the cadys

I Guess "Red Tape" Translates, After All

Talk about eating one's words. We met at the immigration office yesterday a couple minutes before 3:45, having seen the sign that says they're open from 2:30 to 5:30. [Francois wanted to meet earlier, but I insisted on a nap for S and thought this would be plenty of time. Turns out I was wrong, by, say, at least FOUR HOURS????] There was no line, and the man behind the desk was obviously relaxing and talking with another person. F explained that we were tourists and were there to turn in our papers, which was met with "Yes, well, you're a little late." Huh? He keeps telling us that he has finished all his numbers, or some such thing, and that we'll have to come back tomorrow at 2:30. We're concerned about the time period in which we're supposed to complete this, and he claims it's no big deal; just tell the person tomorrow that we came but his numbers were finished. On the way out the door, a couple tell us that 2:30 is way too late, this is the second day they tried and failed, and the queue starts as early as 9 am.

So, basically, the guy was sitting there doing nothing, the sign says he's open for almost 2 more hours, we have everything in order, and still got nothing accomplished. What's worse, the folks at the clinic were kind enough to inform F of the public transportation strike yesterday evening from 6 to 9, so there was no point in his going back to work, because he'd only have 20 min. or so before he'd have to leave again to avoid being stranded. Incredible.

Anyway, we're so frustrated that it's this difficult to bring revenue into the country last night that we do even more research and decide that maybe the first person we talked to gave us the wrong papers, and that what we need to do is much simpler. S and I found a much closer police office this morning and I talked w/ two officers outside (who didn't know english) and we communicated well enough that I found out we unfortunately still have to go to that same office, but the word we should use is registrare, and that we don't need the papers we had been given to fill out.

Did I mention that all this would have been done for us if we stayed in a hotel? Mama mia!