The Papers of Life

Living the ex-pat lifestyle has its perks, but today I would like to focus on one of the more tedious aspects of living abroad - excessive paperwork and dealings with local bureaucracy. Now, what follows is likely true to some degree or another in all countries, but South America is special.

I realized several months ago that my passport was going to expire sometime this summer, but it seemed a distant and frankly low-priority issue at the time. Then I got back to Manizales and was getting settled in a school, and having a social life, and it escaped my mind. It wasn't until May 14th that I finally sent my passport application to the Canadian Embassy in Bogota, where, upon arrival it was promptly misplaced for two weeks. (This I learned after calling to confirm its arrival, not having received any word from the Embassy.)

Meanwhile, my work visa and my cedula (Colombia identification) were set to expire...this week. Thursday, to be exact. And they couldn't renew my work visa (which needs to be done in Bogota) until my new passport was issued, and they couldn't renew my cedula until my new work visa was issued. Without these it is unlikely I would be readmitted into the country. And I leave TOMORROW.

So last week the foreign staff coordinator, the school's lawyer and myself concocted a plan: a messenger would be hired to collect my new passport from the Embassy in Bogota and take it to the DAS (department of administration and security) in Bogota, where the school's lawyer would be waiting to complete the paperwork to get the visa issued, and then bring it all back to Manizales. Simple, right?

Except...the new passport isn't valid until I sign it, and they won't put the visa in unless it's valid.

We quickly revised... the messenger could collect my new passport and send it on an airplane to Manizales, where I would sign it, and then we would send it on another airplane back to Bogota.

But... it rained for three days straight, which meant the airport was closed, which meant no passport...(no visa...no cedula).

In the end, I think the lawyer had to stay a couple of extra days in Bogota, and my passport arrived (I am afraid to ask how, or when exactly) and after an hour in the Manizales DAS, and eight different attempts at putting a fingerprint on a page (no, that just won't do! Try another one. No, no, no, it's smudged. Don't push too hard, this is no good. We'll have to do the form over again, and try some more...) I now have all the necessary items stowed in my backpack for tomorrow's departure. And, I can leave a fingerprint like nobody's business.

I knew all along, of course, that it would work out in the end. I've had my run of bad luck, at least for awhile, so missing my trip home was never really an option. The universe wouldn't dare f**k with me again so soon.