It's a Miracle...

If you read my 'borrowed' post and watched the video about dealing with the government, you may get a kick out of this.

Back in January 2010, I bought a motorcycle to use as my primary means of transportation. Like most stores advertise, a helmet, registration and license plate are included gratis, free. So, along with all of my paperwork, receipts, manual, etc., I received a paper that was my 'provisional permission to circulate without plates.' That temporary permit was good for two months.

The only problem was, at the end of those two months, my license plate (or anyone else's) were not ready. The standing story was that the government was not releasing new plates because it was still in transition of the new presidency. OK, I guess that's somewhat understandable. Somewhat.

Unfortunately, that has meant that every two months I have had to go to Tegucigalpa, back to the store where I bought the motorcycle, to get my temporary permit extended. There's no cost, but it's a HUGE hassle to go to Tegus, to Comayaguela (really bad 'burb' of Tegus), to get my renewal. Last time I was there, just two months ago, I asked them if there was anywhere in Comayagua that could issue my temporary permit. I was told 'no' it had to be at the store where you bought your vehicle.

Then I asked if they could please issue my permit for more than two months at a time, because it was very obvious that the government was not in any hurry to release license plates and I'm sure that they, as a store, had much more important things to do than deal with the inefficiencies of the government ~ a tactic used to deflect blame from the store and its employees and put it squarely on the shoulders of the government in an "I sympathize with you and what you have to deal with" attempt. (Whew! That was one long, rambling, run-on sentence.) But, no, they couldn't do that, either.

OK, gonna pull out the big guns here... Well, I wondered, is there any way that they can SEND me my permit by courier every two months so that we don't have to take an entire day to come from Comayagua all the way to Comayaguela? Imagine my surprise when the woman in charge said, "Yes, we can do that!" I was overjoyed. The woman told me to just call about 5 days in advance and she would take care of things. I did some quick mental calculating and realized that I would be in the States when my permit would expire in August.

So I decided to go for broke. "In August, I will be in the United States when my permit expires. Can Trify call in August and will you be able to send the permit to him?" Trify was right there with me. Once again, I heard, "Yes, we can do that!" Twice in one day. I was definitely on a roll.

Fast forward to Tuesday of last week and it was time for me to put my new found 'freedom' to work. I called Didemo, the store, and spoke with Damaris, the woman who was helping me. I identified myself as Susan, from Comayagua. Immediately, Damaris said, "And you have the red Honda V-men." Yes, that was me. Well, Damaris told me that she had already started to work on my next permit, but the person who signs them was out of the office and wouldn't be in until the next day. (Uh oh, sound familiar?) She told me that she would make sure that he signed my permit right away and she would have it sent to me at Enlaces by courier. I thanked her for her time and attention and then reminded her that in August Trify would call since I would be out of the country. Damaris said that would not be a problem.

After my phone call, I went to the school office and talked to Dayanara, our incredible secretary, who is SO MUCH more than a secretary. I let her know that a courier would be coming with my permit and that my guess was that it would arrive on Thursday. Sure enough, it did. The cost of the courier service was 45 Lempiras ($2.38 USD), but that was a pleasure to pay and not have to head to Tegus.

My miracle? That someone in a position of authority did exactly what they said they would do, WHEN they said they would do it! But wait, it gets better. Remember when I was told that they could not issue the permit for more than two months at a time? I received another miracle: My temporary permit was issued for FIVE AND A HALF MONTHS!!! It doesn't expire until 31 November. Thank You, Jesus!

And another miracle? My phone call to Damaris took place all in Spanish, although I did have to ask her to speak a bit slower.

These may seem like small miracles, but to me, they're huge!