Immigration

Charlotte, Stephanie and I were walking home from the market in Parramos last week and we started reflecting on how quickly time goes here; one day it's Monday, the next is Friday, and before you know it you're at the end of the month. I pointed out that this past Monday was going to mark my three month anniversary here (3 months of 14 months is 21.5%, not that I'm counting or anything...) Very nonchalantly Charlotte asked if I had gotten my visa renewed yet. I FORGOT ABOUT MY VISA!! This is TOTALLY my fault. Two weeks ago a group of volunteers went to the capital to get theirs renewed and invited me along but it was last minute and I didn't want to cancel all the things I had planned at work without proper notice. I didn't think it was a big deal since I'm in the city several times a week for med runs; I could just do it one morning before we went to the doctor's appointments. Well things kept moving and I totally put the visa out of my mind. Good thing Guatemala is a lot more forgiving with their foreign visitors than we are at home. I ended up going this morning to immigration and got away with paying a small fine (50Q or about $6.50) on top of the charge to renew the visa for three more months (117Q or $15). They need to keep my passport for a week to "process my request" which is silly, but I go back next week to pick it up with my new extension stamp. They let you stay for three months when you arrive, then you can ask for an additional three months; after that you have to leave. I'm very happy to report that when my visa runs out in three more months I'll be high-tailing it back to NJ to spend a week or two with my family and friends, something that I'm already needing, so I can only imagine how crazy I'll be then.

Other highlights of my day include calming an angsty teenager, scheduling several more charlas (now I'm doing 4-5 a week. I'm starting to think that my med runs may soon come to an end), and then I spent five hours reading about ducks for the Livestock 101 class I'm teaching myself ;) That by far was the best part of my day. Did you know that some breeds of ducks can lay more than 300 eggs every year? That's the same as chickens!