La Sentencia!

We signed the court documents today! It's off to Bogotá tomorrow afternoon!

Kristin and the baby stayed at the hotel while I went to sign the papers. Magnolia called and said the lawyer was coming to pick me up.

The lawyer doesn't speak English.

I don't speak Spanish.

This is going to be fun....

So our lawyer shows up in a cab and we're off to the court. It's about 90 degrees and I had put on my suit pants and a long sleeve shirt to make myself presentable to the judge. I had visions in my head of a big old beautiful courthouse (Calí has some really wonderful buildings actually) and standing in a courtroom in front of a judge with ceremonial judicial garb, being sworn in, in Spanish of course, and pledging to take care of Alexander and take him as my own son, etc, etc. We drive through a neighborhood I'm completely unfamiliar with and end up on a block that reminds me of Canal street in NYC. If you've been there, you know what I mean. If not, think of a super crowded street with a ton of crummy shops selling a bunch of junk. The cab drops us off at this building that has a rather large open storefront on the ground floor with more junk shops inside and a copy center consisting of a girl standing in a 10x10 foot room making copies and a couple of self serve copiers outside of the room. Hmmm, we must be making a stop for some reason? Remember, the lawyer doesn't speak English and I don't speak Spanish.

She's motioning to the elevator? Okay, I guess we're here? We go to the fourth floor and come to this non-descript hallway with several metal doors. I'm able to make out that each of these doors represents a different "court", the letters over the door say something about family court and each is numbered. We're standing in front of "5". Ah yes, that's the one we're assigned to.

The lawyer motions for me to wait, I think she said "Uno momento" or something. It's blazing hot, no air conditioning anywhere in this building, and we're standing in this weird hallway that looks nothing like a courthouse. Every few minutes or so the lawyer goes to door numero cinqo and pounds loudly and begins to pace. Did I mention that I don't speak Spanish and she doesn't speak English?

I feel a hand tap me on the shoulder, I turn around and it's Magnolia! Someone I can actually communicate with! Magnolia I'm so happy to see you!

Finally the door opens to reveal a pretty drab office with about four desks, three of which are empty. The fourth one is occupied with two young men that look as if you added up their ages they would be barely old enough to vote. They were talking and fooling around with each other. About four foot from the door was a diagonal counter where we stood, keeping the workers in and the people out. I asked Magnolia, "Is this the court?" She smiled and nodded. No judge, no ceremonial garb, no gavel, no court stenographer,  no sketch artist (what picture will they use for the evening news?), no bailiff, nothing. Just a plain office. I'm sweating in wool pants for this?

So a young woman finally comes over to help us, she brings over our paper work which is in a folder that is literally about 12 inches high. Uh oh, this may take a while. I wish I had my shorts on...

Magnolia and the lawyer check and double check the names and passport numbers for Kristin and I on two pages of the documents. All is good. The woman behind the counter stamps the two pages with a rubber stamp and motions for me to sign on two different lines. I do....

We're standing....waiting...waiting. Some Spanish is spoken. Waiting... I don't speak Spanish....

Finally Magnolia reveals that we are waiting for the secretary to sign the documents, she's at lunch. I ask, "Is that all that I have to sign?" I've only signed my name twice. She says in her cute Spanish accent, "Yes, oh I forgot, congratulations papa! He's now yours officially! No one can take him away from you. No way!" Magnolia is one of those people that just makes me laugh for no reason in particular, I just find myself giggling around her. We really didn't even need to stay to wait for the secretary, so we left. We'll that's it, it's official. Not really what I expected. I didn't expect a ticker tape parade with paparazzi but I expected more than this!? It was really good to get this over with though.

So it turns out that I didn't actually have to stay to get the birth certificate changed with his new name, as I thought I would, the lawyer would handle that and we'll get Alexander's passport tomorrow morning. I could go back to the hotel to take the long sleeve shirt and wool pants off. Magnolia said she would accompany me back to the hotel in a cab. No, I tell her, I can take one myself, it's not a problem. She insisted to go with. We get in a cab and the cabbie tries to take a turn Magnolia doesn't like, they spend the next ten minutes while we're driving down the road, arguing about how to get to the hotel. She explains to him several times how to get there but he is claiming that the address she has given him is wrong. "See, this is why I told you I need to go with you! He wants to go over by Chiquitines!" (An hour away) I laugh and say, "If you weren't here this cab ride would cost me $100!" "Yes, more or less!" she replies.

Once I got back to the hotel Xander, my new official son, and I went for a swim. Before we got to the pool, he threw up on me.