US money order was OK as it’s impossible to get one in Canadian funds in El Salvador).

DHL accepts the letter at 11:35 on Monday December 12, it departs at 19:26 2011,  arrives in Gatemala City 21:08, departs 21:27, arrives Panama City Dec 13,  00:36, departs 18:17, arrives Cinicnnati Dec 14, 01:41, cleared 04:57, departs 05:37, arrives Mirabel airport 07:55, leaves 09:43, arrives Ottawa 11:48, leaves facility 13:00, signed for at RCMP 13:52 Wed, Dec 14, 2011. Pretty good 52 hrs 27 min from San Salvador to the RCMP’s hands in Ottawa, that’s 52 HOURS + a bit.

Now when I had heard nothing for 6 weeks figured it was time to check on it, called the # given by the embassy, voice mail & request never answered, emailed got a computer generated answer that they would get back to me.

Received an email on Feb 10l 2012 at 14:58 saying “Please be advised that according to our records, the application in question was received in our system on: February 7th, 2012”

This means that my application took 54 DAYS to get from the hands of the person that signed for it to be entered into the system.

What is wrong with this picture, it takes a private company DHL 52 HOURS to deliver a letter! I then takes the recipient the RCMP 54 DAYS to enter it into the system?

ON WHAT PLANET, IN WHAT SOLAR

SYSTEM, WOULD THAT BE DEEMED

APPROPRIATE SERVICE?

ONLY IN CANADA

EH!!

Rancho Las Brisas

                                               Calle La Bocana #17     

     Lotificacion La Bocana

          Habitacion Privada

                                                 P I S C I N A

Dia    $25.00                          Dia y Noche    $40.00

Telephono: 7636-8844           English: 7993-0811

Email: learnenglish.hawke7@gmail.com 

http://wwwlasbrisasplayasandiego.blogspot.com

Yesterday was an interesting experience in contrasts between the way governments/civil servants from (supposedly) 1st & 3rd world (yeah I know that’s politically correct) operate.

The 40 minute or so drive in to the city was more interesting as there are now 5 manhole covers missing, instead of the 3 last week (price of scrap is up) to play dodgem with.

Now when I applied for my visa extension, at the Dirección General de Migraión y Extranjeria, on Thursday I was told it would be ready on Friday at 3:00pm, I replied that I would wait until Monday morning as I had to go to the Canadian embassy & that would save me a trip into the city, which was agreed to. However upon arrival I noticed that the pickup slip had 3:00 pm written on it, it is common practice at most embassies around the world to have visa pickup at 3:00pm the day following application, so someone had automatically put that time down. The same lady officer that had taken my information Thursday, the one in the office with passable English skills, said she would check if I could get it before the stated time, came back & said it would be ready in about 1/2hr, which it was. Will bet dollars to donuts that had that been a Canadian office, I would have had to return at 3:00.

Just a note here that security was nothing special, just a guard with a sidearm at the gate checking passports & the inevitable guard with the 12 gauge in the courtyard, same as McDonalds or anywhere else. Later in the day noticed an office of Migración upstairs at the Walmart plaza, with no extra security. Must be making the offices more accessible, as last year it was necessary to go all the way downtown to the Goubernario Central for extensions.

So leaving the Migración office we drive the 4 or 5 blocks to the Centro Fianciero Gigante the home of the Embassy of Canada in San Salvador. Now this is pretty cool, it’s a new bank building so state-of-the-art, you drive up to security where they give you a pass + a ticket with a parking spot # on it, embassy’s on level 3 so drive up to 3rd level where security shows you the parking spot.

You then enter the building from the parking garage, where you pass security where you get a pass to the lobby area. OK now we have gone through primary security at the parking garage entrance with the 12 gauge toting guard, through 3 parking levels with 3-4 guards showing you where to park, well it is a financial center after all, then another check at the lobby entrance.

Now it gets really bizarre & paranoid beyond belief! Oh yeah on the way through the lobby is a bank of elevators, one marked Embassy of Israel, with an innocuous dude in a suit standing buy it.

Now off to the right are 3 heavily armed Policai Nacional Civil wearing body armour guarding a metal detector through one must walk beltless & shoeless (shades of US/ Brit airports) after being relieved of ones cell phone which is put in a locker.

You are now allowed in a waiting room where you are faced with a monkey in a cage, well a person (with the brains of a monkey) behind a (bullet proof?) glass wall with a sliding tray to put documents in & a microphone to talk into. Once you have convinced her you need to talk to someone with more than a grade 4 education, she tells you to wait but that there are 4 ahead of you. Yep 4 people all right, all members of the same family, DUH!

After a while & ahead of the “4” Salvadorians (touch of racism?) I am called to the “interview room” a cubbyhole with a couple chairs facing another window, behind which sits another monkey in a cage. Actually the only difference from visiting a prisoner is the absence of the phone receiver.

