28 International Nightmare (11132009)

And how I wish the title of this blog were true. I wish I just had the nightmare. Instead, I have more so experienced an international reality: CHAOS in paperwork.

Before I get to that story, though, I will tell you about my day. The entire morning and a large part of the afternoon, I spent between embassies in Nairobi dealing with people, problems and paperwork. (That is what I will explain next.) Later in the afternoon, I had some time to relax back in my room and actually do some thinking. Like I mentioned in yesterday’s blog, I am living on my own here and much to many of your all’s surprise probably, I am really enjoying it. I am able to think. I haven’t had time to think in forever, it seems. I am excited about time to process, wonder, pray and dream about what I am learning and about what the future holds.

For dinner, I was picked up by some new friends here who took me and a few other people to have dinner at their house. They are from the States and have lived here for a long time, so there was much to learn from them! I had some great foods from the South and thought it all quite wonderful, really. It was also good to have some other contacts in the area.

And now... the story of my international reality:

In case I haven’t told you, I am traveling for three weeks in Africa and then, as a vacation, I am flying south to Cape Town, South Africa to board a cruise ship. Wild, I know. As I am sure would be quite apparent to you, if you know me, I cannot afford such a thing. Rather, I will be boarding the ship to meet someone I have been missing a TON for the last several months... a best friend I really hate living without. Yes, you all know, I am sure... it is Tripp. He has been working on Regent Seven Seas Voyager for the last several months (tripparoundtheworld.blogspot.com) as a singer and dancer on board and because of his position, clever networking and irresistible charm, he has managed to get me on the ship. I told you... this is all quite wild. Welcome to my life. :)
So now the nightmare part: I was looking at the cruise details (in fine print, mind you) online three days before departing for Africa when I read that I needed visas before boarding the ship. My African visas I had planned to get upon arrival and thought I could do the same for the one I needed for the cruise. After a few more clicks online, though, I learned that I definitely needed a visa for Brazil before boarding the ship. (The cruise goes from Cape Town to Rio de Janeiro.)

International phone calls to and from Tripp, my travel agent and the Brazilian and US embassies and consulates provided little hope. After this 2 PM discovery a few days before I left, I was on the phone till midnight talking to many computers and learning that no one wanted to help me. Finally... at MIDNIGHT, I called a place in California (that was closing at 9 PM their time) and made contact with a girl who told me that there is a Brazilian embassy in Kenya. I would have NEVER thought of exploring such an option. So, I went to bed and set an alarm for 2 AM (9 AM Kenya time) and called the Brazilian embassy office in Nairobi right when they opened. It was now Friday before I had planned to leave on Sunday. A Kenyan man at the embassy answered the phone and told me it takes ten days to process a visa if nothing goes wrong. I told him that I would need it in five or six days, at the most. He said it was possible. I took those words and grasped tightly. I emailed to him pdf files of NINE documents that he requested from me and told him that I would be at the Brazil Embassy immediately upon my arrival to Nairobi. And then, I flew from the States the Sunday a few days later, with NO visa in hand, NO way home unless God provided.

So now we can get to the current story. I did as I said and went to the embassy yesterday, immediately upon arrival... before even going to the guest house! I dropped off the documents and learned that the policy had changed: I NEEDED ANOTHER DOCUMENT. I needed a letter of introduction from the US embassy that stated my passport was valid and that I, indeed, am a US citizen (isn’t that what my passport is, anyways?), stamped and sealed. To say I was fighting an uphill battle was an understatement. So, I arranged for a ride to take me to the US embassy in the morning, right when they opened. I went to bed and slept, knowing I couldn’t do anything until... the next day:

Here is the account of my quest for a South American visa from Africa for a North American citizen, a visa that costs 13,000 Kenya shillings (a couple hundred USD) and requires 11 documents... more on the extra documents below:

