August 12th

We applied for Alexander's visa today! We will get it tomorrow at 3:30. We've booked our flight to go home! We're flying from Bogotá to Orlando Saturday and then Sunday we are flying from Orlando to Rochester. We are flying Jet Blue this time and we're hoping the little tvs on the back of the seats will keep Alexander entertained for the duration of the flight. He was really great on the one hour flight yesterday but these flights are going to be significantly longer.

Yesterday I wrote that we were waiting for a letter from Chiquitines, they send it to ICBF yesterday at 4:30 in the afternoon. ICBF then writes a letter that we take to the US Consulate to apply for the visa. Usually it takes 24 hours for this process to take place. Manuela took us over to ICBF this morning to beg for the letter early. She and I went into the office and she spoke to the person responsible for issuing the letter. He was not happy that we showed up unannounced and told her it would be ready at 4:00. If that turned out to be the case we wouldn't have been able to apply for the visa and would have been in Bogotá until at least Wednesday. Manuela pleaded our case and the young man begrudgingly agreed. "Everyone wants an exception!" The letter was really a form letter where he had to fill in our names and correct birth dates. I really think that that was all there was to it. So twenty four hours turned into twenty minutes. I know he is probably very busy and gets requests like this all day long every day but this really was important because of the four day weekend at the Embassy.

After getting the letter we went to the US Embassy / Consulate. It turns out that we actually applied for the visa at the Consulate, not the Embassy. The Embassy is the part that deals with diplomatic issues between the US and Colombia but it shares the same building with the Consulate. Again, the reality was drastically different from the vision I had in my head. I thought the US Ambassador would greet us at the door with open arms welcoming us back to the United States (Embassies are technically considered territories of their respective countries).  He would chat with us as we sat and had coffee and talked about the differences between the US and Colombia. He would play with Alexander as he was signing the paperwork. No, actually we waited in line for a hour and when it was our turn went to what looked like a bank teller window and spoke with the representatives on a telephone like you see in the movies when people are in prison.

First I paid for the visa, $440.00 US. Didn't expect that. My credit card burns my skin whenever I take it out of my wallet anymore from all the swiping. My own little stimulus plan for the US. You're welcome!

We waited again until being called to another window where the person on the other side of the glass looked at the paperwork to verify that everything was in order. She asked a question about Alexander, which I forget, in a pretty dispassionate tone. I answered her and then to lighten the mood a bit I said, "He a pretty good looking kid isn't he?" Kristin laughed and smacked me on the arm, "Stop!" The woman had looked at his Visa photos, but had not really "looked" at them, she was simply going through the motions. "Oh, I haven't seen him yet, I was going to ask you to bring him over." Manuela was walking him around in the stroller we borrowed from the hotel. When Manuela brought him over she smiled and said how beautiful he was.

More waiting.

I was finally called up to the window to speak with yet another person. This was the final "interview". I don't really remember what the woman asked but she wanted to see Alexander and she congratulated us and said he was beautiful. I think the whole conversation with her lasted a minute and a half. After walking away from the window I asked Manuela, "Was that the interview?" She smiled and said, "Yes, that's it!" So we'll go back to the Consulate tomorrow to pick up the visa. Manuela is going to pick us up at 9:00 am and we are going to do some sightseeing of Bogotá beforehand.

No pictures today, I brought my camera but wasn't allowed to bring it into ICBF nor the Embassy. 

Not much action during the afternoon. We walked to the supermarket to get diapers.