We heard
from our lawyer that our passports with residency visas on them were ready to
pick up in Quito, the capital of Ecuador. We couldn’t go there until our
company left on May 3rd so on Sunday May 5th we took off.
For those of
you who may not be following my BLOG regarding
our saga of trying to get our visas, please refer to previous post http://uwepetrastravelyear.blogspot.com/2013/04/march-25-finally-our-residence-visas.html
Salinas is 2
hours away from the airport in Guayaquil and this time we took the bus since we
only had a small overnight bag. Usually we have Eddie drive us when we have
many suitcases. It’s your normal air-conditioned inter-city comfortable bus for
$3.20 each. Our bus station is a short walk away. The bus was waiting when we
got there, we bought our tickets with assigned seats and away we went. After a
couple of stops at neighbouring towns, La Libertad and Ballenita, to pick up
additional passengers, we were soon on the highway towards Guayaquil.
During the
ride various vendors selling drinks and food were picked up and let off along
the way. We arrived at the Guayaquil bus station 2 ½ hours later and took a $3
taxi ride to the nearby airport. The Guayaquil airport is quite nice- wins
awards for best airport in South America quite often- and we were soon on our
way for the 1 hour plane ride to Quito.
A new
airport has recently opened in Quito which on a good day is 1 hour taxi ride
from the city. Since we arrived on a Sunday afternoon, we had no traffic
problems and after a $26 taxi ride arrived at our cute boutique hotel Vieja
Cuba (more about our stay there on the next post).
We met our
lawyer, Sebastian, the next rainy morning at the government office. We took numbers and got yet another form to
fill out required for requesting our cedula. Though they gave us paper copies,
this form was to be filled out on the computer! Off we went to a shop down the
road that rented computer time. Sebastian did the typing while we provided the
information: our names, passport numbers, nationality, parents’ names, their
nationality etc.
Printouts in
hand we hurried back through the pouring rain just in time to have our numbers
called up. Now when you hand in these forms, it normally takes 2 days to get
the letter required to take to the
cedula office( yes, another office, another location, a totally different
department!). Sebastian talked them into having it ready for us by 2:30PM that
day.
We had our
passports with pretty residency visas and drove with Sebastian to his office to
go over the needed documents for our cedula. Yes, more documents! While going
over our birth certificates, Sebastian discovered that Uwe had spelled his
father’s first name incorrectly on the form just handed in. What!
In the
German alphabet there is an additional letter- U- with a squiggly on top. On
the birth certificate, Uwe’s father’s name had been spelled Gunter ( with the
squiggly over the U). However, once in Canada, Uwe’s dad had gotten into the
habit of spelling his name Guenter which more closely resembled the pronunciation.
This was the only spelling Uwe knew never looking closely at his birth
certificate. BIG PROBLEM! As now the information entered and waiting for us at
2:30PM had some incorrect information.
Before
meeting us at the office at 2:30PM, Sebastian retyped the required document correcting
the spelling. We waited for the person we were to see to return from lunch and
then Sebastian explained the problem. First, no way, the information has entered
the system. But then… then. Yes, he was able to do the correction and gave us
the letters required for the cedula office!!! Yea! Of course, we could not go
to that office until the earliest Wednesday when our files would get there.
On Tuesday
at 2:30PM we met in Sebastian’s office again to go to the notary. If on your
birth certificate there is no entry regarding your parents’ birth place, you
need a notarized statement as to their place of birth for the cedula office. We
left our statement with the notary but it would not be ready until 3:30PM the
next day. So much for going to get our cedula on Wednesday. So now we were to
meet at Sebastian’s office on Thursday morning to meet Lain, his associate, and
go with him to the cedula office. Sebastian had to go to Guayaquil. The only
problem was that Lain only spoke Spanish- oh well, more practicing our new
language!
On Thursday
morning, documents in hand we walked a few blocks from Sebastian’s office to
the building housing the cedula offices. Now for the required documents.
Uwe only
required his letter received on Monday, his birth certificate and our marriage
licence translated and legalized by the Ecuadorian consulate in Toronto and his
notarized document re his parents’ birth place.
I, on the
other hand required more. Since the name on my birth certificate was not the
same as the name on my passport I required my marriage certificate to my first
husband- translated and legalized. Since I had not changed my name again when I
married Uwe ( all my professional and financial reputation was on the name I
had had since my twenties so I refused to change it again) I also needed my
divorce papers from my first marriage as well as the other stuff.
We took yet
another number and waited our turn. The officer who reviewed our documents
spoke perfect English- yea- however there was another problem. Of course there
was. We only had one translated, legalized copy of our marriage certificate but
required one each. He told us just to get a copy of everything and get it
notarized. Off we went back to the notary office several blocks away. Once
there, yes they could do it but it would not be ready until the following Tuesday!
Are you kidding me! Lain knew of another notary several miles away- why are
there not more notaries in Quito????? We hopped into a taxi and after a 25
minute ride arrived at the new notary office. It was wall to wall people but Lain
lined up, spoke to someone in charge- yes, they could do it right away- got
copies, got them notarized and we were off 20 minutes later back to the cedula
building.
Met again
with the same officer and yes, all our documents were now OK though I was
questioned about my divorce papers which had only been translated and notarized
– not legalized back in Toronto. I explained that I thought they may not be
required, he checked with his supervisor and they were accepted- whew! We were
told to go upstairs, pay $5 each at the bank cashier and proceed to the next
step. You thought we were finished, didn’t you? Silly, remember this is
Ecuador.
After paying
at the bank we were given yet another number and went back downstairs to wait
our turn with another officer. We were called up separately but managed to get
side by side officers. Mine went pretty smoothly- she spoke only Spanish- but
her supervisor, who spoke English, came out several times to answer her
questions regarding my many many documents. After entering all my info into her
computer ( by the way, during this process ALL the computers went down in the
building and my info had to be re-typed) she took my pictures and my electronic finger prints and I was told my
cedula would be ready to pick up on Monday- yea, one down one to go!
Uwe on the
other hand- what can I say- more problemas! His place of birth in Germany had
never been added into the system when we had first applied so his cedula could
not be processed until Norden was in the system. He was told to return at 12
noon the next day when the system would have been updated. No celebration that
day and yet another night at our hotel.
Friday found
us yet again at the cedula office and Uwe returned to the same officer he had
been to yesterday. Again his birth city, Norden , was not in the system! Please
go see the supervisor. We lined up at yet another office to speak to the
supervisor to try to explain the problem. After a 30 minute wait, yes we’ll
input, come back in an hour (we thought that is what they said- Spanish only).
After an hours wait and lunch at a nearby mall, we returned. Same problem, city
still not in system, go back to the supervisor’s office. Another 30 minute wait
and again an explanation to the supervisor. We finally found out why it hadn’t
been entered. On Uwe’s passport it says Norden, DEU ( DEU for Deutschland). In
Spanish it is Allemania and since they had no idea what DEU stood for, had
tried to enter it as Canada! Finally it was entered correctly and the
supervisor walked Uwe to another officer for entry of his information into the
computer. Entry went great, then his picture and finger prints and five hours
after arriving at this office, we left with both cedulas approved and ready for
pick up the following week.
WOW! What a
process but we are now complete( hopefully Sebastian can pick them up next
week- we left notarized instructions and passports photos with him).
