It’s already been 90 days?!?

So yesterday was my 90th day in Guatemala. SERIOUSLY how have I already been here for 3 months?!? Anyhoo, what it means is that it was time to renew my Visa to be in Guatemala. You are free to stay in the country up to 90 uninterrupted days before you’re required to go to the capital to renew your Visa or you must leave the country. Unfortunately, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and El Salvador have an immigration agreement, so these countries (and thus my vacation last month) don’t count as actually “leaving the country.” Silly? Why yes. Quite.

Yesterday we left for Guatemala City for our visa renewals at 8:15 and arrived at the immigration office around 10:30. One of the other volunteers, Mona Lisa, and I were the only 2 volunteers left to renew our visas, so we had a LOT to do. First, we entered the immigration office to make photo copies of our passports and credit cards (which prove that you have enough money to leave the country when your time comes…what does it actually prove? That you have a credit card with your name on it…). Next, we went to the Photo center to take the most specific “passport style” photos in the world where: you must show your forehead and your ears, your hair must be pulled back, you cannot wear glasses, you cannot wear makeup, you cannot smile, and they MUST be in black and white, not to mention the correct size. REALLY? While we were waiting we took a detour to Burger King. Don’t worry – fast food is SO much more legit in Guatemala than in the states…either that, or I just forget what a normal hamburger looks like…

After an hour we picked up our ATROCIOUS photos and headed back to immigration. At this point it was roughly 12:15 and we were grateful to be able to hand in our things and head out. Unfortunately that’s not how things happened. Instead, we stood on line for a solid 30 minutes without a single person helping us. Around 12:45 we finally asked for some more information and were told that we needed to continue waiting. Then, around 1:05, we were told that the reason why they couldn’t take our things (when ALL we wanted to do was hand them a few pieces of paper) was because a machine that they needed was broken, and wouldn’t be fixed until 2 pm. Great. Let MORE waiting commence.

At 1:45 we decided it would be a good time to start the line for “extranjeros” (literally strangers) again and so we began to wait some more…but now while standing. We stood there for another 45 minutes without being told ANY more information. At 2:30, the woman behind the counter (who I was now beginning to loathe) told us that the machine would be fixed “en un momentito” (in just a quick minute). LIAR. After another 10 minutes we asked again – “Are you SURE someone is coming to fix this machine?” to which the response came “Well, there’s actually only one working machine…you need to be in THAT line,” which was said while pointing to ANOTHER line that had formed at ANOTHER window, that already had 20 people on it. SOMETIMES I HATE GUATEMALAN INDIRECTNESS!!!!!!!!!! We then proceeded to switch lines and wait some more. By the time I made it to the window, handed in my papers, paid my fees, handed in my receipt, and received my slip to pick up my passport next week, it was 3:35 (the offices close at 4). After 5 hours of RIDICULOUS waiting, really atrociously awful passport style photos, angry fist shaking, silly Guatemalan indirectness, lots of miscommunication, and a few games of Sudoku, we were no longer illegal immigrants.

Needless to say I’m NOT looking forward to my next trip to immigration – luckily it won’t be for at least another 6 months…