Costa Rica Ranked not so good on "ease of doing business

A short summary of the rankings . . .
116th ease of starting a business here aprox wait 60 days
131th getting a building permit take 23 procedures and 191 days!
167th in protecting it's investors!!!
Singapore, Hong Kong, New Zealand, U.K., Denmark and Canada were the top 7

72nd place was panama
117th place nicaragua

So the survey concludes Costa Rica can be a bit of a challenge to do business in.

We have no idea how they came up with the numbers so we decided to take a shot at counting a small part of the process of getting a building permit.  The part is the one where you need to go and retrieve your building map from the "registro" (the place that keeps track of buildings, titles etc) so you can get a permit for the map alteration from the "muni" (the municipality).

I'm pretty sure a building permit doesn't take 23 tramites - it either takes more or less. We started trying to do one about 3 weeks ago (see my other posting today) and still haven't really nailed everything down for the APPLICATION . . . we were told this was a minor permit so it would be a fast track and take a week to get a PERMIT and practically speaking 4 weeks later we are no closer to getting it done.


You need to temper that bit of data with another factoid . . . we are not that interested in getting it done either so it really is of no bother.

As far as counting procedures, JUST the activity at the registro took us the following:

1) Meet the gatekeeper/triage desk who sends EVERYONE to the Stamp line.
2) Go to stamp line, pay for stamps. We needed 6.
3) Observe signs all over registro "No More then 5 Items Will Be Processed" and choose to ignore signs
4) Go to line for the "numero de finca" computer and get your number for the stamp forms acquired in Item 2.
5) Go back to Triage Desk to see how to fill in the Stamp forms (they call them Stamps but they are really forms which is why we had a hard time filling in a "stamp").
6) Get in the really long line to get your maps.

If you send 2 people to the registro you can cut the time in 1/2 by strategically putting one person in the really long line while the other does the rest.

If you send 3 people for the minor fast track permit map acquisition you could cut the time by maybe another 10% because the woman at the numero de finca computer is pretty sharp. Not much gain in this instance but see below if you are unfortunate enough to have 6 items.

If you need 5 stamps and send 2 or 3 people you will be in good shape if you use the Rohrmoser office but no amount of people can crack the Alajuela line.

I'm pretty sure the 5 stamp limit was to avoid people standing in line too long and yelling at citizens with too many tramites. The problem is a tramite in this case has a fixed number - so if you need 6 like we did you have 3 choices:

1) ignore the HUGE signs saying don't do it,
2) send a second person into line (now you need 3 people to do the registro for optimal timing or 4 for fastest possible) or
3) once you have finished the long line and got 5 done go back to the back of the line for the 1 you couldn't get done.

Berni
Observer of Tramites

Some of our guests Favorite Places

Below you will find some places that our guests have recommended you might visit. These visits are based on their own trips and our guests believe you'd better not miss the experience if you are in that particular location. Perhaps some of these activities can enchant you and add to an unforgettable trip when you next come to Costa Rica:

