I'm official!

So in the end it only took a day and a half, and all my paperwork that had to be done after arriving, is done! It seemed tedious at the time, nobody can create red tape like the Ecuadorians can. But I'm told it went fairly smoothly, compared to the experience that others have had. But my goodness, the hoops you have to go through, and the amount of paper that you have to gather and hand over.....makes a trip to a passport office in Canada look like a party!Today I had to get my "censo" a little card that all foreigners living here have to get. I gave that guy 9 pieces of paper, which he didn't even look at. AND my passport. Janna and I got to that office at 7:30 this morning, to stand in line, just to be given a number, which then meant that we could wait for a very long time (2 1/2 hours) and then finally get our stuff processed. But at least it was all done in one place. Yesterday's outing to get my visa registered involved standing in a line, only to find out it was the wrong line, then get into the right one to find out which papers I needed copies of, go next door to an opportunist who had 2 photocopiers set up in a vacant space. He was a pro, copying 2 or 3 peoples' documents at a time, keeping it all straight, knowing who owed how much, and selling the right sized envelopes and folders that next door would require. All for $0.80. Then back to the office, give it all to the guy, who gave me a piece of paper that said I had to pay $10. But not to him, oh no, I had to go off to find a bank 2 blocks away, stand in line there, and pay a teller, who gave me a receipt to take back to my original man. Which I did triumphantly, expecting all to be done. But no. Come back tomorrow, he said, keeping my passport. Tomorrow?????? So we did our sad, pleading "what are we going to do?" thing,and he said okay come back at 2. And that was that.
So more Ecuadorian experiences to add to the collection. What next? Stand by to find out!