El Registro Civil

Above: The civil registry, or big government building in downtown San Jose.

After 5 visits, hours of waiting, and lots of bad Spanish, we finally have Ellie’s official Costa Rica birth certificate. One interesting thing about it is that all children here have two last names, and so Ellie’s official name is Nancy Eliot McCann Wall (Wall is Lindsey’s maiden name.) We’re going to the US Embassy tomorrow, and we’re hoping this little name difference won’t be a problem.

One interesting anecdote, 2 of our 5 visits to the office resulted in us being turned down at the front door. The first was because we arrived at 3:15, and the office closes at 3 (turns out official business hours here are 7-3, instead of 9-5 in the states.) The second time, the president of China was in town for some business, so they closed down this huge government building and all the offices in it. Go figure.

All that to say, Step One is down in getting Ellie’s paper work to leave the county is completed (Costa Rican birth certificate), Step Two (US Passport) starts tomorrow at the US Embassy, while Step Three (permission to take a Costa Rican minor out of the country) starts some time next week.