You can take that to the bank!

After school, Kevin and I went to San Marcos again as we needed to pick up the signed paperwork from the notary public. It cost us $300!!! The two men, Santiago and Adrian, told us it usually costs $1,000, but said they really want to help us get started here so they reduced the price just for us. We were very grateful as we hadn't accounted for this charge. When we told the bank teller, Vanessa, the same woman who helped us on Friday, she was shocked it cost so much. She said people from Costa Rica don't have to go through this process to get a bank account... only foreigners. It's all due to money laundering. It's a real problem in Central and South America and if a foreigner brings in money, they have to account for it (a thousand different ways). We had read in different books and internet blogs how difficult getting a bank account was so we were somewhat prepared. We spent an hour with Vanessa on Friday and another two and a quarter hours again today. Finally, we have two accounts! One for US currency and one for colones (CR currency). It doesn't seem like something worth celebrating, but man, we were so happy to get this done. We cannot wire money from Canada until we have an bank account to wire it to.