Yes, I know, I know: it\u2019s been a while. You all thought I
\nbecame discouraged and quit blogging. Surprise! I\u2019m back and even more inspired
\nthan before (and have a deep understanding on a personal level of why our
\nConstitution is so great and worthy of preserving.)<\/p>\n
I didn\u2019t mean to quit blogging for almost half a year. I
\nkept meaning to do it, but other things just kept me away. I\u2019ve had a crazy six
\nmonths, but what has happened only gave me more fodder for my political rants.
\nI\u2019m going to start my comeback to blogging by telling the tale in a few installments.
\nIf it feels like what I\u2019m writing has nothing to do with American politics, I
\npromise that at the end I have a very real point to make when I tie it all
\ntogether.<\/p>\n
You see, my husband and I got some silly ideas into our
\nheads that we wanted to MOVE to Nicaragua and start some businesses there.
\nWell, the ideas weren\u2019t quite so silly; we did end up with a good business
\n(more on that later.) But we never imagined the epic adventure (or
\nmisadventure) on which we would end up embarking.<\/p>\n
Let me start at the beginning, so this doesn\u2019t sound so completely
\nout there (and I promise this all ties into politics in the USA.) We were
\nliving in California with its ridiculously high taxes and its welfare state,
\nand decided to flee the state like most income producers that don\u2019t want to put
\nup with being robbed of their hard-earned money. As some of you may know, I am
\na first generation American with most of my family (parents, sibling) still
\nliving in Nicaragua. Anyway, there were some really good opportunities to
\ninvest in hydroelectric and wind power plants there according to the Nicaraguan
\ngovernment\u2019s \u201ccome invest here arm\u201d, Pro-Nicaragua. Since my husband and I have
\nextensive experience in energy, finance, and environmental engineering, and we
\nhave the contacts to build projects such as these that the country desperately
\nneeds to quit relying on Venezuelan oil, we thought, \u201cHey! This could work if
\nwe went there and developed some stuff.\u201d With my family\u2019s contacts to boot, we
\nhad a really good \u201cin\u201d to make it happen. Heh, heh\u2026or so we thought.<\/p>\n
Without going too far into details, an energy deal required
\nfour aspects: government cooperation, an agreement with the local energy
\ndistributor called a PPA (Purchase Power Agreement) that ensures that they will
\nbuy your energy, financing for the project, and a contractor to build the
\nthing. These aspects are all like a chicken-and-egg thing. The bank won\u2019t
\nfinance the project unless you have the other three, the government won\u2019t
\ncooperate unless you have a builder and financing, the builder won\u2019t talk to
\nyou unless you have financing and a PPA, and so forth. In our case, however,
\nthese weren\u2019t so far-fetched because we were supposed to have government
\ncooperation and a PPA already worked out through our contacts and as a result
\nof previous meetings with key officials including President Ortega (the key
\nword here being \u201csupposed.\u201d)<\/p>\n
In addition to the energy project, we also started another
\nbusiness that consisted of a website designed to find household jobs for
\ndomestic workers (maids, nannies, etc.)<\/p>\n
So, we gave our 30 days notice and started packing for our
\nexciting trip. We used a freight forwarder to ship our stuff and our two cars
\nto Nicaragua, and made our travel plans. Here is where the fun began.<\/p>\n
You see, I am a dual citizen who can take advantage of a
\nspecial law in Nicaragua that allows Nicaraguans who have been abroad to import
\ntheir household goods and one car, duty free. So naturally we decided to ship
\neverything in my name, as known by the Nicaraguan government, which includes my
\nmother\u2019s maiden name as part of my last name.
\nOf course, in the USA I am known officially by my married name. Keep
\nthis in mind for the hijinks that ensue later in my story. Anyway, my husband
\nhad to sign over the vehicle titles to me for the Nicaraguan government to
\naccept the vehicles. American customs posed no issued on the way out (why would
\nthey?) so it was time to focus on making sure I could get our stuff into
\nNicaragua.<\/p>\n
My father in Nicaragua located a customs broker to help us
\nthough the process and I started researching the requirements for being able to
\nimport my stuff duty free. The customs broker, who works with the Miami
\nconsulate, informed me that I needed to provide proof that I had been outside
\nNicaragua for five years. Ok, no problem. I looked on the website for the Miami
\nconsulate and it seemed to match what she said. Then out of curiosity, since my
\nthings were leaving out of California, I checked the website for the San
\nFrancisco consulate. They said 3 years. Los Angeles said 2 years. Ok, strange,
\nbut none of these were a problem. Then I called the Miami consulate (where I
\nhad a contact) and was informed that I needed to have been abroad for 10 years.
\nHuh??? Which was it? I told them that the person in Nicaragua, their website,
\nand 2 other websites all said different.<\/p>\n
Well, 10 years is kind of hard to prove, and now the bureaucrats
\nwere insisting that was the requirement regardless of what the law stated. I
\nwas stuck. I had five years worth of tax returns but nothing before that except\u2026.college
\ntranscripts! Um, those were already packed and on the ocean. Never fear,
\nthough, because then the customs broker said that the consulate changed their minds
\nand said I could provide 5 years of proof instead. Oh, and could I wire $1500
\nfor her services? Um. Little did I know that this was just the beginning\u2026<\/p>\n
My adventures with customs don\u2019t end here, but I\u2019ll wrap it
\nup for today. Before I go, I\u2019ll leave you with a thought and a question: Nicaragua
\nis not unique in this, not by far. How many times have you encountered a
\ngovernment official here in the USA who is making arbitrary decisions about
\nyour life, and you powerless to stop them?<\/p>\n
See you next time!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Yes, I know, I know: it\u2019s been a while. You all thought I became discouraged and quit blogging. Surprise! I\u2019m back and even more inspired than before (and have a deep understanding on a personal level of why our Constitution … Continue reading