Town	Location	Thing	Summary
Alajuela	Zoo Ave	The animals of course	It’s hard sometimes to tell which animals live in the zoo and which decided to hang around for the ambience.
Arenal	Paraiso Hotel	Zip Lines	Zip lining down at 40 mph over a lush canopy of rain forest and river, what a rush!
Uvita	Hacienda Baru/ Alejandra & Giovani	Don Lulos, Nauyaca Waterfull Tour	Beautifull Waterfull, Wonderfull Family, good food, bargain prices.
Cahuita	Cahuita National Park	Cahuita N.P	The large park with easy trails is a national treasure lots of wildlife too with a large barrier reef to snorkel.  Beautiful beaches, great wildlife, not a lot of people.
Cerro Punta in  Panama	Finca Dracula	Garden and orchid farm	Finca Dracula has a bazillion types of orchid, but the Dracula orchids hybridized at Finca Dracula are the stars. Lovely gardens.
Playa Cocles	El Gato Cicova, C.R. Italian Restaurant	Great restaurant	Food was gourmet Italian in the middle of this crazy jungle town. The music was enchanting. Great service.
Playa Cocles	Shawanda Restaurant	Great restaurant	Great atmosphere, ambience, service and great Food!!
Damas near Quepos		Mangrove Vayaking	Boas, Monkeys(Lots) and a great guide.
Drake Bay	Pirates Cove	Dinner and the park	Natural Food prepared very well. Day trips to Corcovado National Park.
Drake Bay	Elia, the guide	Corcovado National Park	Truly a zoo without bars. Grand Slaw on monkey species, Scarlet Macaws in the wild, anteaters, sloths, the whole menagerie, Sirena Ranger Station.
El Castillo	Linda Vista Lodge	The View	Perfect view of the Arenal Volcano erupting, the lake and more.
La Fortuna	Arenal Volcano Lodge	The hotel	Beautiful grounds with lots of flowers, super-friendly staff, and spotless rooms. Great restaurants and beautiful pools. And to top it off, the price is very reasonable.
La Fortuna	Anywhere in the area	Arenal Volcano at night	The lava flow at night is like fire works tumbling down the mountain!
La Fortuna	Arenal Hanging Bridges/Jose, the tour guide	Hanging Bridges Tour	Make sure you tell your guide what you hope to see so they can do their best to find it. We saw tarantulas, howler monkeys, two eyelash vipers, lots of lizards, a poison dart frog, leaf cutter ants, etc. Even a toucan!!
La Fortuna	Arenal Canopy Tour	Rainforest	Panoramic Lake views.
La Fortuna	1 mile out of town/ask any local teenager	Very Cool Rope Swing- 20ft drop	Some waterfalls (which you can also jump from).  What a blast & a special experience it was to laugh, cheer, and be cheered on by the local kids! It is located just off the small road over the same river that the waterfull in town falls into/creates.
Montezuma	Amor de Mar	Everything	Horse back riding and trip to Tortuga Island.  We rented both houses which are joined by an optional adjoining door at Amor De Mar. It was beyond our belief!!
Near La Fortuna	Arenal	Hanging	Waterfalls, Rivers, great views, beautiful walk. Suspended bridges & the jungle!
Near Sarapiqui	La Selva/ Christian the guide	The nature preserve	Fun guide, jungle walk, paved trails.
Nosara	Lagarta Lodge	The nature preserve	The lodge owns its own nature reserve that you can walk around and spot wildlife, with interesting information about trees and plant life. Sit in their bar and watch the sun set, and you need a car to get to Ostinal to see the turtles.
Ojochal	“Exotica” and “Citrus”	Restaurants in the middle of nowhere	Ojochal was adopted a few years ago by a lot of French Canadians so there are good French Restaurants. “Exotica” is one of the oldest and best. The food is not to be missed , and “Citrus” is so good too.
Puerto Viejo	Sarapiqui	La Selva	Great animals & birds. The scientist in residence were fabulous,  specially with my 8 years old daughter.
Samara		C&C Surf School	The ticos who work at the C&C Surf School are just good old fashioned bums. Good teachers. They also rent surfboards, boogieboards, and kyaks by the hour or day at a very good price.
San Gerardo de Dota	Savegre Mountain Hotel	The Chacon family	Surprisingly comfortable, operated by a family of very gracious people, terrific food, great birdwatching (with and without guide), easy hiking trails a little Shangri-La only 100km south.
Santa Elena/ Monteverde	Arco Iris Hotel / Monteverde	San Juan Coffee Tour	The coffee tour was nicely, informative and the coffee was the best. We also brave the Aventura Zip Line Canopy Tour. The cabins at Arco Iris were beautiful, saw monkeys during breakfast!!
Sarapiqui	Tirimbina Chocolate Tour		Demostration of how they made chocolate in the Mayan times. Interactive, good for kids. Brilliant chocolate!!
Sarapiqui, Tirimbina Rain Forest Center	Cocoa Plantation Tour	Wendy	Interesting and exceptional tour with the wide Wendy.
Tortuguero	Casa Marbella/ Daryl Loth	Seeing green turtles laying eggs	Daryl took us on the turtle tow for $15. It is incredible well managed and the turtles; not the tourist are the main priority. It was magical. Casa Marbella is a great place to stay, right on the river with great views, very comfortable, and the boat tows they run are also fabulous.

Moving to Costa Rica . . . a country at peace

We participate daily in the local gringo message board here Costa Rica Living, anyone is welcome to join if they have an interest in Costa Rica.

