Now, Does That Make Sense?

Hola, this is what the locals are talking about. This is the little cloud that sits on top of Mt. Alamos before it should rain. This was on Thursday. I thought it would rain for sure. It smelled like rain.

The wind picked up and blew it away.

We did, however, get water all day Thursday from the city pipes. Then we got it all day Friday. I got out of control and watered everything twice. We had to turn off the water because the cistern overflowed twice. Then, absolutely no water on Saturday. Again, water all day today. It makes no sense, but I am just so grateful to have water on some days and I hope it keeps up this way.

Tomorrow we return to Guaymas for our FM3s and we hope they are ready. It will have been a two week waiting period. The status can be checked online, but it doesn't make too much sense. It says, translated, our documents have been presented in the office and if changes are needed they can be done online. So, does that mean they are ready or not ready?

There is a telephone number you can call, but it just rings and rings and rings. That doesn't make any sense either. The day we were there we saw at least seven people working. A few of them were not really even working and I could hear the phone ringing. So, in the past we have returned in two weeks and decided to wait two weeks this time as well.

We were asked to supply a new and interesting document. A formal bank cover letter, called a Resumen de Cuenta. Fortunately she supplied it and did it at her own computer, but said we would need to do it next year. It is a paper with formatted boxes and columns and has our bank name on it, our names, address of the bank (this is our bank in the states), email and how much money was in our account during the months of January through April. I have no clue how to do that format. It makes no sense.

Of course, now that Calderon has signed a new immigration law, we probably will not need it next year. Now that is the good news and that is what is starting to make sense. Every year there will be a change and there is just no need to worry about whether what we did this year made sense or not. Now, does that make sense?

So, we are good, good to go up to Guaymas, at daybreak manana, have a K freeze on the way, enjoy the scenery and have a good time.

One Point for Mexico!

Buen dia. I cannot tell you how glad we are to be back in Alamos. We have decided that Hermosillo is off our to do list, tomorrow, next year, the year after. Of course, one has to drive through it to get to the states. We will put the truck in drive and close our eyes.



Below is the much dreaded Immigation building there. We arrived at 8 sharp, when the doors are supposed to open and there were already 4 people ahead of us. Below, the felow, on the right sitting down, has been told he has to fill out an application online. His Mexican girlfriend stormed out of the building and drove off. We have no idea what that was about. The man at the counter, in the picture below, left as well.



Okay by us, we were that much closer to standing at the counter ourselves.

Once we did get to the counter, we thought things were going well. There is another new form to fill out there and the attendant does it online.



There are alot of questions on this new form. They include your height and weight and where you work and the number of children you have.



Then, place of birth, place of residency (OMG WE HAVE ALREADY GIVEN ALL THAT TO THEM). I could see we were actually going to get our cards, so I made no complaints.



Fingerprints, signatures here, signatures there, they do not make it easy.



There are some errors on Senor's form, but we did not catch it until after the attendant had clicked the save button. One line states that he moved to Mexico from Minnesota, which is not the case. When it came to my form, it was printed that I moved to Mexico from Germany. I started my ranting about then and spent several minutes explaining I was only born in Germany and never lived there. This appeared to be very confusing to all 3 people who by now were helping us. The 3 included Nurse Ratchet whom we had hoped would be on sick day. Finally I got them to get Germany off the form and Washington State on. But I do not think they like to change anything once they have typed it in.

This application was attached to the old FM3, put in a big stack of other papers and we did not see it again.


I am going to try not to go into any more details over this. But after 2 hours we left with our new cards. Parting words from immigration were that we must show this card upon leaving and re entering Mexico. We waved and smiled and left the building.



Below is the link to the new online application should you need it and front and back photos of the new little card. Under the juicy fruit wrapper is a photo of Senor and then, dates of birth and card numbers and signatures hidden under the other areas.




http://setram.inami.gob.mx:8080/solicitudes-web/estancia.html



We drove straight to the hotel and crashed.

Later, after watching the delayed broadcast of the 3 World Cup games of the day, we made a quick jaunt to the Plaza and the church. I think we were each secretly looking for something to rekindle our feelings about Hermosillo, looking for something that would make us want to come back again.

We were surprised to find the church locked up, that never happens to any of the churches we visit in Sonora. The Plaza was as non descript as we remembered it, no water fountains flowing, hot and dusty sidewalks, very few vendors, old women begging for pesos. So, a few more reasons to not go back.

