May 20 to June 14- Visit home to Canada

My regular followers may have noticed that I have not posted lately. Sorry but we have gone home to Canada from May 20 to June 14^th to visit friends and family. Since this Blog is about our life in Ecuador I don’t do many posts about our other travels but will try to summarize our 4 week visit.

We travelled the first 3 weeks spending a night ( or 2 or 3) at various relatives’ or friends’ homes. Every day or every other day another bed.  We were regular bed sluts! LOL! We had great times and many wonderful meals both cooked for us or out at interesting restaurants. However, it was all very hectic- so many people to see and visit!

                                          Out at a Pub with Uwe’s sister Goods and husband Mitch.

 

                                                          View of the CN tower from the Pub

 

 

On a Wednesday afternoon, we had a get together for my family. We ordered pizza for everyone and had a wonderful visit catching up on news etc.

                Nephew Neil, Niece Melanie , Daughter Nicole and son Ron- All my children

 

Melanie’s children Kyle and Taylor plus my grandson Bryan, wife Amanda & great grandbaby Victoria ( plus one extra- guess which one).

 

 

I also stayed with my son in his new apartment in the small village of Baden close to Kitchener. After my first game of golf since last summer, he cooked me an excellent meal of fish , veggies and pasta. Wow, I love being treated by my kids.

I also visited my grandson's family several times so I could spend time with my wonderful great grand baby Victoria.

 

 

 

 

 

                                                                   The whole little family.

 

                   Dinner with our good friends Di and Murray where we spent yet another night.

 

We spent 4 nights at our other friends Kathy and Igor. The boys braved the cool pool- was just starting to heat up but no problem for these macho men.

 

                       Then we partied and had an excellent dinner cooked by master chef Kathy.

 

 

We also spent several nights with Uwe’s dad and wife- sorry no pictures. We were treated to a sunny afternoon home cooked barbecue plus some gambling at the local casino and some good pub meals. I have no doubt we are gaining weight on this vacation- missing our long beach walks!

In the middle of the 3^rd week we drove up to the small town of Collingwood approximately 2 hours north of Toronto where we had lived. We stayed in our friends’ Bill & Kathy’s home for several nights and were treated to home cooked vegan pizzas by their downstairs renters Michael and Treva.               

                                                         Michael making our pizzas.

 

On Saturday we took possession of our time-share exchange in Cranberry resort also in Collingwood. My son, grandson , wife and baby came up that evening and on Sunday three of us went out for another round of golf. We had absolutely perfect weather. Life doesn’t get any better than a sunny morning golfing with your kids.

 

 

 

Later that afternoon the rest of my family came up for yet another family get together.

 

What a great time I had seeing both my family and Uwe's and all our friends. Though we do keep in regular touch through OOVOO(like Scype) while in Ecuador, I do need this yearly visit. Hopefully more of our friends and family will visit us in Ecuador this year. Now I'm off to Italy for 3 weeks to visit my daughter- sorry no blogs on Italy this time- see previous visit June-September 2011

 

 

May 5 to 11-The fun part of our week in Quito

After writing my Blog about our experiences getting our visas and cedulas, I thought that I better follow up with the fun part of our week in Quito.

We had booked online to stay at a cute boutique hotel called Vieja Cuba. http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g294308-d580806-r160681968-Vieja_Cuba-Quito_Pichincha_Province.html

www.hotelviejacuba.com

 

 

 

We had given up staying at large commercial multi country hotels many years ago and now enjoy discovering these little gems. If however, you need to stay in Quito for a month or more, I highly recommend our friend Liliya’s apartment rental http://quitorental2.blogspot.com/ in the La Ronda neighbourhood.

Hotel Vieja Cuba is located near the Mariscal area of Quito, quite a ways from where we had spent the month of October 2012 but a part of the city we had visited at that time.

We arrived late afternoon Sunday and were given a cute 2 story room with a round tower upstairs room for our bedroom- room 23.  The stairs leading up to the bedroom.

Our breakfast the next morning was great- fresh juice, muesli cereal, fruit, yogurt, toast, scrambled eggs, cheese & ham and very strong coffee. The breakfast was made even more pleasant by our wonderful waitress, Marie, who spoke some English but was delighted when we spoke Spanish to her and complemented us on our effort.

