Jayne Now Has Her Visa!

Friday February 13

I got up early and took a shower, then I woke Jayne up. She didn’t want to get up as she had a bad night’s sleep. We left here about 7.15am and took a taxi to the city. On the way there was a big traffic jam, which must happen every day. I called Sofia to say that we’ll be late and she said ok. She must have been late, too, as she usually is for meetings.

When we arrived we waited for Jayne’s turn, as there were already people there – not many, and those that were there were mostly foreigners. For foreigners that plan to stay in Ecuador for awhile they have to get this form of ID. Many of them do volunteer work which requires a longer stay.

From there, we went to the office were you get you ‘Cedular’. I guess were there about an hour before Jayne got her other ID.

Then we said goodbye to Sofia.

We were just a few blocks from a big mall. So we walked there as we didn’t have breakfast. Jayne didn’t even have a cup of coffee before she left home. We ate in Friday’s Restaurant (which is an American restaurant).

Then we walked around the mall, did some food shopping there and took a taxi home.

Finally, Jayne has all her IDs to live here!

This process took nearly six months from when Jayne got a temporary visa at the Ecuadorian consulate in Columbia. Actually, all of this could have been done sooner. Jayne said it was because Maria said, ‘You still have plenty of time.’ Had I known this at the time I would have said to Maria, “Let’s start the process now!” but with Maria, her motto must be, “If you can wait until tomorrow, don’t do it today.”

I don’t like doing things at the last minute – this is bad business. In the case with a visa, you could incur a fine like I had to pay all because of my lawyer, and the fine is $200. So why take a change of doing things at the last moment, which is what Maria usually have clients do.