Today I am starting to feel like I’m in limbo again, waiting for our stuff to get out of customs. I can’t start a lot of my work without much of my equipment, which is still in the container. We are also paying rent for our house which is sitting empty, and has been for the past ten days. And while the food is good and the accomodations comfortable at my in-laws, it will be a real treat to cook again with my own pans and ingredients, sleep in my own bed, and give the kids their own rooms. We got the report on the container inspection over a week ago; they opened over 100 boxes and everything was declared in order, so no problems there. Just hope that nothing has gone missing in the container, as things sometimes do.
Over a week ago our stuff was supposed to be released from customs in Guayaquil and sent up here. The moving agent here, who has been exceptional at keeping us updated and unfailingly polite, had told us we would surely have our stuff out by the 9th of June. The 9th came and went, it was supposed to come next Monday. The paperwork still wasn’t finished to release it. Then Thursday last week it was supposed to be released, but someone in customs made a mistake with my wife’s passport number or some other piece of data. It was not a simple matter of correcting the mistake, but redoing all the paperwork and resubmitting for signature to the head of customs. And it takes at least 24 hours to get his signature.
Maria called the agent this afternoon, and he gave us the good news that, barring an act of God, the container should be delivered tomorrow morning. It’s currently waiting to be loaded onto a truck in Guayaquil and shipped up here, which will take overnight.
$5-3 Pirated DVDs of recent movie releases
$20-130 minute monthly cell phone plan
$2-Taxi Ride approx. 3 miles
$1-Single Scoop Ice Cream at fancy ice cream shop
50 cents-cheap ice cream
$30-teeth cleaning
$70-Bonding Repairs on two teeth
$500-One month’s rent for decent suite in Quito
$115-One month’s rent for large apartment (2BR+) in small town outside Quito
Maria called an attorney today that advertised he did immigration law. When she got on the phone and explained our case, he said “I’ve never done that, but I can read the law and help you. Just come here and tell me what to do.” We decided we would stick with the attorney her family knows.
One of the requirements for my visa is a medical exam. Supposedly the Red Cross would do it for me. I went this morning with Maria’s father. I asked at the information desk about having the exam done as well as the necessary HIV test. The lady told me go to another window. I explained again what I needed and she told me to go upstairs. I went upstairs and the lady upstairs told me they only do the HIV test, nothing else, and that I should go back downstairs and pay the required fee. I did, got the test, and left.
We then went downtown so I could pay a fee to the Department of Defense that is required to get the visa. What this fee is for or why it is required nobody can really explain. So I arrived at the information window that is for the public and explained I needed to pay a fee. The official told me that I could only pay the fee if I had a national ID card and a receipt from the Census. You have to register with this Census as a way for the government to keep track of the number of foreigners living in the country. But you can’t do any of this without first having your visa in hand. This I explained. “Asi es,” was the reply. “So it is.” So many things defy logic yet nobody seems to either recognize this fact, or care that there is no logical explanation.
Later we checked with the attorney about these two issues, and he was surprised to hear that the Red Cross would no longer do the medical exam, and also surprised to hear that the Ministry of Defense would not allow me to make a payment. One regular feature of life here is that rules and regulations seem to change arbitrarily from day to day and from person to person.
Welcome to Destination Ecuador!
Welcome to Destination Ecuador! My family and I have been living in Ecuador for the last four and a half years. We’ve dealt with the worst kinds of red-tape, searched out or ended up making hard-to-find ingredients ourselves, imported equipment for making chocolate confections, learned the import-export business...Continue >>
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