Kattia picked up my friend and I at the airport at 10:00 am. As it happened, a family that had just purchased a pickup was also in the van with her. It was good to meet some satisfied clients right off the bat. We dropped them off at the agency where they picked up their car and went on to look for our car. I had in mind a Toyota Corolla station wagon, but were open to looking at other options. The important thing was to find the car quickly though, because we wanted to get on out to Playa Hermosa and surf!
We saw 5 or 6 good cars during the course of the day, and by early afternoon we had found our Corolla at Autos Alpizar. We had originally intended to buy a car with Tico plates, but since Roberto Alpizar was able to let us use his dealer tag, we bought this one that was just coming into the country.
Since we intended to pay with our VISA debit card, we rushed to get to the bank before closing.
We did run into trouble at the first bank in Moravia. The teller thought that the signatures didn’t match on the credit card and in my passport. We tried at another bank, BAC, but the transaction was denied by Visa for lack of funds. Actually the problem was with the limit on the card. Now we were getting nervous, but Kattia took us to an Internet cafe, where we called the bank in the US to increase the limit. We got to the Banco Nacional in Guadalupe just before closing time and the transaction went through!
So we deposited to the dealer’s account there, picked up the car and by 5:30 we were in the La Princesa Marina restaurant relaxing and eating a nice dinner.
Jeff McPhail
Playa Hermosa, Costa Rica
jwmcphailinc.com