First of Several Trips to Guate

Today we made one of several trips to Guatemala City. Diego and I were dropped off by our faithful driver, Juan Carlos, at immigration in the city. We waited 45 minutes for our appointment...the loud sounds of traffic and buses right next to us. The immigration building was in a strip mall type situation. After meeting the lawyer at 11:15 am, we entered the building, stood in line briefly to check in, then moved to the front of the line (I guess that's the benefit of having a lawyer with you). The lawyer turned in some paperwork and within 5 minutes we were called to take Diego's passport photo. Again, a short line, and then finger prints of his tiny index fingertips and a photo. Unfortunately, he was so freaked out, I couldn't get him to smile. (BTW, I decided against the blue Patagonia outfit only because it was unseasonably warm today and that outfit is long sleeve with long pants. So, I chose a similar blue top with a cute little bear logo on it.) That was it! The lawyer waited for the passport. He needs it to process the "pink slip" - our ticket to the embassy for Diego's visa - the final step. Now, this process will take two days. One day I will go back to the city with Diego to process the paperwork and the next day I will go pick up the visa. I don't have to bring him to the city for that appointment. A trip into Guatemala City is tiring. It's a big city, much like LA, lots of traffic and takes a long time to get around. So, we returned home tired around 3:45 PM.

I probably won't hear anything about the next step until next week, so check back midweek for our hopeful date of return.