On The Road for Residency...

On the Road for Residency...

     As with most things worth having in life, registering for residency was not an easy task. We made sure that we had all of our 'i''s dotted and our 't''s crossed. We had extra apostilled copies of every document that the lawyers had told us to acquire. We had our cash ready to pay for the process. With all of this, we were off to Cuenca to register...

     We arrived bright and early as instructed, documents, passports and cash all on hand. Our lawyers even had their assistant accompany us, just in case. We took our number and all sat down and waited to be called. The assistant even grabbed a number a few higher than ours, just in case we had an issue and had to get back in line.

     After a three hour wait, our number is finally called! We eagerly rush up to counter, ready for anything. The clerk behind the counter is very friendly and speaks good English, which helps us to feel at ease. She begins a very thorough and detailed look at each of our documents. She pauses on our son Anthony's passport and sets it to the side. She looks up and compliments us on doing a very good job on our documents, BUT it seems that when we entered the country, the officer accidentally put an extra digit in Anthony's passport number when he stamped it (a common occurrence we were told). So, we would have to go to Quito or Guayaquil to have this straightened out. She told us that then, we could return and register for residency.

      To make a long story short, we took care of Anthony's passport issue. It took about seven days to get him registered properly as a tourist in Ecuador. With this taken care of, we were off to Cuenca for our second attempt to register for residency...

   

Second verse, same as the first! We arrive bright and early with our documents, passports and cash. Our lawyers themselves, actually have joined us this time! Both are blending in and feel confident that everything will go smoothly this time. Our number is called and off to the counter we go. With smiles on our faces we hand over our documents and ask to apply for residency.

     We have a different clerk this time, but she is just as friendly and also speaks very good English. Our confidence level rises. She begins the very intense detailed research into our documents as the previous lady had done. We smile and wait patiently. Some time goes by, as she goes back and fourth over our documents. Finally, she sets both Shar and my police background checks to the side (both were clean) and both of our passports. She says that she cannot approve our application.

     Our lawyer jumps into action! He insist on knowing why our documents are no good "now" when two weeks ago they were perfect, except for our sons passport issue, which we have now straightened out! The clerk stands her ground and says that her supervisor will not let this pass. Our lawyer demands to see the supervisor. The man approaches and the two of them begin a very lengthy conversation. After a few moments, our lawyer tells the man to explain to us, in English, why we are being refused.

     The man explains to us, in English, that there is a small lapse in between our "five year" criminal background check, which both were clean, and the time that we re-entered Ecuador. He said, of course, it would be illogical to think that we would have committed any crimes during such a short span of time, but he still would not approve our application. Our lawyer insist that he put this in writing, but the man refuses. 

     Our lawyer informs us that the man's refusal to put it in writing, shows that he knows he is in the wrong. He wants to fight it with an appeal to prevent it from happening to anyone else, but our documents were too close to expiring at this point. Our lawyer informed us, that in Quito, this would not be an issue and we are advised to travel to Quito to apply and soon, as time was running out on our apostilled documents and our tourist stamps.

     So, another trip is planned, this time to the capital city of Quito. We arrive safely and without incident and get a good nights rest before heading downtown to meet with our lawyers assistant. We meet on the corner of 6 de diciember and la ninã and off to the Office of Foreign Affairs we go!

     As soon as we walked into the place, we felt good! The assistant had half of the staff greet her as if she were an old friend. She had us sit down as she went to work. This woman was amazing! She was handling three cases at once and kicking ass at it! About thirty minutes go by, when she comes up to us and tells us to goto window number four for identification. We do as we are told and return to our seats. A few minutes go by and she comes and asks for the $150 ($30 x 5) application fee. We hand it over. She runs and pays the clerk and we are called up to take our photographs for our Cedulas!

     The assistant comes over and tells us, "that's it"! We can go enjoy the city and Nelson and Grace would be in touch with us when our Cedulas were ready to be picked up.