• 7:20 AM - Meet taxi driver for the place I am staying outside. Ride with him in his minibus to pick up nine students for school.
• Arrive at the US Embassy, consular entrance.
• Get turned away and directed to walk a block to the US Embassy entrance.
• Talk to and pass first security guard who directs me to a group of three security guards... still in the parking lot.
• Talk to them, have them throw their magic security wand over me and check my bags and get directed to a glass window, still outside.
• Talk to the person at the window and get sent BACK to the consular entrance.
• Talk to security again at this first entrance, who now knows my name because they radioed ahead to tell them to let me through.
• Endure security checks: my bag... again, wand over me... again, a look at my passport... again and answer about my business there... again. (Security is really high at the US Embassy here since it was bombed several years back.)
• Walk down a LONG covered path to a locked door.
• Get admitted through the door to a security room. (I am really not kidding about any of this.)
• Give them my bag and satellite phone.
• Walk through a security door and watch my stuff go through a security belt.
• Leave the room to go back outside and walk another long path... without my phone. (Phones aren't allowed so they checked it.)
• Get to another locked door. Ring to get in and walk into a room FULL of people waiting. Seriously. About 60 chairs and ALL full.
• Get asked my business, again... and sent to a small room with NO ONE waiting. This was the American citizen room. :) Finally, they trust me I guess, since I am an American.
• Take a number and wait... for a long time.
• After the person in front of me, get admitted to a small room (like one you'd see if you were a prisoner talking to your visitor) and talk into a microphone about my business. I needed a letter of introduction from the US Embassy telling the Brazilian Embassy that my passport was legitimate and that I was a real person, I suppose. (Keep in mind, I spent a couple hours in the Brazil Embassy yesterday turning in NINE forms, pictures and documents only to be told the policy had changed and they now need my letter from the US government or embassy. We need not forget out crazy this all is.)
• Talk to the woman through the glass window who tells me they don't do individual letters and she has never heard of such a thing. She goes to talk to her boss and is gone about 15 minutes. I am left waiting in this small room. Her boss comes back to talk to me.
• Get handed a sheet of paper with the American Consular Services (he is the chief of it) phone number on it. He says he doesn't know what the Brazil Embassy needs. He tells me to have them call him. I then told him I MUST have the visa by next Thursday at the latest or I can't get home. I explain that Brazil is my connection back to the States. He apologizes and highlights a phone number on the paper and tells me to call that number if/when I get stuck in Africa next week.
• Leave the US Embassy and go back through all security. Check my phone back out and go back through more security.
• Run to the Brazil Embassy. Really... I ran. They are about half a mile apart in the least.
• Am greeted at the Brazil gate by their guard... HE GREETS ME BY NAME since I was there so much yesterday.
• Get sent to the receptionist who calls the person down who is helping me get a visa. I sit and wait... long time, again.
• Am greeted by my contact at the Brazil Embassy. I explain what the US Embassy said and he calls them. THEY DON'T ANSWER. He said he would wait 15 minutes and try again. He tries AGAIN and the chief of consular services is still not there. At this point, you know I love how much my US services abroad are helping me get back home. He keeps trying and talks to two different people there. Neither of them help him.
• Wait a couple hours, reading a book in the waiting area, only to see someone come in and get turned away who wanted a visa processed for next week. At this point, I am feeling really good about things. (That was sarcasm. It was quite the opposite. I was praying hard.)
• Am told that I could go back and try to talk to them again, but that he will try again. Every time he tries, he is back in his office a long time. Then, he tells me if it processes that I will have to go to the Commercial Bank of Africa, a five minute walk down the road. There, I will pay 13,000 Kenya shillings and get a receipt to bring back to the Brazil Embassy to pick up my visa. It's still not guaranteed, though... he is just informing me. He goes back to his office saying he will walk me there and show me where it is since he is getting ready to walk there quickly.
• Wait again, realizing I shouldn't walk with him there. Even though I have been in contact with him a TON, he is still a stranger.
• As my back out plan: call my taxi driver on the desk worker's cell phone. My taxi driver says he can be there in 30 minutes, at 11:45.
• Side note: US Embassy hours on Fridays are 8-10 AM and Brazil Embassy hours on Fridays are 9-NOON.
