Four Days in Bogota: Ligia and I arrived on Sunday in the early afternoon and spent the afternoon casing the hostels in La Candelaria. We settled on the Bakano with a twin for $25 a night, after repeatedly searching for and failing to find the even cheaper Ivy. Taxi drivers seem incapable of navigating the neighbourhood. The next morning we set off for Torre 100 and the Ministry of External Relations which according to my guide took over the issuance of working visas from Military Intelligence quite recently! But before I could submit my Solicitud as an application is called we had to make a stop at a notary to get the Resumen of the work contract signed and then authenticated, a Colombian procedure that I have not run across anywhere else before. Perhaps it is their way of keeping their notaries busy? We arrived at the notary and the clerk serving us asked for my passport. Looking at it she informed me that what I had taken to be the illegibly scribbled initials in biro of an airport immigration official on the stamp was in fact a figure ninety, and that consequently my visa was no longer valid. I had taken great care before leaving Australia to confirm that the normal tourist visa for Australian Passport holders landing in Colombia was 150 days, and given that my return passage was exactly that length of time after my arrival I imagined that the immigration officials had taken cognizance of that, or that if that was not the case they would at least question me. So I protested vehemently but to no avail. Next stop was the aptly named Platinum Building several blocks away where I joined the listless and long queue of foreigners at the Foreigners’ Bureau Enquiry desk. After several hours of this I was admitted to an inner sanctum where an official designated as Nidia informed me that she could see me with my visa renewal application on Wednesday morning at 11a.m.. Consequently Ligia and I spent the next day touring the Candelaria on foot and seeing many interesting things. On Wednesday morning I was at the Nidia’s desk at the appointed hour and submitted my application with my passport. I was invited to resume my seat in the waiting room to await being called. I was then ignored for the rest of the morning while the Nidia had coffee, went shopping, chatted with colleagues and intermittently frantically searched her cubicle for an object I initially could not guess the nature of. At about five minutes to one a colleague several cubicles down departed for lunch and Nidia then moved stealthily to said colleagues desk and removed what was obviously a stamp or seal. This she proceeded to secrete in a zippered pouch in the draw of her desk and then flounced off to lunch herself. Her neighbour finished her task with the papers of a client and then went to the desk of the person several cubicles down apparently to retrieve the same stamp. After some minutes of searching for it, I managed to catch her eye and pointed to the Nidia’s desk. She twigged. Surprisingly as soon as she had finished stamping the last document, the next person she called to her desk, was me. How I had wound up in such a bureaucratic cul-de-sac I do not know. Soon I was on my way to the bank with Ligia to make various payments in connection with the visa, and only with my wallet considerably lighter was I able to return to the inner sanctum with the necessary receipts to obtain a ‘safe conduct’ valid till the ninth of October. This done we were off back to the notary to get the authentification done. By the time that was done it was no longer possible to apply for the work permit, the External Relations people having closed for the day at 12:30a.m.. So next day there we were again at the Torre 100 when it opened at 7:30 a.m. for its opening and after only four hours I was invited when my number appeared to enter the cubicle corresponding to make my application. After only half an hour of rigmarole, I was once again invited to resume my supine position in the waiting room, and again in less than an hour I was called again to the same cubicle. ‘There will be no visa issued today!’ declared the clerk as I entered. Naturally I was somewhat surprised to be greeted by these words. The clerk then proceeded to explain that the university’s summary of my work contract had been filed, signed and then twice authenticated on an obsolete form and that I would need to return to Ibagué to get it filled out on the correct new form, signed and authenticated by the legal representative of the university, and then return to her in Bogota. So an hour or so later, Ligia and I were back on the coach for Ibagué!
Posted on: Tue, 01 Oct 2013 19:20:58 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015