 

The breakfast area

 

Monday was a dreary rainy day and after our meeting with Sebastian, we set out to find a place for dinner. We found an Indian restaurant Shere Punjab that was incredibly good. http://www.tripadvisor.com/ShowUserReviews-g294308-d3199722-r135550778-SHERE_PUNJAB-Quito_Pichincha_Province.html

I had worked in Bangalore, India in the mid 90’s and missed having Indian food. In our home city of Salinas, Ecuador there are no Indian restaurants- nada! So this was a real treat for us. We had a few of our favorite foods ( daahl-yummy) plus 2 beers each and the bill came to $31- a bargain for sure.

The remainder of the week was mostly sunny, low 20’s Celsius and between visits with Sebastian and our ever allusive cedula, we explored our present neighbourhood. We visited an interesting museum with many Ecuadorian artifacts- no photos with flash- so sorry, no pictures but definitely worth a visit.

A very extensive gift shop was also part of the museum and we bought this hand-made mask.

 

                                                                 See the inside wood carving.

On another day we finally found a brew pub that was open. Hallelujah!!! I have mentioned that Uwe loves micro brewed beer- LOL. And brew pubs are almost impossible to find in Ecuador.

http://www.tripadvisor.es/Restaurant_Review-g294308-d808137-Reviews-Turtle_s_Head_Pub_Microbrewery-Quito_Pichincha_Province.html

Uwe enjoying his dark beer.

We also spent some time in the very modern mall Quicentro near Sebastian’s office. This mall contained some very high end stores, a huge food court and a TGIF restaurant.

We discovered yet another great restaurant near our hotel on one other evening. This one was a Peruvian restaurant called Inka owned by a very interesting young man Jessy.

  http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g294308-d2198703-Reviews-Inka_cocina_peruana-Quito_Pichincha_Province.html

Our meal there was excellent, Uwe had steak and I had the most delicious duck ever. As well, Jessy, who speaks English, French and Spanish, kept us amused while waiting for our food. He owns 3 restaurants in Quito, takes marshall arts and is learning to speak Japanese! Wow

As well as fabulous eating and drinking ( yes, we did do other things-LOL) we explored a local craft market in a nearby park, took many trolley and taxi rides and explored Av Amazonas several times. So in spite of the frustrations concerning our cedulas, we actually had a great time in Quito.

 

May 5 to May 11- Finally Our Visas and Cedulas

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 3^rd so on Sunday May 5^th 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).

 

 

April 19 to May 3- Our First Canadian Visitors

On Friday April 19^th I drove with our friend Eddie to the Guayaquil airport to pick up our first Canadian visitors, Kathy and Bill. We have been friends for 30 plus years and they wanted to come down to check out Ecuador, probably due to our glowing reports concerning our wonderful lifestyle!

Their plane was due to arrive around 5:30PM so Eddie and I left Salinas at 3PM just to make sure we got there on time. The arrival section of Guayaquil airport was a bit of a zoo per usual with lots of Ecuadorians returning home along with the odd gringo.

We waited and waited and as usually happens the people you are waiting for seem to be the last out of the gate! Finally they came and after many hugs and kisses we found our way to Eddie’s car and were on our way. Of course, the 2 hour plus drive home included a few beers strategically placed with ice in a cooler on the back seat. Welcome to Ecuador!

The next morning we woke to rain. What the f#$%k! It hadn’t rained in 6 weeks but with the arrival of our first Canadian visitors, it rained and rained all morning long. This did not stop us from taking a long walk along the beach though.

 

Kathy and Bill wanted to experience all that we normally did in our daily lives in Salinas. This of course included walks along the Malecon, lunch with our good friends Connie and Murray, shopping at SuperMaxi and at the Mercado, a dinner at Will’s and at Dolar pizza, as well as 25C bus rides to get to various places.

We went up the coast a couple of times to check out other coastal towns. First, we went to Montanita, a surfer/back pack town visited by many younger travelers.

                                                            The beautiful beaches

 

                                    Stopping for beer/ coffee at one of the many restaurants lining the beach.