• Tell my Brazil contact I can't go with him because my taxi driver is coming. He then tells me I need 3 things, not just the 1. They are: 1) the letter from the US that seems impossible to get; 2) my bank statement proving I have money, printed at my bank in the States, signed, stamped and scanned by them, then emailed directly to my Brazil contact; 3) an itinerary for the ship FROM the ship that says when my ship ports to prove I am not on Brazil soil more than 10 days. Nice. I have hope, though, because I can do these things.
• Call my taxi back and tell him I'll be at the US Embassy instead.
• Run, again, back to the US Embassy, eating my only granola bar I brought this morning as I run.
• Arrive at the US Embassy at 11:30, knowing I need to be out by 11:45 when my taxi comes.
• Go through security points again... they all know me by name here now, too. However, I still go through security... a bit lighter, but not much. I won't put in all of these checkpoints again, but it was long like above.
• Continue getting closer to the consulate office by telling them that the chief is expecting me. (The chief had said I could come anytime before noon since he was staying late that day.)
• Get in the main room and there are still about eight people left. The American room is empty and the lights are off in the glass window room and the shade is pulled. I am told to wait there again.
• Get worried my taxi driver will have left me around noon so I ask the security guard if he will listen for my name and explain the situation to the chief if I am called.
• Run out, through security, to see if my taxi driver is there. He is not. I ask one of the gate guards if someone has come for me. We talk a minute and he is a bit confused. We watch a car fender bender happen and talk about that and then I talk to the three security guards at the front of the consular gate I just ran out of if they have seen a taxi come up and leave. They say no. I ask where I can use a phone. About a block away is a restaurant getting ready to open. They send me there.
• Run into the restaurant and ask the man folding napkins if I could please use his phone. He says yes. I explain things to my taxi driver who says he will take his time in coming and that he was running late anyways. I tell him I will come as fast as I can.
• Run back through security again... they love me now and smile as I go through and they kind of go through the motions :). They have kept my phone checked this time since they knew I would come back.
• Wait in the American room again and talk to the security guard who was helping me there.
• Get called up at the "all other countries" window and they tell me the chief is working on my letter. YES.
• Wait... long time, again.
• Get called up and handed a letter from the US Embassy to the Brazil Embassy, stamped, sealed and placed in my hand. Success. One of three tasks complete.
• Run outside to find my taxi driver still not there. The three security guards have been on the lookout and say he never came. They send me back to the restaurant.
• Enter the restaurant and ask again, for the man's phone. His phone is out of credits and he says he will buy more for me to use them. He says he will be right back and in about five minutes, he comes back. I call my taxi driver and he says he is almost there.
• Go outside and the gate security workers come out to wait for my taxi with me! They are talking to me and loving the whole story. They wave goodbye and I get in the car with my taxi driver.
• Drive to the Brazil Embassy and run to the gate. The gate worker says I am late because the office is closed. I tell him who I am there to see and that he is expecting me and that it is okay. He unbolts the gate... THREE hours after they closed and I run back around the building, again, to the reception area. I wave to the other gate worker who was off duty at the time. He knows my name and smiles, laughing at my persistence.
• Am greeted by the receptionist who says: "Back again, eh?" He is smiling and calls down my Brazil contact who comes down and takes the letter from me. I ask him to call me on Monday to see if the forms make it through, the other two he is requesting from me, that is. I give him the number of the place I am staying and say he can leave a message with the receptionist. He explains that I can use his back up cell phone for the week. He gave it to me in a bag with the charger and the number, plus his number in case I have problems. I think he likes me, even after I have been bothering and pushing him.
• Run back out to my taxi driver who was waiting for me.
• 2 PM - Get home and write all of this down. Long first day in Kenya. Even after all of that, though... I LOVE it here. :)

After all of that mess, I contacted Tripp (internationally) and called someone I know from my bank at home (internationally, again) to get started obtaining the last two documents. More on how this all turns out later... :)

What a mess, though. However... I KNOW that seeing Tripp and getting on that ship will be COMPLETELY worth it, though. Of that, I am SURE.

Wish you all were here to live and learn with me!

Laura