Last one down

Sorry I left you hanging from my last post on the horrors of dealing with Immigration.  Last week was really busy and I didn't have time to post about it.

We got the paper, but it still didn't take 15 minutes like it was supposed to.  I am ever hopeful that one day, one of this processes will actually go according to plan....

On Monday night according to the plan, Pollito called our contact lady in the ministry to see if progress had been made.  He was told to call back in half an hour.  Half a hour later, when he called her back, it was done!!  She said that I could go directly to the window to ask for my migratory movements without having to go and ask upstairs.  Hurray for connections!!  I think.  The guys upstairs said that by Tuesday all of the paperwork would be in order anyway....but the important part is: I was cleared to pick up the paper that I had originally needed.

Unlike the first day we showed up at the ministry, today's line for the little reception window was loooooonnnng.  It took about an hour to make it to the front.  They have two windows serving all sorts of immigration paperwork stuff.  If the information is available online, then it should be a breeze to just print it off, from a machine, like they do with some birth certificates.  I get to the front, and hand in my papers.  The man at the window pecked away at his computer and squinted through his glasses for a good 10 minutes all the while shuffling papers around and peering at me and my documents.  Finally he gives me a little slip of paper with my collection number and Pollito and I breathe a sigh of relief that there were no hiccups at this point.

We bought some high quality snacks at the vending machines and sat down to wait.  They man behind the window had said that it would be like 15-10 minutes, but we had seen people waiting outside the pick-up window for a good hour, so we weren't too optimistic.  Lo and behold, in 20 minutes, the man at the pick-up window called my name along with a bunch of other people's.  We stood in line again.  I showed the man my documents and my little receipt and then he shuffled some papers and came up with a packet.  He had me sign it and then handed me another piece of people that had my migratory movements on it.

You're thinking "Thank goodness!! finally complete!", right?  WRONG.

Being the good Peruvian daughter-in-law that I have learned to be, I checked my information on the paper to make sure it was all correct before stepping away from the window.   The American in me was telling me to hurry up because there were more people in line and the learned Peruvian in me told me that it didn't matter and that I had to check my info because they buffoons could have gotten it wrong.  Pollito came up and scanned the document too, and just as I was turning away he saw it - the person who asked for the document was listed as "Elizabeth Helen Joe".  Apparently, Joe was my new last name.

GHAGHAGHAHAGH Peruvian Ministry of Immigration.  WHY is everything you do so WRONG? Thats not even the name I put on the form asking for the movements.  I put that the person asking for the papers was "Elizabeth Hatayama" and the person whose movments were being requested was "Elizabeth Helen Joe Hatayama".  Nowhere did I put "Elizabeth Helen Joe".  So we talked to the man, and were like, uhhh this is wrong you have to fix it.  And he said, no, you have to fix it, you wrote your name wrong here.  But the name I wrote and the name they put down didn't even match!  It would have been the same it they name of the person requesting the paper was "John Aaron Smith"  And they put "John Aaron"  It doesn't matter that he is requesting the movements for me.

So the man told me to just add my whole name to the line.  Then it would read "Elizabeth Hatayama Helen Joe".  Uhm... Thats not me either.  I asked him if I could make a little carrot between the names and insert the two middle names.  NO.  So he had me fill out an entire new sheet and then go back over to the drop-off window and turn in the paper again.  Then we got back in the pick-up line while they moved papers and stamps around and FINALLY I had the paper.  With all of my name written in the proper order in the proper place.

Thank you, ministry at being so inept, and then blaming the people you serve for your mistakes and then taking forever and day to get it corrected.  But really, thanks for my migratory movements.

We celebrated bye eating pan con chicharron sandwiches at this little hole in the wall and on the way home I marveled at what is by far my most favorite street in Lima because it is lined with old colonial buildings (old and dirty, but still pretty)