One quirk. . .

About getting married in Costa Rica. . . Since we did a civil ceremony, and had to sign the protocol de registrio, we had to agree to obey the laws of Costa Rica.

Not a problem.

Naturally, the laws were written a long time ago, and the lawyer actually apologized a bit as he was reading us the legal-ese in Spanish.

Highlights (or lowlights):

**The man agrees to bring home the dinero and bacon and to take care of the lady and manage the finances;

**The wife agrees to keep the house and the kids;

We did ask if we could substitute kids for pooches (Mini, Akila and Coquita) and the lawyer informed us that it was not possible.

Considering that the editorial department would be lost without the art department's aid in the finances, we have already broken the law and are getting a feel for living life on the lam!

Getting hitched. . . again. . .

For those in the know, this is No. 3 for the editorial department. . . and No. 2 for the art department.

Because of a quirk in the Costa Rican legal system, we got hitched again. Why?

Long story, though here is the gist:

Lucy's health insurance is linked to the editorial department, as we are both permanent residents of Costa Rica (like a green card in the States).

HOWEVER, in order for Lucy to renew her carnet (Costa Rica insurance) we had to show proof of marriage.

No problem, as we had the translated license from the U.S. from 2005 that we used to get our residency.

HOWEVER, in order for Lucy to be covered, the license from the States that we have is no longer valid. Meaning, we would have to fly back to California, get a copy of the original license, take it to the Costa Rican consulate (Los Angeles), have it translated and back in the hands of Costa Rican immigration--all within a time frame of 30 days, or else the whole process would need to be done again.

HOWEVER, if we were to do the hitchin' down here (like hundreds of other ex-pats); then we would not have to jump through all of the hoops.

So, we contacted a lawyer friend of ours, who knew a lawyer who does the hitchin', and we tied the knot once again.

The parents of the editorial department wanted to know why we were wearing black at the second hitchin'. Fill in the blanks with comments below.

So, the second hitchin' took place on September 29, though the official second hitchin' will be October 1, our 11th anniversary and there will be a hootenanny at the hotel.