There is a caution I must add  . . . as you read the posts, these are opinions and are frequently wrong for various reasons.  For one, new arrivals to Costa Rica have different needs than the old hands.  For another the social climate (as well as the weather) is TOTALLY different in the loosey goosey Zona Sur than in the much more populated and organized Central Valley of Costa Rica.  What works for one rarely works the same for the other.

Here is a pretty good example of 2 perspectives about the exact same stretch of road.  One visitor wanted to know about the road in and out of San Vito close to the Panama border.  It just so happened I had been on that road the previous week . . . I replied:
"The road from the "highway" to San Vito is lovely
although the designer appears to have used a
corkscrew as her/his template . . . Going out the other
side of San Vito is also a nice winding road through
delightful countryside . . ."

Another member of Costa Rica Living then replied with:

"The hiway from Cd.Nielly is windy and uphill (and
dangerous in a rainstorm if you think in those terms)
and the one from the NW is full of potholes in
addition to the beautiful views, just so you know.
(Potholes at least before last Dec.)"

One member thinks the road is lovely and delightful
and another thinks it is potholed and dangerous.
Both views are of course true!

Actually the road looks just like this:

Recently a thread broke out about Costa Rica's lack of interest in war (as demonstrated by the abolition of the military in 1948 due to bad behaviour).  I wanted to share this thinking as the idea is what attracts many to Costa Rica in the first place.

A country at peace with the world.

The conversation started with this thought (obviously from someone who does not yet live here),

Q: "I am wrinkling my eyebrows now at the thought
that CR has no army. Do you really feel safe there?
I mean, there are idealogies that seek to dominate
the world and it seems to me that CR has no way
to defend herself. Don't you feel terribly vulnerable?

"I may have to watch out for the odd snake in the
woods, but am happy for not having to subsidize
a war machine. As it so happens we have already
too many arms with police and guatchiman."

 "Defend herself from whom? Nicaragua, Panama, ... ?
Most countries with military establishments have been
in more wars than CR has."

"I kinda like when this question surfaces.  We don't
have anything that anyone wants here. Neither Panama
nor Nicaragua need more terrain or more campesinos!
We nixed off shore drilling, so no one is going to invade
us for our oil.
We have no enemies since we remain neutral in international
affairs.
Our president Oscar Arias has made a massive effort over
the years to encourage other countries to spend the money
that a military requires on housing, education, medical care
and other things instead of weapons and soldiers. If people
are healthy, happy and reasonably well taken care of, they
don't do revolutions either.
Our need for a military is basically nonexistent. Many of our
neighbors in Central America use their armies to control the
population. We don't need to do that either.
I love that we don\t pay taxes for something we don't need."

"I have to admit to having a huge smile on my face
when I read this question.  Having no army was one
of the major deciding factors in my moving here in the
first place.
We have nothing which anyone else could want to take
and we have education and health-care instead!
What could be better??
I've never felt more safe anywhere."

 "Sorry, but i have a different take on what
could be taken from Costa Rica - and
it is happening now - "economically taken"
from a population made vulnerable by
tv and advertising, mesmerized by an
artificially-created need for owning
"things" that are manufactured and imported
from giant countries with giant armies - take
a guess which - and sold at artificially "cheap"
prices so these giant exporters can maintain
their trade deficits."

"Partially so, because we start to realize that we can either
suffer or master this situation. The solution towards a liveable
future will come from constructive and peaceful agreements
amongst ourselves. I don't have a cristal ball, but do believe
in our common sense (which needs time, like everything else)."

"My view of this is not that CR is a peace loving
nation but one taking advantage of circumstances,
many countries are willing to come to the defense
of CR should it be required, Israel, USA to mention
a few, who needs an army and BTW, what would
call all these uniformed "police" running around in
military uniforms, you tell me, police, military, army?????
Been to CR many times over the past 15 years and
decided there are other places that may be better.
Just check out the former leaders of the country,
where are they? The corruption rivals the USA. "

"Israel? What makes you think they would help Costa
Rica? Not saying you are incorrect but I have never
heard anyone mention any country other than the USA
who would come to the aid of Costa Rica should they
be invaded by a foreign power. I believe China might
but Israel? Can you tell me why you think Israel would?"