While having lunch we ran into a couple of young men from our home town of Collingwood, Ontario! Is this world small or what.

On the first Friday, we took a drive up to Puerto Lopez along with our good friend Randy. The scenery along the way was amazing- beautiful coastlines and lush tropical forests- absolutely stunning.

We arrived about lunch and first went to Shandra and Gerry’s house, two mutual friends from Canada. To be exact, Bill and Gerry had been friends for over 50 years.

                    

                                      After we walked to town and had a beer at one of the beach bars.

 

Puerto Lopez is a very pretty, but small, fishing village famous for whale watching during July to September.

 

 

                       After an excellent lunch at a Colombian restaurant we drove back to Salinas.

 

Saturday night was a band night at Will’s Score Bar, the expat hangout of Salinas. Lots of friends were there and the band was excellent.

 

 

Kathy and I also went to our Women’s Coffee Klatch held once every two weeks in a wonderful restaurant, Common Grounds, owned by a couple from Peterborough, Canada. Salinas is quickly becoming Canada South- LOL

                                Our women’s group keeps getting bigger at every two week event.

 

The weather continued to be weird for this time of year. Two or three days of cloud followed by two or three days of brilliant blue skies! We did manage to fit in lots of beach time under our cabanas,

 

                                                    many beach walks,

 

 a real Estate tour ( thankyou, Kimberley, Bryon & Marcie -http://www.ieiecuador.com/) as well as  great diner parties at our condo.

 

 

So what did our friends think of Salinas? Will they be back? If I was a betting person I would definitely vote yes to both questions.

 

 

April 12- The Sad Saga of our Internet

Since we had first arrived in Ecuador in October 2011, we have always had an internet connection of some sort. We really couldn’t do the kind of travelling away from friends and family that we do without it.

When we first moved into our condo, we went with one of the local internet companies, Gold Soft, that worked through an antenna on our balcony. It worked well for the year we had it but when we returned back to Ecuador after our summer home in Canada, we found that even though we had paid for 512Mbps we were only receiving 256- not good! After complaining our speed was bumped up to what we had been paying for but it left a bad taste with us for their service.

We had also decided that instead of paying for TV service- another story entirely-LOL- we would do streaming from our computer to the TV screen and use Netflix, MLB package, First Row Sports, Hulu and USTV- all internet accesses to TV content. Of course for that, we required more bandwidth.

The local government run phone company, CNT, would provide up to 3Meg of service for a reasonable cost, around $36/month, however you also had to buy a local phone line- no naked DSL in Ecuador. Other companies in Salinas would only provide up the 1.5Meg unless you were a business and then at a far greater cost. Please remember we are pensioners on a budget!

Eddie came with us to the CNT office to apply (thank god for our friend Eddie as I doubt our Spanish will ever be good enough to deal with this kind of stuff). The office was very modern, air-conditioned and organized. We took a number and after maybe 20 minutes, our turn came up. A very nice competent young woman took all our information and requests and told us we should hear something in 8 days. Only a few days later our landline was installed first and then several days later our internet- no problems.

For two and a half months we had wonderful internet! Always up to 3Meg, no breaks in service, good VOIP connection for my Magicjack, adequate streaming to our TV, we were happy and then……….

Yes, you were waiting for it, weren’t you? This is after all Ecuador.

On the weekend of April 16^th we had our last major rain storm and storm it was. When we woke up the entire naval base looked under water and most of the back streets had huge puddles. And, you guessed it, our internet was out!

In our other life we had been telephony engineers dealing with outside systems so we were well aware of what rain can do to copper cables. And we were patient assuming that service would be restored soon however the weird thing was that our landline was still working!

When by Monday we still had nada, we asked our friend Eddie to please go to CNT and complain – maybe they didn’t know we were out of service. As well, our internet started coming up periodically. We’d have service for 5, 10 minutes or sometimes several hours and then nothing.

An inside technician came after several more days and replaced the filters and assumed that was the problem when our internet came back up. Then it went back down while he was still here and he blamed the Magicjack connection- of course not true. We took the Magicjack off and internet was on momentarily and then back off. He called his manager to join him and help and after much checking/ discussing etc, they determined that the problem must be the outside line. An outside repair technician actually came the next day and called us on our landline while our internet was on it’s periodic up mode. Was our internet working?- yes, right now- did you give us a new line?- no, but no problem on the old. End of outside work!

