Today was the big day for us! Time to meet the attorney. And then head on over to Immigrations to apply for our Temporary Visa. Since we had been to Riba Smith's last night, we ate our yogurt and left way too early for the office. Our appointment was at 8:30am. We decided to take a cab rather than walk, because we were told walking would make us "sweaty" by the time we got there. (We asked the nice woman at the front desk in the lobby.) The cab ride was $7 and took maybe five minutes (no traffic). We waited the forty minutes out in Hashtag Café eating fresh fruit, and I had the best Chai Tea ever!
Once on the 23rd floor of the Citicorp building, we were ushered into the offices of Fonseca and Associates (Mario Fonseca is our attorney. We also met Ricardo Martinelli, an associate who came it to meet us, but Mario and his father run the practice. Heidi is the attorney that Ray has emailed regularly also.). A great team of dedicated attorneys. Ray just went to sit down in the chair of the reception area when he remembered what he forgot. The cashiers check. "Oh, S---." We had had so much time to kill drinking Chai and eating fruit, and this is when he remembered that he had moved papers to one notebook, but he didn't move the check.
Fortunately, us not bringing the check didn't set us back this morning. We have to see the attorneys again, so they know they will be seeing the check (they will be holding our passports for two or so days). Here's pretty much what transpired in the attorney's office. Our documents were reviewed, more papers were signed, Ray had to sign a "I am responsible for Allison" paper or something like that, and then Heidi took us away. First, we had to pick up our health certificates. Heidi drove us to the doctor's office, and next thing we know, Heidi had certificates in hand. Then, we arrived to the Immigrations Office at 10:30. We stopped at a "kiosk" on the sidewalk to have pictures taken and printed out (four of them for $8) and two documents were printed out ($2). We did not pay anything out of pocket, because Mario does not invoice us here and there. His fee is one flat cost, end of story. Once in the Immigrations' building we stood on line to get a number. We were given Z074, and Heidi said "Z" is for Retirees. (They don't want the retirees to have to stand around and wait too long. The "Z's" get called quickly.). Ray and I quickly filled out the paperwork that Heidi had just had printed out on the sidewalk, and we waited. We waited for 2 hours and 15 minutes. Our number was called. I really do feel for those employees! There aren't enough of them obviously, and they have a lot of paperwork to stamp and staple along with happy and not so happy people waiting for their number to be called. We were in the basement without windows (some vending machines and bathrooms--no toilet paper here though, but clean), and there was a persistent ding dong. Every time a new number was pulled, a ding dong buzz would sound. The numbers show up on a TV screen. If you are by yourself, it doesn't seem like you could even read a book, because our eyes were all glued to that TV screen. We sat down at #Z066. Finally, #Z074 shows up and the buzz goes off. Up to the window we went (Heidi was already there hanging around waiting for her attorney friend to finish up with #Z073), where we were again asked to right our parents names down in full (it was typed on documents and written on papers, but we did what we were asked to do). Our height, hair color and eye color were asked for (doesn't show up clearly on passports, I guess), fingerprints were scanned, thumbs were stamped on ink and onto forms, passport was registered, and then pictures were taken. Heidi went around the corner to pay, and off we went. On the sidewalk, Heidi had our now registered page of our passports printed out, so she can then get them notarized (this CANNOT be done at a roadside stand). Back to the car to pay the parking fee of $8 (Heidi took out a $100 bill causing me to think that four hours of parking was $108, but it was that she didn't have change.). Ray and I were in our hotel room, exhausted for doing nothing, at three pm. What just happened here! Tomorrow Heidi will process the application (or finalize it), we will go back to the Immigrations Office (OH NO) to have pictures taken for our visa (now that the passports have been notarized since they were registered) at, I don't know what time, and then I think our passports are kept for another day.
Now a little hungry, Ray and I scarfed down some snacks we had bought last night, and then instead of napping, we decided to go to Lenos Y Carbon in the mall for dinner. It was close and sufficient. We shared an appetizer platter of sausage, steak, chicken and pork and called it a day after having ice cream at Riba's. A lot of sitting with a little bit of mall walking. Blog posting with Ray snoozing here and there, and I am done! I haven't a clue what tomorrow will bring, but I do have great restaurant ideas (Mario gave us wonderful recommendations). Bedtime 9:00.
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