As Christmas gets closer, there are more and more parties and ferias taking place in the various barrios. Our neighborhood is no exception! Last night there was a party of some kind, pretty much all night long. No, I'm not kidding. All night long.
I went to bed at about 11:00pm and even though I had my iPod playing through an external speaker, I could still hear the party. In fact, it was often punctuated by the sounds of loud firecrackers -- like M-80s or something. They even had a live band. Eventually, I fell asleep while listening to Top Chef on my iPod.
A few hours later, at 2:30am, I woke up to what I first thought were gunshots. Nope. More large, loud firecrackers. Then I realized that the band was still playing, so I listened for a while. To me, it sounded like a blend of mariachi, ranchero, and high school marching band. Boom! Boom! More firecrackers, actually, these were fireworks and I could see the flash through my window. Eventually I fell back to sleep.
Up again at 4:30am. Yup, the band was still playing. Loudly! In fact, it almost sounded like it was outside my house. I was just too tired to get out of bed and check it out. I listened to the music for a while more. Hey, that trumpet player's not too bad! Boom! Boom! Boom! Boom! More fireworks. And still more. Yes, these Hondurans really know how to party!
My alarm went off at 5:30am and I initially thought that the party had finally ended. Wrong! It had just moved a bit. As I got up and went into my bathroom, where the windows are open, I could hear the band and the fireworks/firecrackers. By 6:00am, though, it seemed that the party was over. I mean, people have to sleep sometime, right?
So, I'm sitting here at my table now, listening to another party. This one is using a stereo system not a live band, and they're not playing mariachi or ranchero music. For that, I'm thankful! I'm also thankful that I'll have my iPod at the ready again tonight to drown out the sounds if the party is still going on when I decide to go to bed. I'm taking bets...
>>>I was just getting ready to hit the "post" button when the ranchero music started up. LOUDLY!! It will probably be a long night. Again.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Sunday, December 12, 2010
Finally...
...I'm legal.
Well, I've always been here legally, but I've spent the last year and a half working on getting my residency status. Of course, the organization we've been working with was very quick to take my money to start the process ($600USD). And then, the wait. And wait. And wait.
Lots of phone calls to Tegucigalpa to check on the process and I usually heard one of two different answers: "With all the things that happened with the government, no one is moving forward processing residencies." Or "Yes, we should have your carné in 30 days." So I was left waiting some more. And paying some more.
Each time I had to renew my visa I had to pay for that. Most renewals also included a trip to Tegucigalpa, which meant more money spent for gas, food, etc. I guess I could look at it as contributing to the economy. But the frustration of the waiting was a bit wearying. One time I even had to send my passport to Tegus for the renewal and it was shipped back to me by the FedEx equivalent. Now, THAT was an unsettling three days.
Last month, Sandi got a phone call from Ana Rut at the OIM telling her that we were finally moving forward and I'd have my carné soon. Then, Ana Rut called again and said I needed to meet her at Migraciones to finish up the process. So I did that two days later. I took another photo, was finger printed and paid MORE money. Then I received my provisional carné, which is supposedly as valid as the final one. But there's just something about a folded up piece of paper that doesn't seem quite as real.
According to the lady at Migraciones, I was supposed to come back in 30 days to pick up my actual carné. That's just what I did this week. On Thursday, I left a voice message for Trify asking him if we were going to Tegus on Friday or Monday. He called me back a few minutes later to tell me that he was heading to Tegus right then. So, I quickly got ready and left with him.
As you may have picked up on by now, nothing is ever easy here. Nothing. The reason that Trify was going to Tegus was to drop off a file with someone at the residence of the US Ambassador to Honduras. Finding that neighborhood took quite a while. But we finally made it there. Then we had to turn around and head to the other side of town to go to Migraciones.
Once at Migraciones, I got in line and waited for my turn. The woman took one look at my paper and said my carné wasn't ready. I was insistent. I told her that I had been waiting and was told I could return in 30 days for it. She told me that it wasn't yet 30 days, to which I answered that on Monday it would be 30 days and I was only 4 days early. Somehow that must have made sense to her since she took my paper and headed off to the back room. After a while she came back and told me that my carné was ready but the person who gives them out was not there and I'd have to come back the next day. Seriously? OK, if that's what it takes.
By this time the woman was actually trying to be a bit helpful so she told me that if I made a copy of my provisional carné she would make sure that it was ready for me early Friday morning. I made the copy!
So, Friday morning Trify, Erica, Haniel and I set out for Tegus. The day's objectives were Migraciones, the Congreso (to bring more papers for Adán), and then a little shopping. Before we even made it to Tegucigalpa, Hermes called and said that the brakes on the red truck had gone out. Finding the place that was going to fix them proved a bit more difficult than it should have been, especially since the business had changed names. More driving around. More asking for directions. More being misdirected.
Finally, we found the place. The funny thing is, we had been right across the street from that place just the day before when we ate at Coco Baleadas. If only we had known that the name had changed, we would have driven right there. After dropping off the truck, we had to go to the bank to transfer funds to get it fixed. Tick, tick, tick... It was well after 1:00pm and we had yet to do any of the things on our list.