Our internet continued to work for several hours and then again nothing the next day. And so it has been going on for the last 2 weeks. Uwe and I went to the CNT office yet again on April 4^th, again explained our problem and again were told that a technician would come to fix within 24 to 48 hours. Again we waited patiently at our condo both the next day and the day after and once again nothing. Are we seeing a pattern here?

Luckely our friend Lauri had her internet working – she lives in a condo two floors up from us- and we used hers every day to check in with friends/family.

On April 9^th we did yet another trip to the CNT office. Once again a polite young woman helped us, even giving a credit on our bill, and yes a technician would come today or tomorrow morning and once again nothing.

We had reached the end of our patience. Because our CNT account was actually in Eddie’s name- he has a cedula, we don’t as yet- we asked him to please go and cancel both our landline and our internet.

That same day, we had a new internet installed from yet another private company, Fox Service. This time for only 1Meg- 3 Meg being way too expensive- but everything seems to work adequately, Magicjack, internet, streaming,- we are happy once again.

April 2013- Life in Salinas

You may have noted that I am not posting as often as previously. Well, when you live somewhere for a while, even in paradise-LOL, there is only so much new and interesting stuff to write about.

So let’s then talk about life in Salinas during the utterly delightful months of March and April. I can only describe that the weather is awesome! Every day it’s been sunny, about 30 to 33C with lovely ocean breezes. The last rain we had was midway through March. Every day has been beach time and since I’ve described that activity many times, I’ll go into the rest of our daily/weekly/monthly life.

Even in retirement you have to do the weekly household chores. A lot of fellow expats have either part time or full time maids but we do most of our own regular cleaning though I do have Tito wash all my floors every two weeks.

Then we do grocery shopping maybe once a week at the Supermaxi- a large modern grocery store much like you would find back home. You can find anything there that you are used to purchasing. We tend to stick to local brands- Familia toilet paper rather than Scott- as imported merchandise has a much higher tax on it. We normally take the local bus there- 25c- and get a taxi home- $2.50 for the ride. Our doormen at the condo then help us bring the groceries upstairs- $1 tip.

As well, once a week we go to the Mercado, much like a farmer’s market, where you can get fresh fruits- all kinds- fish, meats etc. The Mercado in Salinas  is much smaller than the one I had previously written about in Cuenca but entirely sufficient for our needs. We usually walk there, maybe a 25 minute walk, and either walk or get a taxi home-$1 for the ride.

During the week we also buy necessities at our local much smaller grocery store which is only a short walk away. Here we get whatever we may run out of between Supermaxi visits such as bread, beer, wine- the daily necessities!

We mostly cook at home but do go out to eat maybe 2 or 3 times a week, sometimes with fellow gringos or Ecuadorian friends and often by ourselves. Salinas being a beach resort town, has a great many restaurants with both local type foods plus Italian, Chinese, Pizza, Fish & Chips, Mexican- you name it, it’s here!

Ok, so what else do we do to keep busy all week? We have yet to find any kind of exercise/yoga class, so we try to work out at home every 2 days. We have weight equipment and a yoga tape. Most days we take a long walk along the nearly empty beach in the morning before breakfast or maybe later in the day. We read many many books. You definitely need an ereader here as there are no English book stores. Our local expat bar/hangout Score Sports Bar or affectionately called Will’s Place does have a book exchange so as long as you start off with one paper back you could keep exchanging. My other more recent activity, one I just started trying again after an absence of 40 years, is oil painting. I had the local wood shop build me an easel, bought painting supplies at the Mall and am now practicing drawing. Soon I will know if the talent I had in my 20’s has followed me into my 60’s! The other and probably most important thing we do is learning another language- Spanish. Though you can actually live here knowing little of the local language, speaking Spanish makes many things less difficult. My favorite practice lately is trying my Spanish on our many taxi drivers.

Same as back home we have dinner parties with our friends. We have made some wonderful new friends here. Because we have all left our home countries to try this great new adventure, you immediately have something in common. We also have Ecuadorian friends who have been invaluable in helping us through some of the beaurocratic nightmares.