Only the church and a beautiful iron gazebo were worthy of a photograph.

We spent another day watching World Cup Soccer, which is the only reason we decided to turn this trip into a 4 day, 3 night stay. The 3rd night we drove to San Carlos. Eager to watch more soccer, we had the television on for the early Sunday game at 4:30am, only to find that the sports stations being broadcast in that area were more interested in rollerblade boxing, car racing, tennis, baseball and the americas cup. We packed up and left.

At the Wal Mart in Obregon, we watched Germany play Australia. Senor wanted to go to the camping section and get 2 chairs, but I convinced him that might look wierd.



I would say the highlight of this trip was eating in the taco stand below, on Saturday in Hermosillo. The 2 brothers are watching a re run of the Mexico SudAfrica game. Their faces and their creative game sign tell the rest of the story.

One point for Mexico!

Use it at Your Own Risk.......................

Buen Dia.
Thanks to those who made rain predictions. I will keep you posted.

But to let you know how the days are progressing, to the south, Mt Alamos cannot even be seen here late Saturday as the clouds have it fully covered. I thought it might go ahead and rain, but it didn't. Here is Saturday, but looking north. We were surrounded and even Senor said...........rain. There was none.

Same two lovely trees, same direction, Sunday night, definately a lot of wind and most likely..............rain...........Not a drop fell.

Monday night, to the northeast, beginning to billow, but nothing happened.

Back to the north on Tuesday night and the clouds quickly became a brilliant show of lightning that stretched from the north to the east. But no rain.

More of Tuesday night's brilliant billowing clouds to the north and east.

I am eager to see what happens tonight. I can feel it, this accumulation of energy and strength. And I know that it will continue to gather and gather and then, it will let loose.

I only hope it does not happen while we are gone.

Yes, we are going.....................back to Hermosillo and the dreaded Immigration building. I finally reached them yesterday after many tries, and the lady said..................they will be ready Friday morning.

Would you trust her?



Below is a copy of the new brochure from Immigration. Look at the second photo.

I WANT this guy! I want him to wait on us. I want him to renew my FM3. I want him to be just as he is in the photo, all smiling and happy and doesn't he just look like a very helpful guy? Doesn't he look like he knows what he is doing?

If we get told on Friday there is some kind of problem I am going to pull out this brochure and tell them I want to talk to this guy only. I will communicate only with him.






Below you can see that the FM3 which used to have to be renewable every year for five years and then a new one had to be applied for, is now good for renewal for ten years.

That only makes sense as the renewal is more expensive than getting a brand new one, so there will be more money now for Immigration. I think this is okay.

Now here is the letter the lady sat down and typed for us and made us sign.

She wrote it all in caps.

***************************************************************************

(POST NOTE on June 17th, 2010) !!!

Per the original post, after much consideration, I have removed the original letter.

After retranslating the original letter and racking my poor brain which has low memory capacity and talking it over with Senor and with input from a neighbor as well, we believe that most people will need the letter below to renew their FM3.

(certain people in certain situations may need other letters, because our visas state that we can work in mexico, that is what happened to us, we needed more letters)

Bajo protesta de decir verdad y apercibido de las sanciones que corresponden a quienes proporcionen informacion falsa ante la autoridad migratoria, en los terminos de los articulos 116 y 118 de la Ley General de Poblacion y 247 del Codigo Penal Federal, el suscrito manifiesta que los datos asentados y la informacion que acompana a la presente solicitud son verdaderos y que no tiene restricciones de ingreso o estancia derivadas de una resolucion migratoria anterior.

The interesting thing is this information is already on your own application when you fill it out. It can be found right above the lines where you will put your signature and date. So, if the letter is already there, why do we need to write it out again? I have no idea.........once again, each situation may be different, so use it at your own risk.

Linda Lou

You Are Done Here

Buenas dias! The full moon last night was beautiful from our backyard. It was so bright that even the man in the moon needed sunglasses!It is so good to be home after such a miserable trip to Hermosillo. However, we did come home to a huge pile of rubble as Umberto continued to take the roof off the old Hilton Garden Room while we were gone. That is good though, it gets us that much closer to the new roof.We left Alamos on Wednesday around 8am and arrived at the immigration building in Hermosillo at 12:20pm, exactly 20 minutes after they closed their doors for the day.

