Paperwork and processes

Yesterday we headed down to the office where foreigners have to renew their registration with the government. We had all our paperwork in order. Graham left the house at 6:45 in the morning to get a number in the line (the office opens at 8:00). He was able to get ticket numbers 502-505. Fortunately, the series started at 500. A few minutes before 8:00 Sharon and the girls arrived. We thought we were in good shape.

It turns out that the part of the office that handles this paperwork didn't start working (for whatever reason) until about 8:15 or so. They called "500." The first guy goes up. He doesn't have all his paperwork correct, so he leaves. "501." A young mother goes up. She waits. And waits. And an hour later, is still waiting. The natives are restless. The young man behind the counter is on the phone with his supervisor, unable to get the computer to accept the inputed information. Finally, it works. Now it won't print. More phone calls. A visit from a co-worker. Finally, the documents (called a censo) print.

Meanwhile, an hour and 25 minutes has gone by. Everyone is restless. This is supposed to be a 10 minute procedure. The young man behind the counter is flustered. And then a lady who does not have a ticket tries to jump into the line. You can imagine how that was accepted. (In case you can't - it wasn't!! Lots of raised voices and yelling between the others in line and this lady).

Our turn. Graham gives our documents to the young man, and he announces "You are in the system twice. You have to go to another office on Monday to fix that, then come back." Sigh.

Fortunately, Sharon and the girls are not duplicated in the system, so they proceed to get their new censos and a second document called a "salida" (a document confirms you have Police permission to leave the country). You can't get a salida without a censo.

But not everything is bad . . . in the mall across the street there is a Baskin & Robbins. We head over there and have ice cream to celebrate the partial victory. On Monday Graham goes to the other office to start the process of getting the duplicate entry erased from the computer system. Then you have to wait 24 hours for the system to be purged. On Tuesday he can go back and try to get his censo and salida again. We'll keep you posted!