One of the requirements (and there are a lot) to getting permanent residency, is joining La Caja, or the medical/social security branch of Costa Rica.
Once we had the basic paperwork in hand, we headed up to the La Caja office in Quesada. Fortunately, we went with Darling, who has had a lifetime of dealing with the intricacies of bureaucracy here.
We showed up at the office at 6:50 a.m., 10 minutes before it opened. We took a number and waited, with all of our paperwork in hand.
After about 30 minutes, our number was called. We trudged up, ready to go, with passports, copies of the front of the passport and all of the immigration documents in hand.
One hitch: They required a copy of every single page of our passport. Even the blank ones. Lucy and Darling headed out to find a copy machine (of course, there wasn't one at the office we were at) while I pulled another number.
After 20 minutes, I was ready to pull yet another number, as it looked like we were going to be passed by, as the folks in front of us were caught in the same snare as we were: no copies of every page.
Fortunately, Lucy and Darling came back in the nick of time and everything was taken care of--for me.
Evidently, the immigration office had designated myself as the primary beneficiary on the account. Hence, I was all registered and good to go. Lucy? She had to get back in a different line and go through another round of hoops before she got her approval.
Finally, we were approved. But wait, there's another issue: We had to go to the local medical clinic to get our cards (they aren't issued at the main office).
After calling around, we discovered that if we could get to the clinic by noon, we could get the cards. We flew to the clinic and found out that the wife of one of our friends was working there that day, so things went smoothly after that.
Long(er) story short: I now have my card, which is good for 10 years (it's beneficial to be the primary beneficiary) while Lucy's card is good for just 5 years.
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