After talking with the guard and hearing more about the new hours we drove an hour and a half back to San Carlos where we had already reserved a room.

If there is one bright event in this trip we made I would say it is staying in San Carlos at the Tetakawi Best Western. It has such a tropical setting, and is across from the sea, very relaxing, great restaurant and always, soccer on the television.

We left the Tetakawi at 6:30 Thursday morning in order to arrive at immigration at 8am. Before leaving Alamos, I googled 'what it takes to renew an FM3' and scoped out the blogs and sites that had updated information about the changes that went in to effect on April 30th.

I had alot of paperwork to take into immigration even though some of the sites said much of that paperwork would no longer be necessary. I felt very prepared.

First in the door, we were thrilled to find the man at the desk spoke English. We told him what we wanted and he proceeded to start the process. By 9am it was looking good. He had been able to locate Senor's application and pulled up mine, had us sign them and even gave us the statement to take to the bank where we would pay for the renewal. Wow, real good, we thought.

He went around the corner and into the back for some reason and he did not return. A non English speaking young woman came back and took over and everything went to hell.

She wanted this and she wanted that and we had it ALL. The bank statements, the utilities, the SAT tax filing, the letters, the photographs. None of it was good enough for her.

The letters, requesting the renewal and stating nothing had changed since last year, which I printed off of a blogsite, were not right. She refused them. By 10 am, after we had rewritten the letters twice, she sat down and wrote the letters herself on the lobby computer and told us to sign them.

Around 10:30am she told us we did not have enough money in our bank account. She said we had to have 44,500 pesos. We argued....................that is not right..............Senor said................ no, it is only supposed to be 1,500 pesos and it is really even less because we own a home. She changed her mind, gave me back the bank statements and began to look at our visas.

By now, a young woman in the lobby is translating for us. The immigration woman gave us a long speech in Spanish. The translation was......you must give up your FM3 and return to a tourist visa...............

OFF WITH HER HEAD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am almost ready to go ballistic. I could be over that counter in 5 seconds or less!

By now Senor is patting my hand telling me to take deep breaths.

We own a home! We can't have a tourist visa! Look at the utilities we pay! For gods sake we have a friggin' deed here to the casa! We pay Mexican taxes! We already have FM3's! What is wrong with you? Are you crazy? I do not say any of this, deep breathe, deep breathe...........says Senor.

She goes around the corner and into the back room. The translator girl who has been so kind to help us has to leave. OMG, I am going to scream.

Nurse Ratchet, who cannot be more than 25 years old, returns from the back and points to Senor's application. I have accidentally put Washington as Senor's place of birth. She calls me on it and is not happy. Senor says........oh, let's just cross it out, it should be Minnesota. She smiles at him and she leads me to the computer in the lobby and tells me to do it over. So I do that.

It is now 10:45 am.

I tell her the new application is done. Senor has checked it twice now as I have caused the delay in the first place. The building is getting on my nerves. The air is humid. The lobby is filled with people waiting their turn. There is another helper on the scene. Nurse Ratchet takes EVERYTHING we have and goes around the corner.

The English speaking man comes back to the counter! YES!!! I feel great!

You need to go to the bank and pay..........he says...........But all of a sudden she is back, the woman from hell, who is trying to be nice enough, but is really a very deep thorn in my side by now.................photografias............she says, where are they? Of course I have them and pull them out, passport size, very recognizable, nice looking couple, just up for the day, just want to renew their FM3's.

WRONG size, she says.....................they have to be infantile size...................4 fronts and 2, right side only.............................and she looks at me..........................your hair must be completely off your face.

I am going to explode.

We have to go looking for a Kodak shop and get new photos. An American couple has come to the counter for their turn. The man says to the English speaking man that their FM3's expired in June of 2009 and could they just get that new combination FM3/FM2. I am staring at the them in disbelief.

Another American couple has come from Kino Bay to renew their FM3's and did not know they had to file applications online.

Nurse Ratchet asks ME to 'explica' that to them and I want to shove my fist in her face. But I 'explica' because I am a nice person most of the time. The wife begins to fill out the online application, her husband tells us where the Kodak shop is and we blast out of there.

The KODAK shop is absolutely not where the man said it was and by 11:00 I am going to break down, running in to this shop and then that shop to try and find someone who can tell us where it is. Senor turns right and there is the KODAK.

We rush in, get infantile photos, there is a special going on, we get 8 for the price of 6. Just give us the photos please!

