Yes. We have lived the last 3 months as
illegal aliens in Nicaragua. Sounds exciting, huh? Well...not so much when
you find out that you can not leave the country under an expired
visa. So since December 2nd, 2014 we have been “stuck”
here, in Nicaragua, without the legal right to leave (from immigration's perspective). Not so
exciting after all.
However, today ended our adventure as
illegal aliens. We renewed our expired visas today. You may be
wondering WHY we allowed ourselves to become illegal (especially considering my over-the-top attentiveness to details). Well, you don't
plan these things. In fact, you try to avoid these things. We started our paperwork process back at the end
of October 2014 to renew our visas. We hit roadblocks and got
derailed several times. As our expiration date of December 2nd loomed in the near distance, we realized that we were going to be
late in submitting our paperwork. Unhappily, we acknowledged that we
would have to pay an monetary fine for being expired. The fact
that we were 'legally' stuck here without the ability to leave was
the most unpleasant factor...although we had no plans to
travel....but still. (The American in me screamed...."I am an American citizen...I can do whatever I want!) When January 2nd
passed us by, we started to get concerned that they (the powers-that-be at immigration) would deny our renewal and require us to start
back at the beginning...or worse...that we would face deportation!
[Seriously, I am really living this life!?!]
Well, mid-February, with the help of our amazing lawyer, Oscar, we submitted
our paperwork for visa renewal. We received an appointment to return
March 2. On March 2nd,
Oscar called and received word that we had been 'approved' but the
camera (yes, just one) used to take the visa photos were being fixed or replaced.
So, TODAY we returned and waited for 2.5 hours in a building that
looks like a giant airplane hanger and heats up like an oven. Oh, but
before arriving, we had to stop at the money changer dude that works
on the side of the Pan-American Highway to change our U.S. Dollars to Nicaraguan
Córdoba. We are fairly certain he has some sniper friend waiting
nearby...just in case.
Okay, back to the story—so, while we waited
those 2.5 hours, we people watched. We saw a woman on crutches
who only had one leg...but she wore a very high healed shoe on that
one good foot. We saw a stray cat run frantically through the building and jump
out a window (a low to the ground window). We watched as people
bought donuts from the American Donuts kiosk and wondered if they truly
tasted like American doughnuts. We interacted with a very elderly lady
who was begging amongst the masses. We watched her punch a large man
in the chest after he supposedly gave her a few coins. Not wanting
to get into a fist fight with this very spunky woman (being that we were still illegal and all), we didn't
give her any money. She told us, along with dramatic hand gestures,
that she was going to heaven and we were going to hell. That was
certainly the high-light of the morning. We finally received our
visas and left. However, before traveling home, we stopped at the
side of the road where the sidewalk lawyers and copy machine people
are set up to make copies of our newly acquired visas. Finally, we
treated ourselves to some good ol' McDonalds fare and called it a day!
I
snapped a few discreet photos with the ipad while we were there for
your viewing enjoyment!
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| The font is just a teensy bit similar to Dunkin' Donuts, dontcha think? |
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| The Immigration/Migration building |
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| Jeff and our lawyer (and Andrew) waiting in the first of many lines. |
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| The spunky, elderly lady is almost in the center of this snapshot. |
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| Finally up to the first of many windows (See Jeff's blue shirt?). |
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| Look carefully, do you see the printer set up on that wooden table? It belongs to one of the roadside lawyers. |