Can’t have the elite embassy staff in close contact with the unwashed masses, especially, when they have the nerve to venture out of the great country of Canada now, can we!

Must give credit where credit is due, the dude had answers to my questions (whether they will satisfy the Salvadorian government remains to be seen) & gave me the forms, very nicely printed with in both English & French (DUH Spanish country dude), to give to Policia Nacional Civil, División Técnica y cientifica so they could fingerprint me to the satisfaction of the ArseCMP (de hossmen), who would upon receipt of fingerprints + an International Money Order $26.75 CDN will then do a criminal check. The embassy will also certify my QC birth certificate, which the lawyer says is no good (think he’s full of it, we shall see) + bank letter for the mere pittance of $50 USD EACH!

As it was lunch time when we left the embassy we followed the crowd of workers from the floor out to the parking garage where there were 3 or 4  concessions selling burgers,hot dogs/pizza for a couple bucks or less & pop machines 50 cents. Booths were placed along one wall with open windows, kind of neat of course wouldn’t be allowed in Canada (health dept surely would dream up some retarded reason).

Upon leaving the embassy one the rented swat team kindly gave us detailed directions to their division that did the fingerprinting, which was a good thing due to a lack of street signs on some of the backstreets.  Once there we were checked in & given directions to the office where everyone was very cordial & as they were just returning from lunch, a short wait led to being led upstairs, printed & walked out with a friendly goodbye with a definite of course there’s no charge!

When we got back to the car there were 2 officers leaning on it talking, when I got out I had locked my door but, much to their amusement, had  neglected to roll up the window, a good laugh was had by all.

Just goes to show how a Canadian can be treated with respect in his adopted country but like shit in his own (embassy is Canadian soil)! Definitely NO regrets about my decision to leave!

Needed some printer ink & was still on a quest for a bug zapper light so headed for the Multi-Plaza & the new Wally-mart where I made 2 visits at once, First & Last! Don’t get me wrong I love Walmart’s one stop low price shopping for everything from boots to batteries to bongos but this one was a rip-off. First thing I noticed upon entering the store was 2, 2.5 litre bottles of Coca Cola selling for $2.75, now they can be bought at Super Selectos in La Libertad any day for $2.35 or downtown at Depansur Familar for around $2.20. Checked prices on a couple other things that I had recently purchased in El Puerto & there wasn’t enough difference to say so. They had Good Year tires for $48.99 but couldn’t see where they were made but it was apparent from the quality of the finish they were Chinese crap.

Went over to the computer aisle, the cheapest netbook was $400+ & not an ACER in sight, hp, Toshiba & Samsung only, bought my ACER in a San Antonio Walmart for $250 + tax back in May. Decided then & there that if I can’t find it locally in La Libertad, I don’t need it & can live without it!

Found my printer ink at Office Depot where my BMO debit card came up tilt, used local bank debit no problemo & BMO worked at ATM around the corner??

Quest for bug zapper ended upstairs in the ferretera Casa de la Herramienta (a play on words that doesn’t translate) for $13.95 with of course NO tax. That small space (mall space is expensive everywhere) was just crammed with goodies, as close to Princess Auto as I’ve seen elsewhere.  It’s a local chain with a store in Santa Tecla, only 15 minutes up the hill from La Libertad so can go there so that would be basically still shopping locally.

On the way home about 1/2 way between Santa Tecla & El Puerto there are a couple roadside furniture makers, noticed a nice rocking chair a couple times so stopped to check them out, asked $60 but finally settled for $55, good thing I drive a Kia so could load it & bring it home.

So ended a trip from the Playa to the local Big Smoke!

OK not looking good for the credibility of the Embassy of Crapanada, instructions were “get an International Money Order for CDN $26.75—-” Went to a branch of every bank today, including HSBC & Scotia Bank, no way any would have anything to do with Canadian Tire funny money—see what lame excuse the monkey in the cage comes up with tomorrow & what the morons say to do.

No wonder the lawyer said “it’s almost impossible for Canadians to get residency”. We have to deal with mental midgets to try to get documentation!:(

* Warning this is a major anti Canadian rant!

You’re saying, ‘Hey dude you live in Central America, what do you expect?’ or ‘You back in Asia?’

NOPE!!!

Right in ONTARIO, CANADA, EH!!!

It started last summer when I had to return to Crapanada to wrap up some business. I knew that a criminal record check was necessary for a residency permit in El Salvador + as I was on my way to Cambodia looking for a teaching job where it might be needed, figured that might just as well get it while there.

Stopped by the DR (Dumb Rube) precinct, actually Durham Regional Police in Oshawa as the local station in hick town Bowmanville isn’t open to the public. Pesky tax-payers that pay the bills are such a bother, they make them drive to Oshawa, keeps lots away.

