NEVER BE LATE !!

Anyone who has ever spent any time at all in Mexico, must think that is a pretty stupid statement.  Everyone is always late in Mexico (sometimes by hours, sometimes by days)  I really don't think they even bother to teach kids how to tell time in school.   Only Gringos wear a watch.   No, what I am talking about is late for an official document.  My FM3 card expired! (my permanent residency card)

I knew before I left for Japan that I had less than two weeks to renew it.  But when I got back I was faced with that mountain of furniture that needed to be unpacked and placed.  The apartment was filthy.  To complicate matters my air conditioner did not work.  It took me four days to get it repaired (at my expense) and then the water was off for two days.  It just slipped my mind.  A friend of mine reminded me the day after it had expired.

First I got the four pass port photos at Guadalaja Pharmacy that night, then got up early the following morning.  So far,  it has only rained at night, but this morning God decided to make an exception (just for me).  My closest bus stop is four blocks away.  Now I don't mind getting a little wet walking in the rain, but wading across rivers of mud is really unpleasant.

When I got to the former immigration office, I found it had moved.  Fortunately it was now located in a very nice new large office just around the corner.  The building has no signs of any kind indicating a governmental office or Immigration.  No, on the door a hand painted sign read "Push"  That is all.    Because of the rain, I had no wait at all for the first girl (I remembered her from the last time)  After scolding me about being late, she told me I would owe an additional fine (they love fines here) and I would have to write a letter explaining why I was late in renewing it (apparently just being stupid was not enough).  She also handed me the application form which was not only in Spanish, but had to be filled out in Spanish.  I don't know if it was the pained look on my face, or just my old age, but she took pity on me.  She filled out the form and wrote the letter.  But we are not done.

She also told me that I now needed to download a form from my computer and I needed some photos of my right profile as well (I guess so it will more resemble a mug shot) plus 3 months of bank statements and my electric bill.  I told her I would be back the following day, but for some reason she did not like that idea.  She said something about "10 days" but I do not know if that is how long the permit takes, or how long I wait before returning.  The bus ride back was another experience.  Again the bus stop was about four blocks away and now it is really pouring rain.  When the bus screeched to a stop in front of me, it splashed muddy water up to my knees.  When I got on I noticed that everyone was seated on one side of the bus.  Then I noticed all the wet seats on the other side.  The roof leaked  (these buses would not pass inspection in Afghanistan). 

Now to the other form that must be downloaded from the internet.  No, it is not available anywhere else, she told me.  I don't know how many of you have tried to navigate any governmental web site, but try it in Spanish.  Well, armed with my Spanish dictionary I began.  There were some areas that even with the dictionary I had no clue what they wanted, so I just left them blank and then printed out the form (how one exists here without a computer and printer, I do not know).  A few days later (with my profile photos) I went back to the office.  The same girl told me that I had printed out the wrong form.  She pointed to something on the form about "Adobe Reader".  I figured that I would have to download it, and then print out the form.  But back at home, I discovered that my printer already had the latest version of Adobe Reader, so I tried it again.  The same form came up.  I printed it out and headed back to immigration.  Again she refused the form and suggested I go to an internet shop down the street (a 15 minute walk).

There the nice man set me up at a computer and brought up the correct web site, but I got the same page.  He insisted it would be all right and asked me to fill out the form (for the third time)  Well, of course my reading glasses were left next to my computer at home.  I did the best I could and the nice man showed me that at the bottom of the page there are two little icons.  One said "limpiar"  ( knew that meant clean or erase) the other said, "guardar"  I had ignored it, but all he had to do was to click there and up pops the correct form.

I went back again to the girl at the desk and presented her with the correct form.  She then went through all my documents and discovered that I only had 3 passport photos from the front side.  I gave her my pained expression again and explained that I had 4 photos, but in shuffling back and forth three times, I must have lost one.  She said that the 3 would do (why, if 3 would do, did they ask for 4?)  Then she gave me a new number.  I had been number 4 in the morning, now I was number 33 with 6 people ahead of me.

Finally my number came up and I handed him all my stuff.  He carefully went over every line of every page.  He was particularly fascinated with my bank statement, carefully reading every debit charge (I have no idea why).  Then he discovered that while filling out the last form without my glasses, I had missed the expiration date on my passport by one day.  He said I would need a new form!  The pained expression on my face was real this time.  I told him that I had already filled out the form three times and made three trips there.  He did something on the computer and left the room.  A few minutes later he came out with the form correctly printed with the right date.  If they had the form there all along, then WHY...???  Oh well, it is Mexico.  He told me to come back on Monday at 11:00 and they would have printed out an explanation of why I was late.  I would have to sign that, take it to a bank (another 15 minute walk) and get a receipt for paying the fine.  Then I would have to wait 10 days, download another form off the computer and come back and pay the real fee.

That morning it rained (the first morning since the last time I went to immigration).  By the time I left the rain had stopped.  I explained that I had an appointment at 11:00, but NO !  I had to sign in and get a number.  When I was called up, I got the same man I had last week.  He looked over the paper he had given me on Friday, pulled out my file and had me sign a paper that I had already signed.  Then he handed me back the same paper I gave him and told me to wait 10 days and then go into the computer and download another document and then I could come in and pay the fine.  I told him that he said I could pay the fine today.  NO!  You must wait 10 days, pay the fine, then wait another 10 days to pick up the card.

When I went back, I got a different girl that did give me the paper work for my fine.  It was 1,558 pesos (more than the permit costs), but I could not pay the fine for two more days.  "NO" she said, you cannot pay the fine until Thursday and the receipt (in duplicate) must be presented to the office on the same day.  I play bridge on Thursday, so I was at the bank when it opened.  I got the receipt duplicated at the internet office I visited before and when to Immigration.  I had to take a number and wait.  The same lady took the paper work and disappeared behind the wall again.   Maybe they have coffee breaks there, but they are always disappearing behind that wall.  She reappeared and told me to come back in a week (but not before)   At that time I would be given the bill for the permit, go back to the bank to get a receipt, duplicate it and return to the office and the FM3 card would be issued.

I am going to assume that everything will go smoothly and this sage will be over  (always the optimist!).  Besides I am tired of writing about it so I am going to post this anyway.  I have to get back to my problems with the cable company, the electric company, and finding a new apartment.   There is always something to occupy my old mind.


I know what you are thinking "Why would anyone want to live in Mexico"  Well, there are compensations (like the 48 hours of no booze) and the people are basically really nice.  Dealing with anything to do with a governmental agency is very, very difficult.  But, as I have said before, these "little problems" keeps my mind active (this is important at my age).  My life here is never dull,  sometimes very frustrating, but never boring.


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