Look! There is a bank across the street! We rush in and show them the immigration statements and pay the bank, 2,10.00 pesos each, ask for separate receipts and drive back to immigration.

We walk into immigration at 11:40am.

A new American is sitting in the front row, he says................you have to take a number.

OFF WITH HIS HEAD TOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I walk straight up to the counter and shove the photos and bank receipts into the hands of the English speaking man. He stops what he was doing with another person and looks on his computer where he can tell that we did truly pay the bank.

He looks at us and says.......................you are done here.........come back in 2 weeks.....................

This L Shaped Space

Buen dia!!!

Look at our Fuego (fire ) tree. The leaves of these trees are lacy long fingers that float up and down and sway back and forth in the breeze. They remind me of hula girl skirts.

They make brilliant fire colored orange and yellow flowers that begin as soft green balls on the leaves. Our trees are slightly over a year old and to have one come into bloom so soon is really exciting. The L shaped area where this particular fuego lives is sun filled, so we think that is why it has bloomed first. None of the others, which get half of this one's sun, show any signs of blooming.

Look through the columns below to the white plastered wall way out at the end of the yard.

here it is a little closer.......................you can see the stable is to the right.

a little closer..............the pine tree from Christmas before last is there..................the truck cab is there..............................a huge old mesquite hangs over the wall................

this is an old area......................... L shaped, outlined by old over sized and uneven bricks, but the plastered wall is strong.........................

In the last photo below, looking back to the casa...........you can see the L shape is a distance away......there is no winter sun here............and very hot in the summer................

what to do with this area..................any suggestions?

Manana we go to Hermosillio to renew our FM3. The renewal routine has been changed. As of April 30th, one must go online and fill out an application, submit it online and print the application and take it to the Immigration office. Supposedly, we do not need copies of our bank statements or utility bills any longer, but I just spoke with a friend who went last week to renew at the Guaymus office and did not take those things with her. She had to return to Alamos, gather those things and go back to Guaymus. We are not taking any chances..............everything but the kitchen sink goes with us manana.

So, I went online to fill out the applications. I did Senor first. After filling out the application, I chose guardar (save) and his application disappeared. A number popped up on the screen along with a message telling me to save this number. So I wrote it down.

I did my application. Before I hit guardar, I printed it. I hit guardar and got my number.

We also need to take a letter stating that we want to renew and remain in the country. But we have always taken a letter requesting that. We will also be taking our paperwork that shows we have filed our Mexican taxes.

Now Immigration is issuing little green cards that look like drivers' licenses instead of the multi paged little booklets.

We will just see if we can get one for Senor without his application which is lost somewhere in cyberspace..............oh, I will keep you posted..............time for my siesta........ adios, linda lou

And finally......

Hola! We came home late yesterday afternoon after an overnight in Hermosillo.

There was a cloud over Mt. Alamos and within an hour, the sky was filled with boiling clouds.

The clouds seemed to stall right over our casa and the wind pushed from all directions and the sky filled with lightning and all we could hear was wind and thunder and the cats ran for cover as the rain fell. It was wonderful!

Because there was so much wind, the rain could never really decide where to go. Very little came into the garden room, so we were able to sit there, under cover, and watch all the excitement. Long after the rain stopped, there was lightning for hours in the distance.

There is a tropical depression off the coast of Sinaloa, perhaps it has moved farther north. It was not expected to reach the coast until early Saturday morning. I have not checked the weather today but there is an large, dark cloud over Mt. Alamos this morning and some darker clouds on the western horizon.

A little cloud has finally been lifted off our shoulders......we have our FM3's back.

In Alamos, we met with an accountant and asked him to file our Mexican Corporation taxes. In Navajoa, it was neccessary to meet him again and go to SAT, which is like the USA IRS. We received an identification number for our taxes. The accountant then filed our 2008 and 2009 taxes (through June, 2009). We did not owe any taxes afterall. We only needed to pay him for his time and work. So, finally that was taken care of......................

The tax identification number and the proof of filing the taxes were what immigration said they needed before they would give us our FM3 renewal.

So yesterday we went back to immigration, in Hermosillo, and gave them the information they needed. Before going it did not occur to me to make a copy of the filing, about 30 pages worth.

After the woman behind the counter finally gave us our FM3's she gathered up all our paperwork to keep in her file. I asked if she could make copies of the filing for me.