     Wow! The exact same documents, shot down twice at the Cuenca office after two trips and hours of waiting were just accepted in Quito in less than an hour. Third time really is the Charm it would appear, at least, as far as immigration is concerned.

    Until next time, when we hope to start blogging about everyday life here in the valley, peace, love and happiness to you and yours from the Jones Family!

Cuenca, the city that almost won our heart...(part 1)

 Shar and I touched down in Cuenca around noon time. We had shared a brunch of chicken fingers in Guayaquil before boarding the plane so neither of us were really all that hungry. We quickly exited the plane and made our way off of the runway, gathered our gear and immediately went in search of water! We didn't have to hike too far as there are several stores right around the airport.  We found a smaller mall and decided to go inside to both purchase water and to just cool off and get our bearings. We enjoyed our water and consulted the email from La Posada del Angel along with the small map of Cuenca in Lonely Planet. Well, being full of energy, adrenaline or just plain sheer sense of adventure, we decide, hey, let's hike to the hosteria! So out of the mall and into the streets of Cuenca we go, (fully armed with all of our gear and our handy Lonely Planet guide)!

What a great hike! The people were all very friendly, most smiling and saying, "¡Hola!" as we passed by. We really became totally involved with just admiring all that there was to see. You could see majestic mountains in every direction! There was an older section and a newer section, both were just as impressive. We quickly noticed that the map we had been following had the legend covering a very vital part of the map, at least as far as where we were wanting to be. We felt confident with our sense of direction and just kept hiking in what we thought was the right direction. The key word here is "thought", one should always be sure of their direction. At this particular time on our journey, Shar and I were less than 100% sure of where we were, exactly, so we just kept hiking and smiling. As we started to notice some very angry clouds rolling in over the mountains, we knew it was time to admit defeat and at the very least, stop and ask someone for some directions. Just as we came to this brilliant stroke of genius, we notice a "Kwik~E~Mart", not just similar to the one from the Simpsons, but as far as we could tell, it was THE Kwik~E~Mart from the Simpsons! We ask the very nice man at the gas pumps if he has any idea where La Posada del Angel was as we showed  him the address that we had copied from the email. The man held his head and said, "Oh no, this is far, you are better taking the bus or taxi!". Yes, we had just gotten to know Cuenca, up close and personal by walking twelve miles in the wrong direction. Oh well, we missed the rain and saw a great deal of the city. We hailed a Taxi and were quickly loaded up and on our way to our destination.

We knew that we must have hiked pretty far as our cab ride back was an astronomical $4.00! We were thankful and paid without trying to barter. We grabbed our gear and walked into La Posada del Angel to check in. We headed upstairs to our room to put everything away, take a quick shower and headed back out to see more of the city! We were hooked, man! What a great city Cuenca is to just walk around and look at stuff! There was so much from old to new and everything in between. Walking around Cuenca was a visual treat for the eyes and a stimulating start to many a great conversation. 

From the advice of the front desk, we decided to walk down and have dinner at Cafe Eucalyptus. We were very glad that we did! Great food and super friendly staff. I had a petite sirloin with fries and Shar enjoyed the most delectable dish of shaved rare tenderloin with tomatoes and onions and topped with fresh Parmesan cheese.  After enjoying an incredible meal, we were ready to walk some more, mostly to work off some of that fabulous meal! The city was just as beautiful at night!

As we started to wind down, we began to work our way back to La Posada del Angel and maybe a night cap at the artisan Italian restaurant downstairs, Mangiare Bene. Are we ever glad that we did! The restaurant served some incredibly authentic Italian dishes and without a doubt the best tiramisu that either of us had ever tried! It was so delicate that it literally dissolved on our tongues! We finished up with a Club Grande and headed up to our room.

We found the streets deserted and quiet and our beds warm and comfortable! Ahhh, Life is Good! Tomorrow we dine on Coy!...