At that point I thought the best thing to do would be to 'divide and conquer'. And that's what we did. I took a taxi over to Migraciones while the others dealt with the bank. After negotiating the taxi price down to 70 Lempiras, from the 90 that the driver initially wanted, the trip to Migraciones was quick.
Speaking of quick, I was, incredibly, in and out of Migraciones in less than 5 minutes. No kidding!! When I got there, I was the fourth person in line, behind one woman at the counter and two Mormon missionaries -- with a stack of passports to do renewals for. I was thinking that I would have a long wait. Nope. The woman from the day before saw me and waved me over to another window. She handed me a piece of paper and told me to go get a copy of it. As soon as I was back at her window, she handed me the original, stepped into the back room for a moment and returned with my carné. She had me sign the book, showing that I had received it, and then said, "Felicidades." Congratulations!
So, finally, after a year and a half, almost $1000USD paid, many trips and even more phone calls, I have my residency carné. Finally.
Next up? Getting my driver's license, which should be easy now that I'm a resident. Oh, and I'm still waiting for the license plate for my moto. In January, I will have been waiting for a year.
Well, I've always been here legally, but I've spent the last year and a half working on getting my residency status. Of course, the organization we've been working with was very quick to take my money to start the process ($600USD). And then, the wait. And wait. And wait.
Lots of phone calls to Tegucigalpa to check on the process and I usually heard one of two different answers: "With all the things that happened with the government, no one is moving forward processing residencies." Or "Yes, we should have your carné in 30 days." So I was left waiting some more. And paying some more.
Each time I had to renew my visa I had to pay for that. Most renewals also included a trip to Tegucigalpa, which meant more money spent for gas, food, etc. I guess I could look at it as contributing to the economy. But the frustration of the waiting was a bit wearying. One time I even had to send my passport to Tegus for the renewal and it was shipped back to me by the FedEx equivalent. Now, THAT was an unsettling three days.
Last month, Sandi got a phone call from Ana Rut at the OIM telling her that we were finally moving forward and I'd have my carné soon. Then, Ana Rut called again and said I needed to meet her at Migraciones to finish up the process. So I did that two days later. I took another photo, was finger printed and paid MORE money. Then I received my provisional carné, which is supposedly as valid as the final one. But there's just something about a folded up piece of paper that doesn't seem quite as real.
According to the lady at Migraciones, I was supposed to come back in 30 days to pick up my actual carné. That's just what I did this week. On Thursday, I left a voice message for Trify asking him if we were going to Tegus on Friday or Monday. He called me back a few minutes later to tell me that he was heading to Tegus right then. So, I quickly got ready and left with him.
As you may have picked up on by now, nothing is ever easy here. Nothing. The reason that Trify was going to Tegus was to drop off a file with someone at the residence of the US Ambassador to Honduras. Finding that neighborhood took quite a while. But we finally made it there. Then we had to turn around and head to the other side of town to go to Migraciones.
Once at Migraciones, I got in line and waited for my turn. The woman took one look at my paper and said my carné wasn't ready. I was insistent. I told her that I had been waiting and was told I could return in 30 days for it. She told me that it wasn't yet 30 days, to which I answered that on Monday it would be 30 days and I was only 4 days early. Somehow that must have made sense to her since she took my paper and headed off to the back room. After a while she came back and told me that my carné was ready but the person who gives them out was not there and I'd have to come back the next day. Seriously? OK, if that's what it takes.
By this time the woman was actually trying to be a bit helpful so she told me that if I made a copy of my provisional carné she would make sure that it was ready for me early Friday morning. I made the copy!
So, Friday morning Trify, Erica, Haniel and I set out for Tegus. The day's objectives were Migraciones, the Congreso (to bring more papers for Adán), and then a little shopping. Before we even made it to Tegucigalpa, Hermes called and said that the brakes on the red truck had gone out. Finding the place that was going to fix them proved a bit more difficult than it should have been, especially since the business had changed names. More driving around. More asking for directions. More being misdirected.
Finally, we found the place. The funny thing is, we had been right across the street from that place just the day before when we ate at Coco Baleadas. If only we had known that the name had changed, we would have driven right there. After dropping off the truck, we had to go to the bank to transfer funds to get it fixed. Tick, tick, tick... It was well after 1:00pm and we had yet to do any of the things on our list.
At that point I thought the best thing to do would be to 'divide and conquer'. And that's what we did. I took a taxi over to Migraciones while the others dealt with the bank. After negotiating the taxi price down to 70 Lempiras, from the 90 that the driver initially wanted, the trip to Migraciones was quick.
Speaking of quick, I was, incredibly, in and out of Migraciones in less than 5 minutes. No kidding!! When I got there, I was the fourth person in line, behind one woman at the counter and two Mormon missionaries -- with a stack of passports to do renewals for. I was thinking that I would have a long wait. Nope. The woman from the day before saw me and waved me over to another window. She handed me a piece of paper and told me to go get a copy of it. As soon as I was back at her window, she handed me the original, stepped into the back room for a moment and returned with my carné. She had me sign the book, showing that I had received it, and then said, "Felicidades." Congratulations!
So, finally, after a year and a half, almost $1000USD paid, many trips and even more phone calls, I have my residency carné. Finally.
Next up? Getting my driver's license, which should be easy now that I'm a resident. Oh, and I'm still waiting for the license plate for my moto. In January, I will have been waiting for a year.
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