WHOOOO_WHEEEEE! Always, make your own copies of everything before you go to immigration. I know this, but I just did not think she would need to keep those papers.

Well, I may as well have been her child who got caught staying out past curfew, or did not do their homework, or went out with the wrong boy. She was not happy.

She made the copies, slammed them on the counter and said something that sounded nasty and senor said................get going now before she takes the FM3s back.

So we went to Wal-Mart and finally............................ I calmed down enough to get out of the truck.

When we got back to the casa yesterday, we opened the back bedroom door and Ashes rushed out. Somehow she had snuck back inside when we were not looking. She was madder than the lady at immigration and would not stop meowing and even clawed me once. Of course, it was our fault she got locked in without food or water for over twenty-four hours. I told her she was lucky we weren't gone for four days and finally..............she quit meowing.

And speaking of being gone from home. We have been gone now, for a little over a year. It has been an incredible experience so far. I think we will stay.

But remember this old house? Here is a photo from a long ago snow storm. See the snowman in the lower left?

And here is a photo below of the new deck and windows we added during the remodel.

The house was put on the market late last August. During May and June, we have been in negotiations with a buyer, and through the realtor, we have been faxing papers back and forth, to the tune of forty pesos per page. The lady at the internet store, who does our faxing, is so nice. One day she even offered me a cup of tea while I waited for about eight pages to go through. She also calls me by my name and has never slammed anything down on the counter in front of me. I think she likes me.

While in Hermosillo, we learned the house is finally a done deal. We need to be in Tucson on Tuesday of this upcoming week, to sign and notarize the final papers.

So when I look at these photos, of the house, it is with both happiness and sadness.........so I won't look too long.

It is a relief to have it sold, especially in this economy, and we feel fortunate. But, I will miss this house and the family who lived here together, and is now, spread out across two countries..................finally, I have to look at it with some humor as well, because I never got to cook a meal in the new kitchen, never got to use that new stone tiled shower, or sit out on the new deck with friends. I never got to really squish my toes up in that plush new carpet or hang my clothes behind the new closet doors.........never got to slide across the shiny new wood floor in my skivvies, didn't even do a load of laundry after the new tile went into the laundry room.

Soon, I may remove the Northwest photos from the blog, I may take the old studio photos of the shed off the website, even though I don't yet have a new studio to replace it with. I don't know, I guess it's time for those photos to go...........

so, as i say adios this morning and finally, enough of that...............bring on the next rain.

Juana Gallo

Hola.....................muy, muy caliente... we are not doing much.......the casa is just sitting around doing nothing also.

Umberto came this morning and by ten am he didn't want to do anything either. I gave him some mango cake. He ate it. Then he went home.

Senor took a nap.

I looked for some paperwork that seemed to be missing. I went to an appointment. The appointment confirmed we have to have the missing paperwork. I went into a slight panic because it was nowhere to be found. Here are some little photos, almost too little to enjoy. I tried to make them big again and that didn't go over. The veracruzana, also called the sandpaper vine because its leaves are like sandpaper, makes a beautiful purple-blue flower. It blooms over the winter and is now cascading over the stable roof. A little pink flowering vine is also coming out. Our neighbor's bright red bougainvillea is also cresting over the tin roof.

We went to Juana Gallo a few nights ago. The restaurant is located in the Hotel Casa Maria Felix. The hotel is the birthplace of the well loved Mexican actress, Maria Felix, and also houses a ruin of the original home and a museum. Below senor is heading inside.


The little pool in the little picture.

The little restaurant in the little picture below.

Sometimes there are great music nights here. Lots of people come to either an open mike session or to hear some of the wonderful local talent, both foreign and mexican. We have heard some great violin, guitar and mandolin playing here.

A little dark, but that Tecate sign sure brightens it up.

It's really a very pretty little place, very lush and tropical. The owner of the hotel is originally from Canada and the owner of the Juana Gallo restaurant is formerly from Argentina. Both have lived in Alamos for a long time.

So, back to the paperwork......it has not been as easy renewing our FM3 as we had planned. Immigration, in Hermosillo, actually called us to tell us it would be neccessary to file more paperwork before we could receive our FM3 renewal. Because we have a corporation, they said, we first have to pay our mexican income tax before we can get our renewal. We have not had any income, but we will still pay money.

