Oct.18- Getting our 12IX Visa Registered

I decided that this experience deserved a post of its' own because no where are there any instructions/literature/warnings telling unsuspecting travellers how difficult this can be.
 We had decided to stay in Ecuador for 4 months because we didn't want to change countries around Christmas/New Years however had we known what we know now...
So on with our story.
Let me start at the beginning. In September we went to the Ecuadorean consulate in Toronto to get our 12IX visa. We had checked their web site
http://www.embassyecuador.ca/english/index.php?id=consular&nro=229
and gotten our required paperwork together. There we had no problem, everything was good and we were out equipped with visa and letters to use for registration  within an hour. Though warned that the visas must be registered within 30 days of arrival , otherwise a large fine would be incurred when we left Ecuador, at no time were we informed or advised in any way about what we had to bring with us for this registration. All we were told is to bring our passport and the letter given to us at Consulate. Piece of cake- we thought!
First of all, unless you speak Spanish fluently, take an interpreter with you. We found Eduardo Iglesias in Salinas, he drove us and helped with our Spanish.
eduardo.iglesias101@gmail.com

We left Salinas at 6AM and arrived at the Registry office in Guayaquil about 8:30AM. The woman at the front desk looked over our stuff neatly placed in a manila envelope along with an envelope this folder will fit into.
We had the following info:
Our passports
copy of picture page of passport
copy of entry stamp of passport
copy of 12IX visa page of passport
certificado de visacion & copy ( 2 pages given to you at consulate) & copies of same

We then got the following instructions from her of problems/omissions
-The entry stamp on our passport was not clear- low ink on stamp pad?- and must be rectified by going to immigration office near airport- a good half hour away
-We must include a letter in Spanish of why we were here- precise instructions given to us and signed along with passport number
-A deposit slip to pay $10 to the Ministry's bank account
-All the copies in the folder must be secured with a certain 2 pronged metal attachement to the manila folder.

First off to the Immigration office- a fun drive in rush hour traffic. Then of course there is no parking close to this location but luckily for us, Eddy convinced the local army personnel to allow us to park in an empty lot.
Once there we took a number, 22, waited our turn, paid $5 each for the paper work and were off. Next, an Internet cafe so Eddy could type the letter for each of us plus print it out. Next to a shop next door which sold the metal manila envelope attachments and then off to line up at the bank to deposit our $10 each. Luckily for us we were allowed to go in the seniors' line- slightly shorter- and after another half hour wait we had the list accomplished.

Once back at immigration we took yet another number to wait to be processed but found out that the letter Eddy had typed had one significant ? word missing! While we waited  for our number, Eddy ran back to the Internet Cafe to re-type the letters.

With new letters filed neatly in our folder, we finally had our turn. All papers seemed to be in order, the officer took all our stuff and we were told to wait again. The last person who needed to sign our passport stamp was still at lunch ( 2PM) and we had to wait for her final approval.

One hour later, she came back and several other people who had been waiting along with us finally were processed. We got our registry stamp in our passport, and had our name and signature entered into a huge book that is kept here for all immigrant/visitor visas. And we were really lucky to accomplish this task in only one day!

And a HUGE thanks to Eddy for all his translations- without him we would have not been successful!