"God forbid that the Israeli Army ever shows up here...
I was in Israel in October.
There was a scuffle in Jerusalem so the army flew
maneuvers all around it's borders. Showing the neighbors
that they were serious, I suppose. But they also flew
maneuvers over all the 5 star hotels at the Dead Sea.
All day.  Flying lower than anything I ever seen outside
of an airplane Show. It was unnerving. It was loud.
It was unneccessary.
I seriously doubt than anyone will ever need to defend
us as there is no one to defend us from unless we change
the policy on offshore drilling. In whch case it is more likely
that the US would protect it's interests here. Because it has
been US companies that have shown an interest in our oil
and no one else to my knowledge.
They might actually have to if the problem were a takeover
for oil. But since we don't drill for oil here the likelihood is
about zero, maybe less.  Actually studies have been done
that show that most armies are used in part or wholly to
keep the citizens under control. Only a few large developed
countries send their soldiers to wars outside of their borders.
Far fewer than you might think."

 "I can think of one reason CR may need defense in
the future (if they can get serious about protecting its
most valuable resources). With the way the rest of
the world is going, clean water and oxygen may
become the most desirable things around.
Anyone for a fly fishing trip in the Aral Sea?"

 "Let me see if I have this correct, some country, such
as china were to take over Costa Rica they would respect 
the no exploration for oil in the coastal waters of CR????
I think not, they would begin exploration before you cloud
say jack rabbit, they are oil hungry, perhaps that may be part
of the reason they are courting CR now, hummmmn.
Fly fishing in the Aral Sea would be very successful, you
would be abuzz with success."

"Nope, I think IF some country took over there would
be no respect for anything (and especially if you already
built the refinery). But I just do not think the IF is likely.
Logistically it would be just too difficult for a distant nation
to accomplish it through invasion, would have to be done
from within. So IF the government wants to give the country
away, I am not sure that is the same as being taken over?
You get my drift.Either way, the kind of "taking over" that
could befall CR would not be defensible by an army. It
would likely require a civil militia, or an outraged population
at the voting booth. Or maybe just families preserving a
culture. Just my humble and maybe wishful opinion."

 "Um for the life of me I can't see why any country,
least of all China, would take over CR in 2010?
In a world of city states (lets say circa 1456 a.d.) there
was a great need to accumulate more cities and
territories in part because a city state was non viable and
needed some economies of scale, room to graze more
cows, a cute queen to attract and perhaps additional
slaves or something else they coveted.
Nobody takes over other countries any more (well
ALMOST nobody). Its truly passe, makes a mess of
the local landmarks and pisses off the neighbors.
Figueres was a very bright guy and got that all figured
out in 1948.

IMHO of course.
p.s. if my reading of the history is accurate, the total
layoffs as a result of disbanding the army and turning
the barracks into a cultural icon (I love that guys
style!) . . . was about 450 guys out of work. It wasn't
that big a job, but a distinct message to the future.
Correct me if I'm wrong on the numbers?"

PHOTO CREDITS:
All - PuraVidaHotel.com

1. Giant Cane Toad (AKA Bufo Marinus): more dangerous than the former Costa Rican military, this one found in the Pura Vida garden, about the size of a bread plate
2. Cute little 2 toed sloths, native to the southern Caribbean zone of Costa Rica . . . the mother may have been electrocuted as sloths sometimes can't tell a high tension cable from something pleasant to climb on
3. A map of the rea around San Vito, just north of the Panama border, check out the corkscrew road design.  This is also the road to the most excellent Wilson Botanical Gardens.  The Wilsons are buried there too.
4. Downtown Alajuela, our home town . . . though this is the second largest town in Costa Rica many of the locals do not use much from the so called developed world . . . supermarkets being one.  Many shop at the "underground" mercado central and the weekly Plaza Ferias (farmers market).
5. This is Lola the pig and unofficial mascot of the delightful Playa Avellanas - she is one contented and enormous pig (and lives at one of our favorite beaches).
6. The afternoon clouds mass in Alajuela near the Pura Vida Hotel
7. The Rhino beetle and its kin.
8. All of Costa Rica might, by some be considered a political backwater despite healthcare for all, no army and one of the hot spots on the planet for longevity.
9. Yes the U.S. built some bridges here as part of an effort to make sure the Panama Canal would be accessible by road in the event of who knows what . . .
10. The last real invasion attempt into Costa Rica was oddly enough managed by an American, William Walker in 1856
11. A delightful caterpillar.
12. A plaque commemorating the Costa Rican uprising that responded to the invasion with a campesino army of 5,000 . . . more people died in this war from yellow fever than from bullets.
13.  Lichen growing happily on a log, just the way things should be in the neo-tropics.

