Finally a Resident

Prior to moving to Ecuador, we had begun the process to obtain permanent residency visas with an attorney in Quito, Gabriella Espinosa. On August 1, Mick received an email informing him that our visas would be ready in 15 days. In September, Mick sent our passports to Gabriella via TAME airlines. The same day, we transferred the balance of money owed to her account.

For days we heard nothing. Mick emailed to make sure that she did get the passports, to which she affirmatively responded. In the meantime, our crates are in Guayaquil, waiting for documents to be sent to customs. The shipping agent had been advised to contact our attorney, who did not respond to him either.

On August 24, Gabriella finally responded and said that our passports would be stamped on the following Monday. Once again, the communication died. This past Monday, I called, since emails were basically ignored. She said that the passports were being stamped that afternoon. We made an appointment for 9AM on Wednesday. Mick went to the airport and purchased our tickets for Wednesday. Later that afternoon, I once again asked that she contact our shipping agent to inform him about our visas. The reply that I received was to "Nancy" and that she had forgotten that she had court at 8:30 and would not be able to see us until 10AM.

The big morning arrived. Mick and I left the apartment at 5AM. Here's Mick waiting outside the airport.
Our flight was at 6:30 and left 10 minutes early. Aero Gal is obviously never been trained by Delta or USAir. As the plane is about to depart, the employees line up in view of the plane.

The short flight to Quito was spectacular. These are views of Cotapaxi.

More snow.

I'm not sure if this is Guagua Pichincha or Tungarahua.

Quito is in sight.

After arriving in Quito, we were extremely early and went to the J.W. Marriott for breakfast. The weather was such that we dined in the garden.

There are always huge bouquets of roses adorning this hotel. Wednesday was no exception. This was a variety that I had never seen; the varigated blooms were stunning.

We got to Gabriella's office shortly after 9. Her secretary informed us that everything was good to go with our documents, with the exception of our paying $700 in taxes. My mouth fell open and begin to inform her that we'd paid in full. She had to call and confirm with Gabriella.

We were escorted on our way by one of Gabriella's employees, Raul. The first stop was across from El Jardin Mall. When we arrived at the Senso office, Raul told us to have a seat. He stood around near the desk of one fellow for a while. Numbers were being posted; we didn't have a number. After about 30 minutes, Raul brought us a number. The waiting room became more and more packed. This is Mick waiting patiently at the Senso office.

We finally received our Sensos around 12:30 and discovered that a Cuban woman was piggybacking with us. Nothing was ever said regarding this, she just got into our cab. I asked if she was a client of Gabriella's to which she replied, "si".

At the office for cedulas, we were given numbers 1 and 2. The Cubana was #3. I was listening for our numbers to be called, in that it was verbal and not a posting system. In the meantime, the Cubana was on the phone with someone and passed it to Raul for directions to where we were. Numbers 4, 5, 6 were called. I went to Raul and asked about our numbers; he said we just had to wait for them to be called. It was imperative that we make our 6:05 flight back to Cuenca. The numbers continued being called. In a few minutes another Cuban arrived; Mick said that she referred to him as "Poppy". Suddenly, after his arrival, numbers 1 and 2 were called. At this station, we had to review our biographical information. We were checked off and given another number.

When we made our way to the other area, number 698 had just been posted; our numbers were 783 and 784. Mick went in search of coffee. This area moved quickly and by 3 PM, we had completed the process. Our cedulas would be ready to pick up on Wednesday. In the phone conversation with Gabriella, she had stated that we could either return to Quito to pick up the cedulas or we could give her power of attorney to pick them up. After we completed the work for cedulas, I asked Raul where the documents were for us to sign for Gabriella. Raul informed me that we had to take care of that in Cuenca. We would have to get someone to write the document, then take it to a notary to be legalized, and then send it to Gabriella in Quito.

I was furious because it seemed that the task was incomplete. Mick said that we paid her to get our visas and therefore shouldn't complain. Gabriella had done her job. Perhaps that is true; however, there was missing information regarding the complete process.

We hailed a cab and after a very long day, were on our way to the airport. A torrential storm came up and the airport closed for about an hour. It was almost 7:30when we arrived in Cuenca.

On Thursday, Mick met with Henry's brother-in-law, Paolo, who is an attorney, and will write the needed document. It must then be notarized and sent to Quito.

At last we have our permanent resident visas. It was a big day for us and a celebration was due. We had dinner at La Terrace with Henry.

In actuality, the wait for our documents has not been so long. We began our process in mid June. Our anxiousness arises from the fact that we have 2 crates that have been sitting in Guayaquil for over a month. Hopefully, we'll have them in a couple of weeks, surely they'll be here before Christmas.

Until next time,

Mick and Kathy