Today, this morning in fact, I get to finally do something I have been waiting a long long time to do….pick up my permanent Costa Rican residency card, or “cedula” in local vernacular.  If you have followed this blog for a while, you may have noted that achieving the “holy grail” of residency has been an ongoing battle for me.  I must say the latest and successful attempt at getting the “perpetual tourist” monkey off my back has gone remarkably smooth.  I found what I consider to be the best and most honest attorney, Doña Elizabeth.  Any of you out there who are attempting residency, call me and I’ll point you in her direction.  She actually knows what she is doing, which judging from my experience with other attorneys here, is saying a lot.  I will miss those “border runs” to Nicaragua.  I made a lot of friends there and I will return, but not as frequently as before.  What I won’t miss is the recurring anxiety of having to renew my passport under threat of deportation.  That was not a good feeling and I am sure there are some other “perpetual tourists” out there who would agree.  To have dug in vulnerable roots that are always exposed to the sharp axe of the Direccion General de Migracion y Extranjeria is not the peaceful feeling one hopes for in paradise.  But all that changes today!  I plan to celebrate tonight an event that has been too long in coming. An event that seals the deal as far as my presence in this country is concerned.  I never have held any aspirations to leave.  That idea is just not tarrying in my tarots.  Costa Rica is my home and has been for quite a while….but now it’s official!  I am a proud gringo-tico with plastic to prove it.

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