Assumed (big mistake) that even the DR’s might be bright enough to take an application for a record check & make sure all the required info was there. Filled out the application, paid the $40.00 (pretty sure that’s what it was) & hoped it would be in the mail before I left, no such luck.

Never bothered about it until this week when I asked a friend to pickup my mail, scan the police check  & email it to me. So what did the letter from the Dumb Rube fuzz say, well apparently they couldn’t find anything bad with just my name, address, age etc.

This would be good, one would think. Not in Crapanada where the records check is apparently handled, not by the local rubes, but by the Horsemen (RCMP) one of the worlds most corrupt & incompetent police forces.

The situation is this, when the local yokels check & come up dry (this can’t be right as all Canadians have something to hide), your good Crapadian citizen must give up his civil rights (guilty until one proves themselves innocent, the Crapadian way) & give the Horsemen their fingerprints so they can dig some more to find something nasty on the good citizen.

Not sure what the next step is, have to see my lawyer next week, must be a way without returning to Crapanada but I do know one thing, my Scout is still in Ontario & have to pick it up at some point. Due to this theft of my $40 by the cops + the whole Fascist deal with the Horsemen, I will be making only one more trip to Crapanada & will pick up the Scout then, whether that’s in the next couple weeks or next summer, as planned, remains to be seen.

However my next trip to Crapanada will be the LAST TIME I DIRTY MY FEET ON CANADIAN SOIL!!!!

*ps I had planned a rant on Crapanadian banks however their petty annoyances pale in light of the real problems & seem insignificant now.

I see it’s time to renew my visa next week which means I’ve been home nearly 90 days without updating my blog. A couple reasons for that, nothing much worth saying, plus a lack of ambition.

Found that my manager had kept everything under control while I was away & all was satisfactory.

She had found an abandoned kitten a few days before so the ranch now had a resident cat named Rayito. As, while I was away, there had been a situation where a barking dog would have come in handy, we made a visit to the Urban Dog Sanctuary north of the city where we found the perfect dog for a place that was going to have guests. Canela’s looks would make people uneasy but her good personality ensured she would not bother guests. So with a dog & cat all that I need is a novia!

A friend was looking after renewing the license on my car, which with El Salvador adopting silly North American practices like safety/emission checks to get the pretty new plates, is not such a simple matter. The result being that as I came home early, of course, everything wasn’t completed, so had to chicken bus it the first couple weeks.

End of October, first part of November the rainy season lived up to it’s name with rain everyday for a couple weeks resulting in flooded houses, landslides closing roads, a few bridges washed-out & schools closed for a couple weeks. Unfortunately a few lives & houses were lost, fortunately nowhere as bad as Thailand.

Have managed to get my Bed & Breakfast ‘Rancho las Brisas’ http://wwwlasbrisasplayasandiego.blogspot.com  listed on http://www.hostelbookers.com  &  http://www.airbnb.com  which also results in a listing on Craigs list.

Stopped in at the local tourist center in La Libertad & they will display brochures for me so it’s off to the printers this morning to get some made up.

Took inventory of the different plant/tree species on the property, came to 37, pretty cool. Along with the birds that drop in for a bath, the butterflies doing their thing & of course the bees have sort of a mini botanical gardens.

Been checking out the Bamboo Bar, where the X-pats congregate on Sat evenings, on La Libertad’s malecon the past couple weeks to see what the local chica situation is + have put the word out I’ve decided to stick around & looking for a novia Latino. No Canadian/American women for this cowboy!

Had the roof on the rental side repaired 3 times & still had a bit of a leak in hard rains so am in the process of replacing it. Hadn’t put a sink in the bathroom (figured it unnecessary but others didn’t). The shower pressure sucked, tried a couple things that didn’t work out as wanted, so putting up a small water tank solely for that side, with the side benefit of increasing the water temperature from the tropical sun beating down on a black tank.

Getting the mural completed on my wall, be about a 60×10 ft mural depicting the rivers/mountains, fields, plants, animals, birds of the area with a painting of Rayito & Canela worked in. Hoping it’s done by Xmas, pero es El Salvador!

Have to get my butt in gear & make a curriculum for teaching English to the local people. Start with Betty that way I can brush up on my Spanish also & revise as needed to do a bit of private English teaching.

Latest project is getting my Salvadorian Residency Visa, doing 72 hr border runs every 90 days just doesn’t cut it, especially when one has to go to either Mexico or Costa Rica. The easy part is on this end, the hard part is getting what I need from Canada, especially the bank (a rant for another day).

Off to the lawyers next week with what I have, then to Immigration for the one 90 day extension allowed in country. Hope the temporary permit will come through before I have to do a border run.

That’s it for now, have to go to town.