The trip to San José to import our car into Costa Rica couldn’t be all fun and games and breweries! We were on a mission! So bright and early the next morning we checked out of our hotel and drove to the warehouse to meet the man, the myth, the legend: Nestor.
As a reminder, Nestor came to us on a high recommendation from TJ, the brewer, so you know he had to be good! Nestor is an import agent, meaning he spends his days helping gringos like us who know nothing about importing goods. That is why he was so good at explaining every step of the process to us!
Our buddy Nestor! 
Nestor making copies. As Nestor says, “Costa Rica loves papers!”
Once Nestor made copies of our relevant paperwork – Jeep title, Temporary Import Permit (TIP), passport, etc. – he kindly gave us a tour of the warehouse. It was awesome! The warehouse was full of boxes of goods. Some belonged to individuals who were moving to Costa Rica, who had their belongings shipped in; some were business products that they had imported. It was quite the storage operation!
Then Nestor showed us the “holding” area – where boxes were held that were inspected and then deemed unable to be imported. Nestor said that there were lots of reasons for this, but that the boxes could be held there for months!
After our personal tour, the three of us went to a back office, where they cancelled our TIP. This was step one in starting Chivo’s import. After that was cancelled, Nestor wrote and printed a letter for us that we would have to take to the Aduana, or Customs office.
Before leaving the warehouse, we walked around the Jeep, making note of mileage, making sure our belongings were cleared out, and giving it a final once-over. Nestor then took the keys and we said goodbye to Chivo!
As the three of us piled into Nestor’s car for the ride to the Aduana, he kindly gave us a snack of jocote – a delicious fruit that tasted like a cross between a plum and a tart peach! See? I told you he was the best!
Step 2… get ready to wait…
Once we arrived at the Aduana, Nikk and I prepared ourselves for the long wait. Nestor had warned us that this part of the process could take a few hours. He went with Nikk up to the desk to assist in getting us checked in, while I picked out a seat in the (thankfully air-conditioned) waiting area.
The entrance to the Customs offices. 
The guys at the desk.
The two guys came back to where I was sitting and said that they were told we had to wait for the right employee to come back from her break. Turns out bureaucracy looks the same in every country. So while we sat, we chatted and got to know Nestor more and talked about the crazy “rednecks” he’s had to deal with. The guy had some hilarious stories!
After about 10 minutes, the young woman returned from her break and Nikk and Nestor went back to the desk. Another couple of minutes went by and, to my surprise, they came back and said we were just about done! All we had to do was walk over to another window to get a stamp, and we’d be all set!
What the heck?!?! How is it that the giant wait just got cut down to about 20 minutes? I started looking for hidden cameras, as I was sure we just got punked. This must be a Costa Rican joke… but nope! We were done! Miracles do happen!
Nestor kindly offered to drive us to the rental car pick-up place, and even offered to give us a tour of Alajuela. We had taken enough of his time, though, so we just headed to pick up the rental car.
A Gringo’s Guide to Extra Time in San José
After picking up our rental car, we did what any gringo does when in San José… headed to Starbucks!! I know, I know…. you’re all judging us hardcore right now. Costa Rica has some of the best coffee in the world, but when a girl is craving a non-fat vanilla latte from Starbs, nothing else will do. It was my first one in three months! And oh boy was it delicious.
So here we were, in San José, with a whole host of extra time on our hands. What to do? Suddenly it came to me – there’s a Starbucks Coffee Farm in Costa Rica… I wonder how close it is to us… it’s only 20 minutes away?… it’s open and has tours going today?… sounds like we have our plan for the day! Impromptu gringo tourist attraction!
Quick disclaimer: there is a lot of controversy around Starbucks’ practices and their presence in Costa Rica. For the most part, Nikk and I try to buy more local, traditional Costa Rican coffee brands. But this was definitely a fun, glossy, over-simplified tour of what a giant coffee farm does. We definitely understand that this place was not a traditional coffee farm and that their practices have room for improvement. Don’t yell at us.
Off we set in our dinky little rental car up the mountain to the Alsacia Farm. The drive up was beautiful, but it paled in comparison to the farm grounds. Wow. It was breathtaking. Get ready for picture overload!
The view of the city as we drove up the mountain. 
I think we’re in the right place! 
The front desk. 
The hills of the coffee farm, and their gorgeous waterfall.
We purchased the guided tour and it was so cool! We learned all about the farm itself, how coffee is grown, harvested, and prepared for roasting, and how to properly taste coffee. I took about one million pictures that day, so here is fun smattering.
A succulent-plant globe – very cool. The green dots on Africa are where Starbucks coffee is sourced. 
Amazing murals everywhere. This one is for you Mom B. 
The start of coffee! Just wait about 10 years and you’ll have some coffee! 
Searching for the red coffee cherries! 
The coffee beans just removed from a coffee cherry. 
Another cool mural. 
This is his “hunting for coffee beans” face. 
Abuela mural. 
Roasting coffee beans. You wish you had smell-o-Internet for this one! 
Our tour guide teaching us how to taste coffee. 
Cheers! Tasty!
Before we left, we bought a ridiculously-overpriced (even for Starbucks’ standards) bag of coffee and enjoyed a beautiful Costa Rican downpour as we walked to our car. It was a super cool way to spend our day before we headed back to the coast!
An update…
So guess what?! I am not good at writing blog posts in a timely fashion. Weird right? So pretend you’re in the TARDIS (time machine for those non-Doctor fans) and fast forward five weeks… Chivo is home!
That’s right! Last week we took another trip up to San Jose to meet Nestor at the warehouse and pick up our beloved Chivo. He was looking good with his fancy new plates!
Nestor took care of all of our paperwork to get Chivo through Aduana, get his technical inspection, get all the paperwork signed and stamped, and get him registered as a Costa Rican vehicle. All we had to do was sign him out of the warehouse and pay our final invoice.
We spent an extra day in San Jose to take care of a couple of big city things: getting Chivo’s oil changed, dropping off the MacBook to replace the recalled battery, and picking up some concert tickets for next month. We also tried to go to three different breweries and struck out all three times. Oh well… you know we managed to find some good food and drink places, so don’t you worry! We had our share!
Your burning questions
So that’s it for Chivo’s Grand Adventure! Was it easy? Yeah, compared to most things, it sure was, but that’s because we had a Nestor. If you are thinking about importing a car into Costa Rica, you should definitely get a good, trustworthy import agent like Nestor. His service and knowledge were absolutely invaluable. Was it expensive? Yes. No question. Was it worth it? If you love your car, if it is reliable, and if you’re willing to swallow the tax cost to import it, absolutely. Chivo is part of our identity. We love being Jeep people and couldn’t imagine making this journey without him. So for us, it was worth it.
And now that we have our wheels back, we can get back to adventuring around this beautiful country! Be on the lookout for some fun posts in the coming months as we do some awesome touristy stuff. We’re having our first visitor from the States and we have a jam-packed tourist schedule, so there will be lots to report. Until then, take care of yourself and do something amazing today!
One response to “Importing Chivo – Part Three: The Finale!”
Great adventure and excellent reporting.