Busy Day

Today was a very busy day for us.  Our taxi arrived just before 7 this morning.  Our driver was very nice.  He speaks very good English and was a great tour guide.  He gave us the history of the city and explained how the addresses work here. It was fun to look around and see all of the sights.  We were fairly close to the LDS temple and could see the spire and the angel Moroni.  It was really cool.  Hopefully we will be able to go see the temple soon. At our first stop we met with a woman at a small medical clinic, we had to have our blood type to get our Colombian ID cards.  She was great, she was able to get our blood with one stick.  We only had to wait about 5 minutes to get the results and then it was on to the next stop.  We met Soraya at the visa office.  We went upstairs and she spoke to the security guard.  She gave me instructions and then I had to go in by myself.  I was a little nervous, but they had a big TV that had the instructions in English and Spanish.  The security guard was really nice and checked on me too.  He would ask if I was okay and give me the thumbs up sign.  The man that helped me with my visa was very nice too.  He started speaking to me in Spanish and then asked if I spoke Spanish. I said "no" and so he said "well how about English?"  He was very nice and I was able to get through the process fairly quickly.  When I exited the building, I called Soraya to let her know I was done.  She and Ben had gone to the ATM while I was inside.  Next we walked to a little tiny shop and pushed our way to the back.  There was a woman at a really small table with a lap top and an ancient digital camera.  I sat on a tiny stool and looked at the camera.  She took my picture and then we pushed our way back out of the store.  We waited for a while until our photos were ready.  Once they were ready, we headed back to the car.  We made our way a little further into town and parked at one of the small pay lots.  We walked to the immigration office and showed our passports and documents.  We then were given an application to fill out, then we gave the man at the desk our passports, documents, application and pictures.  He put them together and then sent us upstairs.  Once upstairs, we waited and tried to keep Diego happy.  He was tired and hungry and starting to melt down.  We kept giving him snack's and drinks and toys to play with.  Ben and I took turns distracting him and chasing him around.  A man called us back one at a time.  We sat on a row of chairs and they took our picture and then we were fingerprinted.  After signing our name on an electronic pad, we were told to go sit down and wait again.  Ben was called up to pay for our ID cards and then we waited some more.  They finally gave us our passports back with stamps in them and then we were told to check their website in 3 working days to see if our cards are ready, and then we can go back to pick them up.  Next we were off to find a notary.  Notaries are a big deal here, we didn't have to walk too far to find one.  We showed our passports and documents again and then signed our paper work.  We waited for a while and chased Diego some more.  A few tantrums later and we were finally done with everything.  We waited for our taxi to come and pick us up.  Diego grabbed my hand and snuggled up to me on the way back.  He fell asleep almost immediately and slept all the way home.  When we arrived back home, Diego went right to bed and took a really long nap.  Ben and I were too tired to bother with lunch so we shared the rest of the potato chips and ate a piece of candy and then we both crashed out too.  It was a very long, busy, stressful morning.  Thankfully all of our problems and issues with the visa and our blood typing are all taken care of.  The rest of the day was spent playing outside.  We Skyped with the kids and had a quick dinner.  Then it was shower time and bed time for Diego.  Tomorrow will be our free day where we will try and see some of the sights.  I am grateful that everyone that helped us today were so nice.  They are very kind and tolerant of our Spanglish.  Now it is time for some TV and a snack.