This morning, as Mark and I drove to work (we carpool — there is no need for us to have separate cars when our apartments are barely 300 metres apart), we got caught in traffic (again) at this one particular intersection in Lindora. It doesn’t look like much, and indeed the satellite photo suggests it’s nothing to worry about. (Looks are deceiving. Trust me.)

We hit this intersection every single day (there have been exceptions) with traffic, due to the large number of cars, trucks, people who need to turn (causing much of the chaos), and a hill combined with another intersection about two kilometres away that backs things up.

Every day, it’s a 5-10 minute trip through this intersection. But today, I noticed something: It would be worse if there were a traffic light.

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I don’t mean to have a longer “hate” list than I do a "love" list, but when you come to a new country, you have to expect a number of things to bug you. Sadly, I’ve ended up with a few more than I’d like. But that’s okay. It’s expected, and it’s part of adjustment to a new home. Still, they make me long for Canada, where I find these things don’t bug me as much. 

(Though it might be fair to say that some of them would bug me pretty much anywhere.)

And just so you know, I’m not speaking out as a disgrunted ex-pat who wants to bitch about how this country isn’t conforming to me. I’m the one who needs to conform, and there are things I simply have to accept. Some of these things are purely my points of view, and are probably things that most Ticos don’t mind, and might even like. 
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Yesterday, just after noon, I went into the nearby ATH (A Todo Hora, which is the Costa Rican version of “ATM”) to check my Scotiabank balance. Lo and behold, after two weeks of wrangling account, Swift, IBAN, and beneficiary numbers back and forth with the Bank of Montreal, my money finally arrived! I danced a little jig.

That led to a few furiously-dialled phone calls to arrange for another trip out to Grecia to finally pick up the car. This, I should add, ended up being yet another interesting chapter in my life living here in Costa Rica. ‘Cuz this is how I found out that u-turns are illegal here.

Trust me, this is a good one…

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