The first thing I do when I wake up after spending my first night in BsAs is go to the Brazilian Embassy. Kasia and I plan to get to Brazil by March 1st and it’s a 44 hour bus ride so we have to leave by the 25th of February to arrive on time and explore the city before Carnaval starts.
At the embassy I go on the computer to make an appointment and the first available appointment is 3/1. Well, this is a problem. Because, if we wait until 3/1, it will then take 2-3 days to get the Visa after the appointment and then the bus ride that it will no longer make sense to go to Carnaval.. it will almost be over by the time we get there!
So we go to the counter.. side step.. Kasia is a strong, loud and sometimes very obnoxious chica. She will fight and not hear what you have to say and just keep arguing her point. Sometimes she gets results sometimes it’s a disaster. She comes to the window with me, because he Spanish is ten times better then mine and the woman is speaking Spanish and starts to argue with her about the VISA and I need a new appointment, etc. The woman doesn’t have much fight left in her since it’s the end of the day and basically says we can come back BUT there is no guarantee that she will see me.
SO that afternoon I must get all the paperwork needed for the appointment.
1. A copy of the bank statement
2. An address where I will be staying
3. My passport, obviously
4. And.. OI.. tickets showing that I am going INTO and OUT OF brazil.
Well, this causes a real problem. Tickets are expensive and I have no idea where im going after brazil. Victor has been telling me he will join me there but most recently his mother got very ill and his assistant was sent to jail so he is up in arms between work and family. So I write the letter. The dreaded letter. Goes something like this:
Victor, I am about to make whatever we have go from fantasy to reality in 2 short seconds; hold on and breathe…
I go on to explain the situation and say im terribly sorry that this is such bad timing for you considering what is happening and blah blah blah but I need to know because I will make other plans if you are not ready for me to come to Colombia in the middle of next month. In case you don’t know, he has been writing to me telling me he wants to live with me and be with me and …… ya know.
I was petrified, because as most women know, the last thing a man wants is pressure. The last thing I want is to have to create a whole new plan. Its not easy traveling and not knowing where I will be next. Its fun to an extent but its really fucking hard too.
So.. panic, panic, nervous, upset, over it, panicked.
Go online half an hour later and he is online.. I write to him immediately and say, “now are you scared?” and he writes back one sentence (something like this):
“silly, shy girl. You make me laugh. You go round and round in circles to finally get to the conclusion that I want anyway.”
We write a little more and he says to me that he will never do something he doesn’t want to do and he will always be honest about what he wants and he wants that I come whenever I’m ready whether its from Argentina tomorrow or brazil in a month. Wow. He has no fear about my leaving, no fear about my meeting someone else or forgetting about him because he knows that if I do, then we are not meant to be together.
Anyway, I realize 2 minutes later that I do not have to book a flight out of the country right this minute but I can buy a bus ticket and then return it for only losing 10%. Why can I never do my research before I panic? But it was good that I know how he feels.
So that’s what I do. Thursday morning at 7 I leave the house where im staying and take the subway to the bus station, by my there and return ticket.. 88 hours on a bus.. AHHHH!!! And head to the embassy.
The trick:
When I get there, there are loads of other tourists who have come to try to change their appointment. They are also aggressive and pushy and try the “im going to cry” approach. What do I do? I make sure im at the office first. I let this woman see me (she looks like Josephine if anyone knows her!) and then I go sit down.
(Finally these ugly green glasses pay off because everyone in South America tags me as the girl with the green glasses.)
I wait 2 hours, crocheting, reading my book, and in this time the woman and the guard are going off the hook yelling at people and trying to get them to leave because they are trying to sneak in before their appointments and they are yelling back and its just a whirlwind. At one point I think I should go home because this woman is not happy. Finally at 11 people stop coming into the office and the line lessens and I stand up and walk quietly over there. I make sure not to speak to anyone or do anything. I just wait. 2 girls are before me and they go to the window. They are American, in college and have an appointment for 3/2 and their flight is 3/5. They start to plead with “Josephine” and beg and finally the woman has had enough. This woman who speak very poor English stands up from behind her “encasing” and shouts…
WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE? YOU WANT ME TO DEFY MY BOSS.. MY BOSS who is the brazilian government?!?! You want me therefore to defy my government so tha you 2 Americanas can go to my country for a vacation. Don’t you dare ask me to turn my back on my government for you. you are so full of yourselves. It takes your country months to hand out a visa, it takes us ONE DAY and you still cannot wait. Why are you so important.. GET OUT”
So obviously, now I’m a little shaken. I have to decide (since im next and last on line) do I go or do I not go? I just saw this woman’s fangs and I’m freaking out a bit. I approach her and very quietly say (by the way.. do you see that most countries hate Americans.. its not Americans as much as it’s the government and its because our government treats their people like shit most of the time when they are applying and charge heavy fees and make them wait days, weeks or months and also because a lot of Americans feel privileged and that they are better then everyone else and they an work there way through anything, and it makes other people PISSED OFF! As you can see.)
Where was I? yes.. I walk up to Jo and I say in my retarded Spanish. Hola, vino ayer y me dijo que puede regressar hoy dia. Llegue a las 9 y esperi para todo de los gentes a salir antes do viniendo a su ventana. Tengo mis boletos, tengo todo” Well, this woman just started ranting and raving and shouting in Spanish.. but not at me, about the girls who she just yelled at and were waiting behind me to see what would happen. And then she says in English, why,, why these Americans? And then she takes me passport and says, “oh. You’re American too?” and I nod slowly and steadily and she takes my things and starts jammering away and saying things mostly of which I don’t understand but something along the lines of.. “im going to do this for you but its also to teach those girls a lesson that they cant just come here when they want and I get to decide who comes and who doesn’t and if I want to be nice to someone and they need to learn manners and im sick of this and then she smiles at me and says, OK.. you’re done.. make sure they see that you have your VISA.
Of course I didn’t have it exactly, I still had to go to the bank and pay about $150 to get it and return the next day (today) to pick it up.. but they knew right away that she took my passport and I was through. They were flabbergasted, I was happy and restful since I really didn’t stress over anything and well, Brazil, here I come!
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