Ok, so what are the downfalls to life in Salinas or anywhere in Ecuador. This is a third world country! As explained in my other posts there is garbage on the streets, stray dogs, walking must be done defensively- manholes without covers, no poop scooping- and everything takes longer. Patience is the key word. A good example is the repair?  for our internet- read next post on my Blog.

So what is our conclusion regarding life in Salinas, Ecuador? Are we happy here? Absolutely! Do we miss our family? Of course, but with internet and magicjack we are as close as possible. And we go home to Canada at least once a year. And we have an entire new continent to explore.

And probably most important- we live in paradise where we never have to shovel snow!

 

 

 

March 25- Finally our Residency Visas!!!

Woohoo! We finally both have our residency visa.

For those of you who follow my Blog regularly, you know that we started the process last year. Over the summer while back in Canada we had gathered all the required documentation, had it translated, notarized, approved and legalized- see Blog September 2012   - Getting our Documents for Residency  http://uwepetrastravelyear.blogspot.com/2012_09_01_archive.html

In October we went to Quito, Ecuador, and met with our lawyer to start the arduous process.

First we needed our movements in and out of Ecuador- see Blog October 18--- Getting our Movimientos Migratorios  http://uwepetrastravelyear.blogspot.com/2012/10/october-18-getting-our-movimientos.html

Then having everything we needed neatly put into two separate packages- one for me and another for Uwe- we went with our lawyer Sebastian to get our documents checked, approved , filled out the application, paid the $30 application fee and got the visa process started- see Blog October 25- Submitting our documents for Residency  http://uwepetrastravelyear.blogspot.com/2012_10_01_archive.html

What follows is the long, sometimes humorous, sometimes frustrating story of the last few months. And we had thought this would be easy!! NOT!

In December, three months after the process started, Sebastian informed us that the Visa people now wanted the 2013 receipt of payment of our taxes on our condo- we are using our condo for our investment visa. It seemed that the receipt that we had already submitted did not have our names on it. So in early 2013, we went and paid our taxes and fedexed the original to Sebastian- see Blog January 3,2013- Paying our Property Taxes  http://uwepetrastravelyear.blogspot.com/2013/01/january-3-2013-paying-our-property-taxes.html

 

On January 25^th, four months after that process started, Sebastian let us know that my visa was approved and Uwe’s would be approved any day. We quickly sent our passports to Sebastian- these were now necessary to get the visa stamp. And then we waited and waited……..

Near the end of February, Sebastian informed us that the person working on Uwe’s visa insisted on the original tax receipt- our lawyer had placed the original in my package and a notarized copy in Uwe’s. Though he told the visa person repeatedly to just take the original out of my package and place in Uwe’s, the cretin doing Uwe’s visa didn’t/wouldn’t understand!

Finally finally the supervisor realized the error, Uwe’s application was approved at the lower level and sent it on for final approval.

We received the following note from Sebastian:

 

Unfortunately your files have been analyzed by two different persons and it caused one (Uwe’s) was suspended because they missed the original impuesto predial payment.

It was solved and has been approved by the first level and now it has to be ratified by the director. I’m insisting every day. Even the supervisor is trying to get it approved as soon as possible when she found the mistake.

 

This was now early March almost  4 ½ months after we started the process.

Again we patiently waited for news. On the morning of March 25^th, I again sent a note to Sebastian , ‘any good news??’    and received the following reply. Unbelievable!

No yet Petra. They have required an update of the police record. Since we submit it on time, they requested through INTERPOL (international police organization) I have been monitoring this procedure, I went in person to INTERPOL, to make sure they send the information. So they did it on Thursday and now I’m insisting to get the approval. I hope to have this week

Poor Sebastian- Uwe is a lot of work!!! LOL

Of course  Uwe’s police report had run out, we got in June 18^th, 2012 and it is only good for 6 months ( yes, 6 months not 90 days!). Luckily for us, Sebastian was able to do it all without Uwe’s having to go the Quito and Interpol himself.     A few hours later we got the good news!

Uwe’s visa was finally approved! Amazing.

Now stay tuned for the Cedula process ( National ID card that we now need to get- more documents!)