For the next two weeks I will be here in Costa Rica installing Solar at Finca Las Brisas. I arrived last night after a day of traveling from N.C. to D.C. to Miami to San Jose, Costa Rica. When I got onto the plane they handed me the standard forms for immigration and customs. As I filled them out I realized I didn’t know the name of the town where I was going and I didn’t even have a number for Patrick Kelly who would be picking me up. When I arrived I stood in line deciding what to say when it was my turn to enter Costa. I decided a smile was all that would save me. I walked up and handed the lady my passport and papers. She scanned through them and asked where are you staying? I said I don’t know and explained that I was to be picked up here. She asked if I had a phone number and I said no. All the while I was smiling. I said I know this sounds crazy but All I know is my friend will be picking me up. She picked up the stamp and “Kachink” stamped my passport. I was in awesome! Next stop baggage.
I waited for quite some time before finding my bag and the 2 boxes of solar panels. I was happy to find them and there was minimal damage. U.S. Homeland security had opened one of them and searched it. They also searched my bag and left it in a disarray. I got a cart and headed for customs. I got to the front of the line and sent my luggage through a scanner. The belt stopped when the box went in. The man asked what was inside and I explained solar panels. He said he needed to see inside. I pulled all my luggage over to another table and opened the box. He asked the value and I told him. He then told me I needed to pay taxes on the items. He said I would have to wait until tomorrow to pay. I asked if there was a way to pay now. He said yes unofficially if I was ok with it. I said yes we went into an office and I realized I was about to bribe the man. I only had $60 and he had said the taxes would be about $300. I went to an ATM and got $200. Went back into the office and gave him $200 thinking I had just made a deal and saved $100. He then said I could take my boxes and go.
i got outside and told patrick what had happened and he explained that a common bribe here is $20-$40 not $200. He explained that the man probably made about that in a month.
One mans rich is another mans poor. To me $200 didn’t seem like that much to him it was a small fortune. He won the lottery last night and i learned a lesson. In the end the cost of Patrick’s solar panels just went up by $200….lesson learned.
I am sitting at a bed and breakfast overlooking San Jose. it is cloudy today. Apparently the rainy season is just beginning. Today we will handle some business here before heading to the farm.
I can’t wait to get out of the city and explore.