"The Document"

This one was triggered by some grumbles about the advanced state of the bureaucracies of Costa Rica.

As it was once explained to me, the reason there seem to be so many bureaucracies is that often when a problem becomes insurmountable or intractable (words that mean exactly the same to a bureaucracy) then it is time to do something different! The solution may be to form a new bureaucracy to study and solve the problem. Unfortunately the new bureaucracy may be formed under or reporting to the bureaucracy that couldn't solve it the first time with perhaps members of the original bureaucracy hired in for the purpose committed to a new solution to the problem they couldn't previously fix. Hey that's just how someone explained it to me :-)

The bureaucracy though can be a great deal of fun . . . I'd publish the complete tale of our last experience getting a permit renewal except we are not DONE yet . . . we are missing a "required document".

We are also now missing one more piece of paper that essentially is a permission not to have the "required document" because the agency responsible does not know where it is. I believe part of the problem is that the Municipality is in a temporary building after the January earthquake and keep records now in places that are not accessible or not well known at least. Weirdly enough the 4th floor (where the records used to live) was the most damaged in the quake.

Before we can have such permission we need a document that proves we can legally represent the entity that needs the document. When we started the process we had such a document drawn up by our lawyer with lots of nice stamps on it. BUT this document was given already to the original agency who is granting the permit. Copies are no good (heck, no stamps) so we need to go to San Jose to get another one with proper stampage.

Since we have only been working on this for 5 weeks, I can't be sure we are done but I'm pretty certain we will be OK with the permission not to have "the document" we needed once we have the document that proves who we are and are thus worthy of such permission.

We reached this condition a few days ago. We had all this explained by the people on the Third Floor but now have to explain it all again to the people on the First Floor of the new temporary Muni building. We decided to take a break from the process after showing up in a line that said in Spanish, "no more than 3 tramites in this line". I said to my wife, there's no way this is less than 3 tramites jejeje (Spanglish for "hehehe chuckl chuckl"). At that moment the clock struck 5pm and all the Muni workers scurried for the time clock.

When we finally got to the right line a few days later at the Muni to ask for the letter that says they don't have the document, the desk person politely informed us we'd need to write them a letter to request the letter saying the document could not be produced.

So we left guffawing all the way home and made an important decision.  We'd go to the original agency and explain the story just recounted and try to get them to do without "the document".  Well, to our surprise it worked!

And you could not invent such scenarios (well actually Terry Gilliam did in "Brazil") :-)and then this is Costa Rica and not to be taken all too seriously eh?

p.s. little known factoid: it seems the huge new BCR migracion computer may be nothing more than a front end for a filing clerk who still retrieves the same old green folder . . .

"I thought I made an appointment by computer?"
"Yes you did. Good morning."
"Is there a problem?"
"Well yes, we can't find your file. Can you come back tomorrow?"

p.p.s.
Full employment . . .

"Sir, you are missing a stamp on the document." (the one that proves who we are)
"Do you need a stamp?"
"NO, you do."
"How much is it?
"300 colones." (or 60 cents US)
"Could we get it from you?"
"NO, you walk across the street to the old guy with the umbrella up against the metal railing."
"Can you point him out to me?
"Of course."

p.p.p.s.
Meet your neighbors . . .

"Can we wait here?"
"No, please sit over there. I will call you when I am ready."
Official has a stack of maybe 700 pages he is routing through and looks like he may get to us around the second coming. He seats us among a large crowd of applicants.
"How does he know which of us is next?"
Shrugs and sighs then opens very large book "For the Love of Insects" by the marvelous and empirical Thomas Eisner.
Some time later.
"OK, you are ready. Please go in this door."
"Hola Carlos, how are you! I never knew you worked here!"
(Carlos is our next door neighbor)