It is now Miercoles (m yairkol es), Wednesday.
A quick pit stop in the condo, coming from Migracion, and heading to the gym soon. Mi comida was grilled pan con queso Americano. Grilled cheese sandwich.
This morning was a typical bureaucratic situation. We got to Migracion at 9am only to be told that due to this:
the boss was not there and wouldn’t be back for maybe 2 hours. We got this info first from the guard on duty (we realized later he was in charge of keeping the doors locked and making sure everyone signed in and out on the ledger) and then from Diego who speaks some Ingles.
We decided to wait as we would be first in line and it was a good thing as there were some 10 people waiting once we were all done…and only 3 peeps taking care of business.
While we waited, we people watched and were obviously being watched as well. The cruise peeps had left the ship, walked down the pier and were now entering Santa Cruz. There were a lot of older people…Velcro shoes galore…and this one lady stops and says to us “enjoy your life now as you may end up in a group like this” as she points to this group of people being led like cattle to their buses etc. We howled.
And a little later a couple from Palm Springs chatted us up. My favorite question from the lady was “you can drive here from the States? We are connected?”. Lol They were fun and enjoyed the ribbing they took…is Vancouver cold yet? No, we are still basking in the glow of beating the USA in the gold medal game in Olympic hockey was my answer. And of course my “why do Canadians say eh? Because it sounds better then huh” joke always makes them laugh.
I had them frozen for a minute as the gentleman explained he used to live outside Nogales AZ, on a golf course, and every night they would see immigration helicopters zooming over head…capturing illegal immigrants and sending them back to Mexico. I asked if they knew why the Mexicans came across at night and they looked at me and said no. With a straight face I said “to play golf as the course is empty at night”…they looked at me, then each other and laughed while saying “we don’t need to put up with this”. They appreciated the humor.
We saw a big electrical explosion from the navy barracks…didn’t seem to phase them, and then we were told it would be better for us to wait for the Migracian officers on the other side of the building. So we moved and talked up a few more cruisers. Bex says that this Italian guy keeps coming out…or at least for some reason I use an Italian accent when I start talking to strangers. Bizarre.
Here is a photo of the umbrella some tourist paid $15 US to rent on the playa:
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| nice condition eh? |
1115am and the 3 Migracion peeps walk by and say Buenos Dias to us, as they seem to have been told we would be there. Our official was the boss, I think, and her name was Sandra Gonzales Millan or a combination of those names. She speaks Ingles and we continue to try Espanol.
She asks what we want and we say Forma de No Immigrante, which is a one year visa and replaces what was known as the FM3. We hand over the passports and the tourist cards we have and then they start talking in Spanish and it does not look good.
“Did you have your passports when you drove down? Why do you not have a stamp in your passports?”. Argh. In Nogales Mexico, they had stamped the tourist card, but not the passport. Issue numero uno.
They check to see if the tourist card is legit and then I bring out the receipt for the pesos we had paid for the card. That helped prove the cards were real, even though they both had official stamps on the back of them.
We were then told we needed to do the EXACT same steps we had done in Vancouver when we applied and received our visa.
One, new photos (smaller then the ones needed but not used in the Mexican consulate in Van…new size is called infantile…child’s size), with one being face on and one being the right profile. No glasses or jewellery allowed.
Two, banking info for the past 3 months. To emigrate, you need to prove you have $1000 US/month available to you.
And on top of that, we need a letter in Espanol explaining why we did not have stamps in our passport and one asking to change our status from tourist to the FNI.
Oh yeah, and photo copies of every page in our passports.
I asked why this was necessary if we had done this in Vancouver to get the visas, and the answer was typical…we need a file in case Mexico City asks for it. She then mentioned that the Consul and Migracion are different offices, until I pull out the receipt for the visas and show her the letter head has both Migracion and Counsul on it.
Now she is confused and makes a phone call. The out come of the call…nothing changes. The positive? She is friendly and actually types out the two letters for us.
What are we left with to do? The photos, banking info, photocopies of passport (used the printer at home) and some form we need to either fill out on line, or print and fill out. If we cannot understand it, she will assist and we are to return manana at 9am. Feel free to look up this website…www.inami.gob.mx and click on the iconos (complete rip off of icon) “estancia canje”. Good luck!!
That all took us to 1230pm and thus, we will go about our day and work on the photos etc later this afternoon.
So, you are caught up for the day. Off to the gym.
Adios.
UPDATE
520pm…getting ready to head out. Returning from the gym, I saw this artisan:
He had pulled up and was showing/selling his work. Interesting stuff.
I wanted to mention that with a low annual income for the working class (minimum wage is $5/day…yes a day), we have not seen one beggar. Everyone seems to find his or her own ways to make money. There is the guy roasting chestnuts, a street meat cart with good looking burgers and a long line up of taxi drivers and locals, a guy today was walking around trying to sell balloons and such for kids, there are ladies that sell their own fresh baked goods on street corners, I saw a guy selling new running shoes (in old boxes?) out of the back of a pick up….etc.
My point? Before we left, we could not walk one block on Robson Street without seeing a beggar or being asked for our spare change. I cannot speak for other cities or the country of Mexico, but what ever they have done, it works here in this city.
We did not hit the plasticos yesterday, so today we look for a beach umbrella, the table, a small container for my hand sanitizer (cleanliness first at the gym!!) and some more work out towels (at 20 pesos each).
Then we try for the photos and printing off our banking info for Migracion.
Dinner? One left over burrito and Padre’s favorite…quesadilla con chorizo y queso.
Until manana.
Saludos
UPDATE 2
Bought 4 more towels at the store, did not find a sturdy table so we have asked Roman if he can get one made, and found a beach umbrella for $300 pesos...need to think about that. Expensive but the cost of living in a one umbrella store town!!
First photo store only sold equipment...he gave us directions to a store that may help. Two blocks from the town square...seems like everything is always 2 blocks from the town square.
Hasta
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