I have had an interesting 5 days with three major “aww Shit” moments.
Aww Shit 1
I have been working on getting my Visa renewed. I hate paperwork and dealing with institutions, so I have been working with a lawyer to get this done right. One of the requirements is I have to prove that I have funds. I deposited the required funds in a bank.
No problem. Certificate of funds please… has to be later today… but I have to travel early… get the certificate in Loja. Get the certificate, and the amount is $7 short…. bank fees… Lawyer decides, after the bank closes, that we can’t travel the next day, and will have to wait until Monday.
Aww Shit 2
Over the past couple of weekends I have been photographing a course in Rappelling for tourism students in Yantaza. This weekend was the practical weekend. I was excited. I was going to get to climb down a cliff. ( I need to improve my Spanish… it was not a cliff we were going down, but a waterfall)
Saturday Morning I got ready and was going down to meet with Fernando when I stepped wrong and twisted my ankle. I have aches and pains all over from past injures, a dislocated wrist, a smashed right ankle, bad knees, but my left foot and ankle has never been an issue… so this was a major Aww Shit! The injury was not bad enough for me to stay at my home, but It was painful enough that I was worried about further injury. The day was spent gingerly hiking through the Andes and taking pictures, ( few amazing ones… watch this space for edited versions) but no rappelling down a waterfall.
It was a great weekend, including going in a cave, and riding in a car with a very energetic otter.
Three days later the foot is still tender, but no major damage…. keeping it wrapped and wearing my hiking boots has done the trick.
Aww Shit 3
On Sunday night at 11:35 I got on a bus to Machala… 6 hours ride from Loja. Met with the lawyers assistant as well as another teacher and went to the immigration office. All the paperwork, that had been gathered and filled out and checked and double checked and signed and notarized and photocopied, was presented in a nice colour coded binder, with everything in the proper order.
The immigration officer took a look at my Visa and said it doesn’t expire for another 2 months.
My present Visa expires on 06/08/2013.  To me this means June 08 2013.
My lawyer has seen and photocopied this visa, his assistant has as well. It actually means August 06th…. so the running around, missing a couple of days of work, the money spent on the bus, and forms, and copies…. Aww shit.
