I was going to write a series of episodes recounting my experiences in the B0livian migrations office but in reality the whole process was more tedious and inefficient than amusing. On Monday morning after a weekend of niggling doubt I arrived at the migrations office at 8am.I was relieved to see the officer who had relieved me of my passport sitting behind a dinosaur of a computer in a crumpled, poorly tailored suit. At least it had n0t been a scam. The procedure one was supposed to follow was very unclear and neither the people milling about in the various offices nor the employees themselves seemed to know the correct procedures. This was not stand in a neat line, take a number, and be served in turn. It more resembled total chaos where one part of the task would be completed and then a completely different task for a different person would be begun. I ran up and down stairs, got photocopies, waited in various rooms and after 4 hours (causing me to completely miss my Spanish class) I was told to come back tomorrow to get my passport.
The next day I returned to the office 3 times (a 20 minute walk each way from my hotel but seriously I have nothing better to do) before I found it open. After much waiting they told me that I would have to come back tomorrow but then relented and told me to wait 15 more minutes. Finally, almost 100 hours after it had been confiscated, my passport was returned to me with a nice pretty visa saying I can stay here until December...I asked for January but I think I need to spend some quality time with my passport before I surrender it again.
Because I missed my class on Monday I have to make it up on Thursday. I really don´t want to do this as it will delay my departure for Villa Tunari until Friday and I am already feeling that it is time to move on from Cochabamba. Cochabamba is a nice city but I have not met anybody here (except for two Aussies in the migrations office who are headed to Villa Tunari tomorrow) and I don´t feel very stimulated. I am looking forward to moving on.
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