I could not find any of the tax papers, or our corporate by-laws, the things that are neccessary to get the taxes filed. I searched the entire house, all the file drawers, all the paperwork I thought we had. I was very close to opening boxes that have been sealed since we left the states, knowing very well the papers would not be in there. I spoke with our realtor who suggested I would find them inside the deed to our property.........and so, I looked and there they were....hiding, waiting for me to find them.

Tomorrow we will meet with our bookkeeper and find out much money we will pay for money we have not made. Once the taxes are filed and the money is paid, we are told we should be able to drive to Hermosillo and pick up our FM3's.

Maybe we need to get jobs and make money.

Maybe we will walk over to Juana Gallo restaurant, have a little pizza and not worry about it...................

Another Roof Bites the Dust

buen dia!
ahh, the sound of an old roof crashing to the ground, music to my ears, because it means we are that much closer to a new roof going on.

If you recall, this is the room that will become the master bath. It has the little fireplace in it and it was once the old kitchen. Somehow, when the roof fell, it knocked out some of the electricity. Once it cooled off late yesterday, Senor spent about an hour repairing it until the thunder and lightning and rain knocked out all of our electricity. Oddly enough, this morning, everything he thought still needed repair is working again.

So, we now have created three roofless rooms. When the rain came last night, we scrambled to cover up everything that needs to stay dry.

Monsoon season starts June 24th. That is the official date, I have no idea who chose it. It is on my calendar, maybe it is a holiday?

Several mexican men we know say that June 24th means nothing, the monsoon season starts as soon as there is a big cloud over Mt. Alamos. Well, the cloud was huge yesterday. And it is there today as well. The weatherground forecast says there could be rain here for several days.

I want to tell you about our border crossing and FM3 renewals. I will make it quick and orderly because I have to go refire my glass. Senor accidentally pulled the plug on the kiln last night. Now if you asked him?...............he would say he did not do it. And I would say.......well, think about it, would I do it?

Then he would make up something about the electrical repair, the power outage and blah, blah, maybe one of the cats did it and the story would sound really good.

But if there is a power outage the kiln restarts automatically once the power comes back on and the kiln is nowhere near all his electrical stuff that went out when the roof came down. So I would see right through that tale....................

Border crossing.......going north there is a new military checkpoint..............it is huge, south of Santa Ana. There has always been a small military checkpoint in this area, but there is now a very large structure with a number of large and small covered bays.

We happened to go through a small bay the day the facility opened. Where are you going, they asked and where do you live...............then we were waved through. There are always miles and miles of trucks lined up in this area, waiting to get through the checkpoint, often waiting to get all the way up to aduana at kilometer 21.

On this day, there were absolutely no lines and we thought wow! they have solved the truck problems. And we were excited to get through so quickly, until we reached the old military checkpoint a few miles further up the road. We sat at the old checkpoint for an hour. Then, they did not even wave at us when it was finally our turn to pass.

When we came back south last week, we noticed all the trucks were lined up for miles and miles, again, just like old times. Maybe they have some kinks to work out of the new facility............

FM3 Renewal

On our way south we stopped at immigration in Hermosillo to renew our FM3 visas. We were about a week outside of the 30 day renewal time, but had been told on a previous stop at immigration, that did not matter. We were sure we had everything we needed with the exception of the SAT form, which we hoped she would have or that we could get nearby.

She asked for two copies of our passports and visas. I only had one. She said......... okay, es bueno.............and took those.

She took copies of our telephone and water bills.

She glanced at our passports and took our visas.

She took our letters that requested the renewal.

We had heard grand stories of people getting their renewals in Hermosillo in one day. We had high hopes.

She did not ask to see anything else. She asked if we came across the border by plane or car.

She sent us to the bank to pay for the visas. We picked number 37, waited 30 minutes for the light to tell us which bank window to go to, and paid one lump amount for both of us.

We took the receipt back to immigration.

No, no, no, no.................she smiled and said..............cada persona pagar seperatado (each person pay seperate).

We drove 20 minutes back to the bank, walked up to the window where we had been helped before and waited behind the person who was there. Two different people told us in spanish to pick a number. The lighted board said they were serving number 149 and the machine told us the next number pulled would be 201. We did not budge.

After three women came and keyed in numbers on his computer, we got two seperate receipts and drove back to immigration. By now the place was filled with people trying to renew visas.

She waved to us and called us to the counter right away, smiled and took our receipts and told us to come back in thirty days.............